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President of the United States from to

Millard Fillmore
Portrait c.&#;–
In office July 9, &#;– March 4,
Vice President	None[a]
Preceded by	Zachary Taylor
Succeeded by	Franklin Pierce
In office March 4, &#;– July 9,
President	Zachary Taylor
Preceded by	George M. Dallas
Succeeded by	William R. King
In office January 1, &#;– February 20,
Governor
Preceded by	Azariah C. Flagg
Succeeded by	Washington Hunt
In office March 4, &#;– March 3,
Preceded by	John Winston Jones
Succeeded by	James I. McKay
In office March 4, &#;– March 3,
Preceded by	Thomas C. Love
Succeeded by	William A. Moseley
In office March 4, &#;– March 3,
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Thomas C. Love
Born	()January 7, Moravia, New York, U.S.
Died	March 8, () (aged&#;74) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo
Political party
Spouses
Children
Parent
Occupation
Signature
Branch/service
Years&#;of service	s–s (Militia) s–s (Guard)
Rank
Commands	Union Continentals (Guard)
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Millard Fillmore (January 7, – March 8, ) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from to , and was the last president to have been a member of the Whig Party while in office.

A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Fillmore was elected the 12th vice president in , and succeeded to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in July Fillmore was instrumental in passing the Compromise of , which led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery.

Fillmore was born into poverty in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York.

Though he had little formal schooling, he studied to become a lawyer. He became prominent in the Buffalo area as an attorney and politician, and was elected to the New York Assembly in and the House of Representatives in Fillmore initially belonged to the Anti-Masonic Party, but became a member of the Whig Party as it formed in the mids.

He was a rival for the state party leadership with Thurlow Weed and his protégé William H. Seward.

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Millard Fillmore

Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery evil but said it was beyond the federal government's power to end it; Seward argued that the federal government had a role to play. Fillmore was an unsuccessful candidate for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives when the Whigs took control of the chamber in , but was made chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Defeated in bids for the Whig nomination for vice president and for New York governor in , Fillmore was elected Comptroller of New York in , the first to hold that post by direct election.

As vice president, Fillmore was largely ignored by Taylor; even in dispensing patronage in New York, Taylor consulted Weed and Seward.

But in his capacity as president of the Senate, Fillmore presided over its angry debates, as the 31st Congress decided whether to allow slavery in the Mexican Cession. Unlike Taylor, Fillmore supported Henry Clay's omnibus bill, the basis of the Compromise. Upon becoming president in July , he dismissed Taylor's cabinet and pushed Congress to pass the compromise.

The Fugitive Slave Act, expediting the return of escaped slaves to those who claimed ownership, was a controversial part of the compromise. Fillmore felt duty-bound to enforce it, though it damaged his popularity and also the Whig Party, which was torn between its Northern and Southern factions.

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In foreign policy, he supported U.S. Navy expeditions to open trade in Japan, opposed French designs on Hawaii, and was embarrassed by Narciso López's filibuster expeditions to Cuba. Fillmore failed to win the Whig nomination for president in

As the Whig Party broke up after Fillmore's presidency, he and many in its conservative wing joined the Know Nothings and formed the American Party.

Despite his party's emphasis on anti-immigration and anti-Catholic policies, during the presidential election he said little about immigration, focusing on the preservation of the Union, and won only Maryland. During the American Civil War, Fillmore denounced secession and agreed that the Union must be maintained by force if necessary, but was critical of Abraham Lincoln's war policies.

After peace was restored, he supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. Fillmore remained involved in civic interests after his presidency, including as chancellor of the University of Buffalo, which he had helped found in Historians usually rank Fillmore among the worst presidents in American history, largely for his policies regarding slavery, as well as among the least memorable.

Early life and career

Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, , in a log cabin, on a farm in what is now Moravia, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. His parents were Phoebe Millard and Nathaniel Fillmore; he was the second of eight children and the oldest son. The Fillmores were of English descent; John Fillmore arrived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the colonial era.^[3][4]

Nathaniel Fillmore was the son of Nathaniel Fillmore Sr., a native of Franklin, Connecticut, who became one of the earliest settlers of Bennington, Vermont.^[5] Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard moved from Vermont in and sought better opportunities than were available on Nathaniel's stony farm, but the title to their Cayuga County land proved defective, and the Fillmore family moved to nearby Sempronius, where they leased land as tenant farmers, and Nathaniel occasionally taught school.^[7] The historian Tyler Anbinder described Fillmore's childhood as "one of hard work, frequent privation, and virtually no formal schooling."

