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Millard Fillmore

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{{Infobox_President | name=Millard Fillmore | nationality=american | image=Millard Fillmore.jpg | order=13th President | term_start=July 9, 1850 | term_end=March 3, 1853 | predecessor=Zachary Taylor | successor=Franklin Pierce | birth_date=January 7, 1800 | birth_place=Summerhill, New York | death_date=March 8, 1874 | death_place=Buffalo, New York | spouse=Abigail Fillmore Abigail Powers Fillmore (1st wife)
Caroline Fillmore Mrs. Caroline Carmichael McIntosh (2nd wife) | party=United States Whig Party Whig | vicepresident=none }} '''Millard Fillmore''' (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the thirteenth President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party (United States) Whig Party to hold the nation's highest office. He succeeded from the Vice President of the United States Vice Presidency on the death of President Zachary Taylor, who died of acute indigestion, becoming the second U.S. President to gain the office in this manner. Fillmore was never elected President in his own right; after serving out Taylor's term he was not nominated for the Presidency by the United States Whig Party Whigs in the U.S. presidential election, 1852 1852 Presidential election, and in 1856 he failed to win election as President as the Know-Nothing movement Know Nothing Party candidate.

Early life
Fillmore was born in extreme poverty to Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard Fillmore in Summerhill, New York as the second of eight children and eldest son. He was first apprenticed to a Fuller (cloth-making) fuller to learn the clothmaking trade. He struggled to obtain an education under frontier conditions. Several years later, Fillmore moved to Buffalo, New York to continue his studies. He was admitted to the bar (law) bar in 1823 and began his practice of law in Aurora, Erie County, New York Aurora. In 1828, he was elected to the New York legislature and served 1829 to 1831.

Early political career
Fillmore was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-third United States Congress 23rd Congress (1833-1835); elected to the Twenty-fifth United States Congress 25th, Twenty-sixth United States Congress 26th and Twenty-seventh United States Congress 27th Congresses (1837-1843). (He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1842.) He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of New York in 1844. He was State comptroller of New York from 1847–1849.

The Vice-Presidency
Image:1848whigbanner.jpg right|thumb|200 px|Whig Party banner from 1848 with candidates [[Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.]] Having worked his way up through the Whig Party in New York, Fillmore eventually was selected as Zachary Taylor's running mate. (It was thought that the obscure, self-made candidate from New York would complement Taylor, a slave-holding military man from the south.) Nevertheless, the two men came to a head on the slavery issue in the new western territories taken from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Taylor wanted the new states to be free states, while Fillmore supported slavery in those states in order to appease the South. In his own words: "God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil ... and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution." Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850. He made no public comment on the merits of the compromise proposals, but a few days before President Taylor's death, Fillmore suggested to him that if there should be a tie vote on Henry Clay's bill, he would vote in favor of it.

Presidency 1850–1853

Policies
The sudden ascension of Fillmore to the Presidency in July 1850 brought an abrupt political shift in the administration. Taylor's cabinet resigned and President Fillmore at once appointed Daniel Webster to be Secretary of State, thus proclaiming his alliance with the moderate Whigs who favored the Compromise. A bill to admit California to the Union still aroused all the violent arguments for and against the extension of slavery, without any progress toward settling the major issues. Clay, exhausted, left Washington to recuperate, throwing leadership upon Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. At this critical juncture, President Fillmore announced in favor of the Compromise of 1850. On August 6, 1850, he sent a message to Congress recommending that Texas be paid to abandon her claims to part of New Mexico. This helped influence a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the Wilmot Proviso — the stipulation that all land gained by the Mexican War must be closed to slavery. Douglas's effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore's pressure to give impetus to the Compromise movement. Breaking up Clay's single legislative package, Douglas presented five separate bills to the Senate: *Admit California as a free state. *Settle the Texas boundary and compensate the state. *Grant territorial status to New Mexico. *Place Federal officers at the disposal of slaveholders seeking fugitives. (Fugitive Slave Act) *Abolish the slave trade in the Washington, D.C. District of Columbia. Each measure obtained a majority, and, by September 20, President Fillmore had signed them into law. Webster wrote, "I can now sleep of nights." Another important legacy of Fillmore's administration was the opening of Japan to American trade under Commodore Matthew Perry (naval officer) Matthew Perry.

