Millard Fillmore

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 to hold the nation's highest office. He succeeded from the 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 Whigs in the 1852 Presidential election, and in 1856 he failed to win election as President as the Know Nothing Party candidate.

Biography

Early life

Fillmore was born in extreme poverty to Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard in Summerhill, New York as the second of eight children and eldest son. He was first apprenticed to a fuller to learn that 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 in 1823 and began his practice of law in Aurora. In 1828 he served in the New York legislature. He worked his way up through the Whig party, eventually being selected as Zachary Taylor's running mate. During that time he served in the House of Representatives and was Comptroller of New York. It was thought that the obscure, self-made candidate from New York would complement Taylor, a slave-holding military man from the south.

Related Topics:
Summerhill, New York - Fuller - Buffalo, New York - Bar - 1823 - Aurora - 1828 - Legislature - Zachary Taylor - Comptroller - New York

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The Vice-Presidency

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."

Related Topics:
Slavery - Mexico - Mexican-American War

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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, he suggested to him that if there should be a tie vote on Henry Clay's bill, he would vote in favor of it.

Related Topics:
Compromise of 1850 - Henry Clay

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