Over time Nathaniel became more successful in Sempronius, but during Millard's formative years, the family endured severe poverty.^[b] Nathaniel became sufficiently regarded that he was chosen to serve in local offices, including justice of the peace.^[10] Hoping that his oldest son would learn a trade, he convinced Millard, who was 14, not to enlist for the War of and apprenticed him to clothmaker Benjamin Hungerford in Sparta.^[12] Fillmore was relegated to menial labor, and unhappy at not learning any skills, he left Hungerford's employ.

His father placed him in the same trade at a mill in New Hope.

Seeking to better himself, Millard bought a share in a circulating library and read all the books that he could. In he took advantage of idle time at the mill to enroll at a new academy in the town, where he met and fell in love with a classmate, Abigail Powers.

Later in Nathaniel moved the family to Montville, a hamlet of Moravia.

Appreciating his son's talents, Nathaniel followed his wife's advice and persuaded Judge Walter Wood, the Fillmores' landlord and the wealthiest person in the area, to allow Millard to be his law clerk for a trial period.

Millard fillmore president biography In its early days, members were sworn to keep its internal deliberations private and, if asked, were to say they knew nothing about them. Succeeded by Franklin Pierce. The Lincoln administration saw the speech as an attack on it that could not be tolerated in an election year. Although the Compromise of made the northern states and the southern states get along, the peace did not last forever.

Wood agreed to employ young Fillmore and to supervise him as he read law. Fillmore earned money teaching school for three months and bought out his mill apprenticeship. He left Wood after eighteen months; the judge had paid him almost nothing, and both quarreled after Fillmore had, unaided, earned a small sum by advising a farmer in a minor lawsuit.

Refusing to pledge not to do so again, Fillmore gave up his clerkship. Nathaniel again moved the family, and Millard accompanied it west to East Aurora, near Buffalo, where Nathaniel purchased a farm that became prosperous.^[22]

In Fillmore turned 21, reaching adulthood. He taught school in East Aurora and accepted a few cases in justice of the peace courts, which did not require the practitioner to be a licensed attorney.

He moved to Buffalo the following year and continued his study of law, first while he taught school and then in the law office of Asa Rice and Joseph Clary. Meanwhile, he became engaged to Abigail Powers. In he was admitted to the bar, declined offers from Buffalo law firms, and returned to East Aurora to establish a practice as the town's only resident lawyer.

Later in life, Fillmore said he had initially lacked the self-confidence to practice in the larger city of Buffalo. His biographer, Paul Finkelman, suggested that after being under others' thumbs all his life, Fillmore enjoyed the independence of his East Aurora practice. Millard and Abigail wed on February 5, They had two children, Millard Powers Fillmore and Mary Abigail Fillmore.

Buffalo politician

Other members of the Fillmore family were active in politics and government in addition to Nathaniel's service as a justice of the peace.^[c] Millard became interested in politics, and the rise of the Anti-Masonic Party in the late s provided his entry.

Many Anti-Masons were opposed to the presidential candidacy of General Andrew Jackson, who was a Mason.

Fillmore was a delegate to the New York convention that endorsed President John Quincy Adams for re-election and also served at two Anti-Masonic conventions in the summer of At the conventions, Fillmore first met political boss and future rival Thurlow Weed, then a newspaper editor, where they reportedly impressed one another.

Fillmore was the leading citizen in East Aurora, having successfully sought election to the New York State Assembly, and served in Albany for three one-year terms ( to ). Fillmore's election contrasted with the general victory of the Jacksonian Democrats (soon the Democratic Party), who elected Jackson President and won a majority in Albany. Thus Fillmore was in the minority in the Assembly.

He proved effective anyway by promoting legislation to provide court witnesses the option of taking a non-religious oath, and in , abolishing imprisonment for debt. By then much of Fillmore's legal practice was in Buffalo, and later that year he moved there with his family. He did not seek re-election in

Fillmore was successful as a lawyer.

Buffalo was rapidly expanding, recovering from British conflagration during the War of , and becoming the western terminus of the Erie Canal. Court cases from outside Erie County began falling to Fillmore's lot, and he reached prominence as a lawyer in Buffalo before he moved there. He took his lifelong friend Nathan K.