Administration and Cabinet
Image:millard_fillmore_stamp.JPG thumb|right|Fillmore postage stamp {| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="left" !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|'''OFFICE'''||align="left"|'''NAME'''||align="left"|'''TERM''' |- !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|President of the United States President||align="left" |'''Millard Fillmore'''||align="left"|1850–1853 |- |align="left"|Vice President of the United States Vice President||align="left"|''None''||align="left"| |- !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|United States Secretary of State Secretary of State||align="left"|'''Daniel Webster'''||align="left"|1850–1852 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|'''Edward Everett'''||align="left"|1852–1853 |- |align="left"|United States Secretary of the Treasury Secretary of the Treasury||align="left"|'''Thomas Corwin'''||align="left"|1850–1853 |- |align="left"|United States Secretary of War Secretary of War||align="left"|'''Charles Magill Conrad'''||align="left"|1850–1853 |- |align="left"|Attorney General of the United States Attorney General||align="left"|'''John J. Crittenden'''||align="left"|1850–1853 |- |align="left"|Postmaster General of the United States Postmaster General||align="left"|'''Nathan K. Hall'''||align="left"|1850–1852 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|'''Samuel Dickinson Hubbard Samuel D. Hubbard'''||align="left"|1852–1853 |- |align="left"|United States Secretary of the Navy Secretary of the Navy||align="left"|'''William A. Graham'''||align="left"|1850–1852 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|'''John P. Kennedy'''||align="left"|1852–1853 |- |align="left"|United States Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior||align="left"|'''Thomas McKennan'''||align="left"|1850 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|'''Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart Alexander Stuart'''||align="left"|1850–1853 |}

Supreme Court appointments
Fillmore appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: * Benjamin Robbins Curtis - 1851

States admitted to the Union
* California – 1850

Legacy
Some of the more militant northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852. Within a few years it was apparent that although the Compromise had been intended to settle the slavery controversy, it served rather as an uneasy sectional truce.

Later life
Image:DSCN4470 buffalofillmorestatue e.jpg 200px|left|thumb|Statue of Fillmore outside City Hall in downtown [[Buffalo, New York]] Upon completing his presidency, Fillmore returned to Buffalo, where he served as chancellor of the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York University of Buffalo. As the Whig Party disintegrated in the 1850s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican Party (United States) Republican Party; but, instead, in 1856 accepted the nomination for President of the Know-Nothing movement Know Nothing (or National American Party). On February 10,1858, he married a widow Caroline Fillmore Mrs. Caroline Carmichael McIntosh. Throughout the American Civil War Civil War, he opposed Abraham Lincoln President Lincoln and during Reconstruction supported Andrew Johnson President Johnson. He commanded a corps of home guards during the Civil War. He died at 11:10 p.m. on March 8, 1874 of the after-effects of a stroke, with his last words alleged to be, upon being fed some soup, "the nourishment is palatable." On January 7 each year a ceremony is held at his gravesite in the Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo) Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

Trivia
The myth that Millard Fillmore installed the White House's first bathtub was started by H. L. Mencken in a joke column published on December 28, 1917 in the ''New York Evening Mail.'' (See: Bathtub hoax) More factual is, having found the White House devoid of books, Millard Fillmore initiated the White House library. As of 2006, Millard Fillmore remains the last U.S. president who was neither a Democratic Party (United States) Democrat nor a Republican Party (United States) Republican (although Abraham Lincoln was re-elected in 1864 running on the Union Ticket instead of as a Republican with Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate).