Hall as a law clerk in East Aurora. Hall later became Fillmore's partner in Buffalo. Buffalo was legally a village when Fillmore arrived; although the bill to incorporate it as a city passed the legislature after he had left the Assembly, Fillmore helped draft the city charter.

Fillmore helped found the Buffalo High School Association, joined the lyceum, attended the local Unitarian church, and became a leading citizen of Buffalo.

He was also active in the New York Militia and attained the rank of major as inspector of the 47th Brigade.^[33]

Representative

First term and return to Buffalo

In Fillmore ran successfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. The Anti-Masonic presidential candidate, William Wirt, a former attorney general, won only Vermont, and President Jackson easily gained re-election.

At the time, Congress convened its annual session in December and so Fillmore had to wait more than a year after his election to take his seat. Fillmore, Weed, and others realized that opposition to Masonry was too narrow a foundation to build a national party. They formed the broad-based Whig Party from National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and disaffected Democrats.

The Whigs were initially united by their opposition to Jackson but became a major party by expanding their platform to include support for economic growth through rechartering the Second Bank of the United States and federally-funded internal improvements, including roads, bridges, and canals. Weed had joined the Whigs before Fillmore and became a power within the party.

Weed's anti-slavery views were stronger than those of Fillmore, who disliked slavery but considered the federal government powerless over it. They were closer to those of another prominent New York Whig, William H. Seward of Auburn, who was seen as a Weed protégé.

In Washington Fillmore urged the expansion of Buffalo harbor, a decision under federal jurisdiction, and he privately lobbied Albany for the expansion of the state-owned Erie Canal.

Even during the campaign, Fillmore's affiliation as an Anti-Mason had been uncertain, and he rapidly shed the label once sworn in. Fillmore came to the notice of the influential Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, who took the new representative under his wing.

Franklin pierce president Fillmore rarely spoke about the immigration question, focused on the sectional divide, and urged the preservation of the Union. Retrieved August 18, Clayton Winfield Scott Daniel Webster. In , he helped establish the University at Buffalo and served as its first chancellor.

Fillmore became a firm supporter, and they continued their close relationship until Webster's death late in Fillmore's presidency. Despite Fillmore's support of the Second Bank as a means for national development, he did not speak in the congressional debates in which some advocated renewing its charter although Jackson had vetoed legislation for a charter renewal.

Fillmore supported building infrastructure by voting in favor of navigation improvements on the Hudson River and constructing a bridge across the Potomac River.

Anti-Masonry was still strong in Western New York though it was petering out nationally. When the Anti-Masons did not nominate him for a second term in , Fillmore declined the Whig nomination, seeing that the two parties would split the anti-Jackson vote and elect the Democrat.

Despite Fillmore's departure from office, he was a rival for the state party leadership with Seward, the unsuccessful Whig gubernatorial candidate. Fillmore spent his time out of office building his law practice and boosting the Whig Party, which gradually absorbed most of the Anti-Masons. By Fillmore was confident enough of anti-Jackson unity that he accepted the Whig nomination for Congress.

Democrats, led by their presidential candidate, Vice President Martin Van Buren, were victorious nationwide and in Van Buren's home state of New York, but Western New York voted Whig and sent Fillmore back to Washington.

Second to fourth terms

Van Buren, faced with the economic Panic of , which was caused partly by the lack of confidence in private banknote issues after Jackson had instructed the government to accept only gold or silver, called a special session of Congress.

Government money had been held in so-called "pet banks" since Jackson had withdrawn it from the Second Bank. Van Buren proposed to place funds in sub-treasuries, government depositories that would not lend money. Believing that government funds should be lent to develop the country, Fillmore felt it would lock the nation's limited supply of gold money away from commerce.

Van Buren's sub-treasury and other economic proposals passed, but as hard times continued, the Whigs saw an increased vote in the elections and captured the New York Assembly, which set up a fight for the gubernatorial nomination. Fillmore supported the leading Whig vice-presidential candidate from , Francis Granger, but Weed preferred Seward.

Fillmore was embittered when Weed got the nomination for Seward but campaigned loyally, Seward was elected, and Fillmore won another term in the House. The rivalry between Fillmore and Seward was affected by the growing anti-slavery movement.

Millard fillmore president facts: Read Edit View history. You can help Wikipedia by finding good sources, and adding them. Fillmore was accused of complicity in Collier's actions, but that was never substantiated. Clayton — Daniel Webster — Edward Everett —

Although Fillmore disliked slavery, he saw no reason for it to be a political issue. Seward, however, made his hostility to slavery clear as governor by refusing to return slaves claimed by Southerners. When the Buffalo bar proposed Fillmore for the position of vice-chancellor of the eighth judicial district in , Seward refused, nominated Frederick Whittlesey, and indicated that if the New York Senate rejected Whittlesey he still would not appoint Fillmore.

Fillmore was active in the discussions of presidential candidates which preceded the Whig National Convention for the race.

He initially supported General Winfield Scott but really wanted to defeat Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, a slaveholder who he felt could not carry New York State. Fillmore did not attend the convention but was gratified when it nominated General William Henry Harrison for president, with former Virginia Senator John Tyler his running mate.

Fillmore organized Western New York for the Harrison campaign, and the national ticket was elected, and Fillmore easily gained a fourth term in the House.

At the urging of Clay, Harrison quickly called a special session of Congress. With the Whigs able to organize the House for the first time, Fillmore sought the Speakership, but it went to a Clay acolyte, John White of Kentucky.

Fillmore was made chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Harrison was expected to go along with anything Clay and other congressional Whig leaders proposed, but Harrison died on April 4, Vice President Tyler was elevated to the presidency; the onetime maverick Democrat soon broke with Clay over congressional proposals for a national bank to stabilize the currency, which he vetoed twice and so was expelled from the Whig Party.

Fillmore remained on the fringes of that conflict by generally supporting the congressional Whig position, but his chief achievement as Ways and Means chairman was the Tariff of The existing tariff did not protect manufacturing, and part of the revenue was distributed to the states, a decision made in better times that was now depleting the Treasury.

Fillmore prepared a bill raising tariff rates that was popular in the country, but the continuation of distribution assured Tyler's veto and much political advantage for the Whigs. A House committee, headed by Massachusetts's John Quincy Adams, condemned Tyler's actions. Fillmore prepared a second bill, now omitting distribution.

When it reached Tyler's desk, he signed it but, in the process, offended his erstwhile Democratic allies. Thus Fillmore not only achieved his legislative goal but also managed to isolate Tyler politically.

Fillmore received praise for the tariff, but in July he announced he would not seek re-election. The Whigs nominated him anyway, but he refused the nomination.

Tired of Washington life and the conflict that had revolved around Tyler, Fillmore sought to return to his life and law practice in Buffalo. He continued to be active in the lame duck session of Congress that followed the elections and returned to Buffalo in April According to his biographer, Scarry, "Fillmore concluded his Congressional career at a point when he had become a powerful figure, an able statesman at the height of his popularity."

Weed deemed Fillmore "able in debate, wise in council, and inflexible in his political sentiments".

National figure

Out of office, Fillmore continued his law practice and made long-neglected repairs to his Buffalo home.

He remained a major political figure and led the committee that welcomed John Quincy Adams to Buffalo. The former president expressed his regret at Fillmore's absence from Congress. Some urged Fillmore to run for vice president with Clay, the consensus Whig choice for president in Horace Greeley wrote privately that "my own first choice has long been Millard Fillmore," and others thought Fillmore should try to win back the governor's mansion for the Whigs.

Seeking to return to Washington, Fillmore wanted the vice presidency.

Fillmore hoped to gain the endorsement of the New York delegation to the national convention, but Weed wanted the vice presidency for Seward, with Fillmore as governor. Seward, however, withdrew before the Whig National Convention. When Weed's replacement vice presidential hopeful, Willis Hall, fell ill, Weed sought to defeat Fillmore's candidacy to force him to run for governor.

Weed's attempts to boost Fillmore as a gubernatorial candidate caused the latter to write, "I am not willing to be treacherously killed by this pretended kindness&#; do not suppose for a minute that I think they desire my nomination for governor." New York sent a delegation to the convention in Baltimore pledged to support Clay but with no instructions as to how to vote for vice president.

Weed told out-of-state delegates that the New York party preferred to have Fillmore as its gubernatorial candidate, and after Clay was nominated for president, the second place on the ticket fell to former New Jersey senator Theodore Frelinghuysen.

Putting a good face on his defeat, Fillmore met and publicly appeared with Frelinghuysen and quietly spurned Weed's offer to get him nominated as governor at the state convention.