See also
* Mallard Fillmore * U.S. presidential election, 1848 * U.S. presidential election, 1856 * List of places named for Millard Fillmore

External links

- First State of the Union Address
- Second State of the Union Address
- Third State of the Union Address
- White House Biography * {{gutenberg author| id=Millard+Fillmore | name=Millard Fillmore}}
- Millard Fillmore Internet Obituary {{start box}} {{succession box | title=U.S. Congressional Delegations from New York U.S. Congressman for the 32nd District of New York| before=''(none)'' | after=Thomas Cutting Love | years=1833-1835}} {{succession box | title=U.S. Congressional Delegations from New York U.S. Congressman for the 32nd District of New York| before=Thomas Cutting Love | after=William A. Moseley | years=1837-1843}} {{succession box | title=Whig Party (United States) Whig Party nominee for Governor of New York .html">Luther Bradish after=John Young (U.S. politician)|John Young | years=1844 (lost)}} {{succession box | title=Whig Party (United States) Whig Party Vice President of the United States vice presidential candidate | before=Theodore Frelinghuysen .html">William A. Graham years=U.S. presidential election, 1848|1848 (won)}} {{succession box | title=Vice President of the United States .html">George M. Dallas after=William R. King | years=March 4, 1849^(a) – July 9, 1850^(b)}} {{succession box | title=President of the United States .html">Zachary Taylor after=Franklin Pierce | years=July 9, 1850^(c) – March 3, 1853| }} {{succession box | title=Know-Nothing movement American Party President of the United States presidential candidate | before=''(none)'' | after=''(none)'' | years=U.S. presidential election, 1856 1856 (lost)}} {{succession box | title=Whig Party (United States) Whig Party President of the United States presidential candidate | before=Winfield Scott .html">U.S. presidential election, 1856 1856 (lost)}} {{succession footnote| marker=^(a)| footnote=Although Fillmore's term started on March 4, he did not take the oath of office until March 5.}} {{succession footnote| marker=^(b)| footnote=President Zachary Taylor died on July 9.}} {{succession footnote| marker=^(c)| footnote=Fillmore took the oath of office on July 10.}} {{end box}} {{start box}} {{USpresidents | before=Zachary Taylor Taylor | after=Franklin Pierce Pierce| years=1850–1853}} {{end box}} {{US Vice Presidents}} Â¨ Category:1800 births Fillmore, Millard Category:1874 deaths Fillmore, Millard Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York Fillmore, Millard Category:People from New York Fillmore, Millard Category:Presidents of the United States Fillmore, Millard Category:University at Buffalo Fillmore, Millard Category:Vice Presidents of the United States Fillmore, Millard ang:Millard Fillmore bg:ÐœÐ¸Ð»ÑŠÑ€Ð´ Ð¤Ð¸Ð»Ð¼Ð¾Ñ€ da:Millard Fillmore de:Millard Fillmore eo:Millard FILLMORE es:Millard Fillmore fa:Ù…ÙŠÙ„Ø§Ø±Ø¯ Ù?ÙŠÙ„Ù…ÙˆØ± fi:Millard Fillmore fr:Millard Fillmore ga:Millard Fillmore gl:Millard Fillmore he:×ž×™×œ×¨×“ ×¤×™×œ×ž×•×¨ id:Millard Fillmore it:Millard Fillmore ja:ãƒŸãƒ©ãƒ¼ãƒ‰ãƒ»ãƒ•ã‚£ãƒ«ãƒ¢ã‚¢ ko:ë°€ëŸ¬ë“œ í•„ëª¨ì–´ nl:Millard Fillmore nn:Millard Fillmore no:Millard Fillmore pl:Millard Fillmore pt:Millard Fillmore ro:Millard Fillmore ru:Ð¤Ð¸Ð»Ð»Ð¼Ð¾Ñ€, ÐœÐ¸Ð»Ð»Ð°Ñ€Ð´ simple:Millard Fillmore sq:Millard Fillmore sv:Millard Fillmore tr:Millard Fillmore zh:ç±³å‹’å¾·Â·è?²å°”èŽ«å°”

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