Fillmore's position in opposing slavery only at the state level made him acceptable as a statewide Whig candidate, and Weed saw to it the pressure on Fillmore increased. Fillmore had stated that a convention had the right to draft anyone for political service, and Weed got the convention to choose Fillmore, who had broad support, despite his reluctance.

The Democrats nominated Senator Silas Wright as their gubernatorial candidate and former Tennessee Governor James K.

Polk for president. Although Fillmore worked to gain support among German-Americans, a major constituency, he was hurt among immigrants by the fact that in New York City, Whigs had supported a nativist candidate in the mayoral election earlier in , and Fillmore and his party were tarred with that brush. He was not friendly to immigrants and blamed his defeat on "foreign Catholics".

Clay was beaten as well. Fillmore's biographer Paul Finkelman suggested that Fillmore's hostility to immigrants and his weak position on slavery had defeated him for governor.

In Fillmore was involved in the founding of the University of Buffalo (now the University at Buffalo), became its first chancellor, and served until his death in He had opposed the annexation of Texas, spoke against the subsequent Mexican–American War, and saw the war as a contrivance to extend slavery's realm.

Fillmore was angered when President Polk vetoed a river and harbors bill that would have benefited Buffalo, and he wrote, "May God save the country for it is evident the people will not." At the time, New York governors served a two-year term, and Fillmore could have had the Whig nomination in had he wanted it. He actually came within one vote of it while he maneuvered to get the nomination for his supporter, John Young, who was elected.

A new constitution for New York State provided the office of comptroller to be made elective, as were the attorney general and some other positions that were formerly chosen by the state legislature. Fillmore's work in finance as the Ways and Means chairman made him an obvious candidate for comptroller, and he was successful in getting the Whig nomination for the election.

With a united party, Fillmore won by 38, votes, the largest margin that a Whig candidate for statewide office would ever achieve in New York.

Before moving to Albany to take office on January 1, , he had left his law firm and rented out his house. Fillmore received positive reviews for his service as comptroller. In that office he was a member of the state canal board, supported its expansion, and saw that it was managed competently.

He secured an enlargement of Buffalo's canal facilities. The comptroller regulated the banks, and Fillmore stabilized the currency by requiring that state-chartered banks keep New York and federal bonds to the value of the banknotes they issued. A similar plan was adopted by Congress in

Election of

Main article: United States presidential election

Nomination

For further information on the procedures of American political conventions, see United States presidential nominating convention.

President Polk had pledged not to seek a second term, and with gains in Congress during the election cycle, the Whigs were hopeful of taking the White House in The party's perennial candidates, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both wanted the nomination and amassed support from congressional colleagues.

Many rank-and-file Whigs backed the Mexican War hero, General Zachary Taylor, for president. Although Taylor was extremely popular, many Northerners had qualms about electing a Louisiana slaveholder at a time of sectional tension over whether slavery should be allowed in the territories that had been ceded by Mexico.

Taylor's uncertain political views gave others pause: his career in the Army had prevented him from ever casting a ballot for president though he stated that he was a Whig supporter. Some feared that they might elect another Tyler, or another Harrison.

With the nomination undecided, Weed maneuvered for New York to send an uncommitted delegation to the Whig National Convention in the hope of placing Seward on the ticket or obtaining him a cabinet appointment.

He persuaded Fillmore to support an uncommitted ticket but did not reveal his hopes for Seward. Weed was an influential editor with whom Fillmore tended to co-operate for the good of the Whig Party. However, Weed had sterner opponents, including Governor Young, who disliked Seward and did not want to see him gain high office.

Despite Weed's efforts, Taylor was nominated on the fourth ballot, to the anger of Clay's supporters and of Conscience Whigs from the Northeast.

When order had been restored, John A. Collier, a New Yorker who opposed Weed, addressed the convention. Delegates hung on his every word as he described himself as a Clay partisan; he had voted for Clay on each ballot. He eloquently described the grief of the Clay supporters, frustrated again in their battle to make Clay president.

Collier warned of a fatal breach in the party and said that only one thing could prevent it: the nomination of Fillmore for vice president, whom he depicted as a strong Clay supporter. Fillmore actually agreed with many of Clay's positions but did not back him for president and was not in Philadelphia. Delegates did not know what Collier had said was false or at least greatly exaggerated and there was a large reaction in Fillmore's favor.

Abbott Lawrence of Massachusetts was a key Taylor supporter and expected to be nominated for vice president.

The chairman of the Vermont delegation, former Representative Solomon Foot, initially supported Lawrence, who was perceived as more accepting of slavery than Fillmore. Recognizing that the Whigs would likely collapse if Lawrence was nominated and northern anti-slavery delegates left the party, Foot agreed to shift his support to Fillmore. Other delegates soon followed suit, and Fillmore won the nomination on the second ballot.

Under the political customs of the time, if Taylor and Fillmore were elected, no one else from New York could be named to the Cabinet, meaning Weed's ambitions for Seward were frustrated, at least temporarily.

Fillmore was accused of complicity in Collier's actions, but that was never substantiated. Nevertheless, there were sound reasons for Fillmore's selection, as he was a proven vote-getter from electorally-crucial New York, and his track record in Congress and as a candidate showed his devotion to Whig doctrine, allaying fears he might be another Tyler were something to happen to Taylor.

Delegates remembered him for his role in the Tariff of , and he had been mentioned as a vice-presidential possibility, along with Lawrence and Ohio's Thomas Ewing. His rivalry with Seward, who was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, and who was already known for anti-slavery views, made Fillmore more acceptable in the South.

General election

It was customary in the midth century for a candidate for high office not to appear to seek it.

Thus, Fillmore remained at the comptroller's office in Albany and made no speeches. The campaign was conducted in the newspapers and with addresses made by surrogates at rallies. The Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan for president, with General William O. Butler as his running mate, but it became a three-way fight since the Free Soil Party, which opposed the spread of slavery, chose ex-President Van Buren.

There was a crisis among the Whigs when Taylor also accepted the presidential nomination of a group of dissident South Carolina Democrats. Fearing that Taylor would be a party apostate like Tyler, Weed in late August scheduled a rally in Albany aimed at electing an uncommitted slate of presidential electors. Fillmore interceded with Weed and assured him that Taylor was loyal to the party.

Northerners assumed that Fillmore, hailing from a free state, was an opponent of the spread of slavery.

Southerners accused him of being an abolitionist, which he hotly denied. Fillmore responded to one Alabamian in a widely published letter that slavery was an evil, but the federal government had no authority over it. Taylor and Fillmore corresponded twice in September, with Taylor happy that the crisis over the South Carolinians was resolved.

Fillmore assured his running mate that the electoral prospects for the ticket looked good, especially in the Northeast.

In the end the Taylor-Fillmore ticket won narrowly, with New York's electoral votes again key. The Whig ticket won the popular vote by 1,, (%) to 1,, (%) and triumphed to in the Electoral College.^[d] Minor party candidates took no electoral votes, but the strength of the burgeoning anti-slavery movement was shown by the vote for Van Buren, who won no states but earned , votes (%) and finished second in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

Further information: Compromise of

Fillmore was sworn in as vice president on March 5, , in the Senate Chamber.

Since March 4 (which was then Inauguration Day) fell on a Sunday, the swearing-in was postponed to the following day.

Zachary taylor president President of the United States The sudden death of President Zachary Taylor in July brought a political shift to the administration. Thus, approaching the national convention in Baltimore, to be held in June , the major candidates were Fillmore, Webster, and General Scott. Fillmore, who opposed slavery personally, was unwilling to touch it in states where it already existed for the sake of preserving the Union. Wikisource has original works by or about: Millard Fillmore.

Fillmore took the oath from Chief JusticeRoger B. Taney and, in turn, swore in the senators beginning their terms, including Seward, who had been elected by the New York legislature in February.^[e]

Fillmore had spent the four months between the election and the swearing-in being feted by the New York Whigs and winding up affairs in the comptroller's office.

Taylor had written to him and promised influence in the new administration. The president-elect mistakenly thought that the vice president was a cabinet member, which was not true in the 19th century. Fillmore, Seward and Weed had met and come to a general agreement on how to divide federal jobs in New York. Once he went to Washington, Seward made friendly contact with Taylor's cabinet nominees, advisers, and the general's brother.

An alliance between the incoming administration and the Weed machine was soon formed behind Fillmore's back. In exchange for support, Seward and Weed were allowed to designate who was to fill federal jobs in New York, and Fillmore was given far less influence than had been agreed. When Fillmore discovered that after the election, he went to Taylor, which only made the warfare against Fillmore's influence more open.

Fillmore's supporters such as Collier, who had nominated him at the convention, were passed over for candidates backed by Weed, who was triumphant even in Buffalo. That greatly increased Weed's influence in New York politics and diminished Fillmore's. According to Rayback, "by mid, Fillmore's situation had become desperate." Despite his lack of influence, office-seekers pestered him, as did those with a house to lease or sell since there was no official vice-presidential residence at the time.

He enjoyed one aspect of his office because of his lifelong love of learning: he became deeply involved in the administration of the Smithsonian Institution as a member ex officio of its Board of Regents.

Through , slavery was an unresolved issue in the territories. Taylor advocated the admission of California and New Mexico,^[f] which were both likely to outlaw slavery.

Southerners were surprised to learn the president, despite being a Southern slaveholder, did not support the introduction of slavery into the new territories, as he believed the institution could not flourish in the arid Southwest. There was anger across party lines in the South, where making the territories free of slavery was considered to exclude Southerners from part of the national heritage.

When Congress met in December , the discord was manifested in the election for Speaker, which took weeks and dozens of ballots to resolve, as the House divided along sectional lines.

Fillmore countered the Weed machine by building a network of like-minded Whigs in New York State. With backing from wealthy New Yorkers, their positions were publicized by the establishment of a rival newspaper to Weed's Albany Evening Journal.

All pretense at friendship between Fillmore and Weed vanished in November when they happened to meet in New York City and exchanged accusations.

Fillmore presided^[g] over some of the most momentous and passionate debates in American history as the Senate debated whether to allow slavery in the territories.

The ongoing sectional conflict had already excited much discussion when on January 21, , President Taylor sent a special message to Congress that urged the admission of California immediately and New Mexico later and for the Supreme Court to settle the boundary dispute whereby the state of Texas claimed much of what is now the state of New Mexico.

On January 29, Clay introduced his "Omnibus Bill",^[h] which would give victories to both North and South by admitting California as a free state, organizing territorial governments in New Mexico and Utah, and banning the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The bill would also toughen the Fugitive Slave Act, as resistance to enforcement in parts of the North had been a longtime Southern grievance.

Clay's bill provided for the settlement of the Texas–New Mexico boundary dispute, and the status of slavery in the territories would be decided by those living there (popular sovereignty). Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, which languished in Congress. After weeks of debate, however, Fillmore informed him in May that if senators divided equally on the bill, he would cast his tie-breaking vote in favor.

Fillmore did his best to keep the peace among the senators and reminded them of the vice president's power to rule them out of order, but he was blamed for failing to maintain the peace when a physical confrontation between Mississippi's Henry S. Foote and Missouri's Thomas Hart Benton broke out on April Before other senators intervened to separate them, Foote pointed a gun at his colleague as Benton advanced on him.

Main article: Presidency of Millard Fillmore

Succession amid crisis

July 4, , was a very hot day in Washington, and President Taylor, who attended the Fourth of July ceremonies to lay the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, refreshed himself, likely with cold milk and cherries.

What he consumed likely gave him gastroenteritis and he died on July 9. Taylor, nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready", had gained a reputation for toughness through his military campaigning in the heat, and his sudden death came as a shock to the nation.

Fillmore had been called from his chair presiding over the Senate on July 8 and had sat with members of the cabinet in a vigil outside Taylor's bedroom at the White House.

He received formal notification of the president's death on the evening of July 9 in his residence at the Willard Hotel. After acknowledging the letter and spending a sleepless night, Fillmore went to the House of Representatives, where, at a joint session of Congress, he took the oath as president from William Cranch, the chief judge of the federal court for the District of Columbia, and the man who swore in President Tyler.

The cabinet officers, as was customary when a new president took over, submitted their resignations but expected Fillmore to refuse and allow them to continue in office. Fillmore had been marginalized by the cabinet members, and he accepted the resignations though he asked them to stay on for a month, which most refused to do.

Fillmore is the only president who succeeded by death or resignation not to retain, at least initially, his predecessor's cabinet. He was already in discussions with Whig leaders and, on July 20, began to send new nominations to the Senate, with the Fillmore Cabinet to be led by Webster as Secretary of State.

Webster had outraged his Massachusetts constituents by supporting Clay's bill and, with his Senate term to expire in , had no political future in his home state. Fillmore appointed his old law partner, Nathan Hall, as Postmaster General, a cabinet position that controlled many patronage appointments. The new department heads were mostly supporters of the Compromise, like Fillmore.^[89]

The brief pause from politics out of national grief at Taylor's death did not abate the crisis.

Texas had attempted to assert its authority in New Mexico, and the state's governor, Peter H. Bell, had sent belligerent letters to President Taylor. Fillmore received another letter after he had become president. He reinforced federal troops in the area and warned Bell to keep the peace.^[89]

By July 31 Clay's bill was effectively dead, as all significant provisions other than the organization of Utah Territory had been removed by amendment.

As one wag put it, the "Mormons" were the only remaining passengers on the omnibus. Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas then stepped to the fore, with Clay's agreement, proposing to break the omnibus bill into individual bills that could be passed piecemeal. Fillmore endorsed that strategy, which eventually divided the compromise into five bills.

Fillmore sent a special message to Congress on August 6, ; disclosed the letter from Governor Bell and his reply; warned that armed Texans would be viewed as intruders; and urged Congress to defuse sectional tensions by passing the Compromise.

Without the presence of the Great Triumvirate of John C. Calhoun, Webster, and Clay, who had long dominated the Senate,^[i] Douglas and others were able to lead the Senate towards the administration-backed package of bills. Each bill passed the Senate with the support of the section that wanted it, with a few members who were determined to see all the bills passed.

The battle then moved to the House, which had a Northern majority because of the population. Most contentious was the Fugitive Slave Bill, whose provisions were anathema to abolitionists. Fillmore applied pressure to get Northern Whigs, including New Yorkers, to abstain, rather than to oppose the bill. Through the legislative process, changes were made, including the setting of a boundary between New Mexico Territory and Texas, the state being given a payment to settle any claims.

California was admitted as a free state, the District of Columbia's slave trade was ended, and the final status of slavery in New Mexico and Utah would be settled later. Fillmore signed the bills as they reached his desk and held the Fugitive Slave Bill for two days until he received a favorable opinion as to its constitutionality from the new Attorney General, John J.

Crittenden. Although some Northerners were unhappy at the Fugitive Slave Act, relief was widespread in the hope of settling the slavery question.

Domestic affairs

The Fugitive Slave Act remained contentious after its enactment. Southerners complained bitterly about any leniency in its application, but its enforcement was highly offensive to many Northerners.

Abolitionists recited the inequities of the law since anyone aiding an escaped slave was punished severely, and it granted no due process to the escapee, who could not testify before a magistrate. The law also permitted a higher payment to the hearing magistrate for deciding the escapee was a slave. Nevertheless, Fillmore believed himself bound by his oath as president and by the bargain that had been made in the Compromise to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.

He did so even though some prosecutions or attempts to return slaves ended badly for the government; there were acquittals, and in one incident a slave was taken from federal custody and freed by a Boston mob. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise.

In August the social reformer Dorothea Dix wrote to Fillmore to urge support of her proposal in Congress for land grants to finance asylums for the impoverished mentally ill.

Though her proposal did not pass, they became friends, met in person, and continued to correspond well after Fillmore's presidency.

In September Fillmore appointed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young as the first governor of Utah Territory.^[96] In gratitude, Young named the first territorial capital "Fillmore" and the surrounding county "Millard".^[97]

A longtime supporter of national infrastructure development, Fillmore signed bills to subsidize the Illinois Central railroad from Chicago to Mobile, and a canal at Sault Ste.

Marie.

William mckinley president Fillmore did not attend the convention but was gratified when it nominated General William Henry Harrison for president, with former Virginia Senator John Tyler his running mate. Notes [ edit ]. Archived from the original on December 2, In Fillmore was involved in the founding of the University of Buffalo now the University at Buffalo , became its first chancellor , and served until his death in

The completion of the Erie Railroad in New York prompted Fillmore and his cabinet to ride the first train from New York City to Lake Erie, in the company with many other dignitaries. Fillmore made many speeches along the way from the train's rear platform, urged acceptance of the Compromise, and later went on a tour of New England with his Southern cabinet members.

Although Fillmore urged Congress to authorize a transcontinental railroad, it did not do so until a decade later.

Fillmore appointed one justice to the Supreme Court of the United States and four to United States district courts, including his law partner and cabinet officer, Nathan Hall, to the federal district court in Buffalo.^[99] When Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury died in September with the Senate not in session, Fillmore made a recess appointment of Benjamin Robbins Curtis to the Court.

In December, with Congress convened, Fillmore formally nominated Curtis, who was confirmed. In Justice Curtis dissented from the Court's decision in the slavery case of Dred Scott v. Sandford and resigned as a matter of principle.