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[103], As the election of 1852 approached, Fillmore remained undecided on whether to run for a full term as president. [141] According to biographer Scarry: "No president of the United States has suffered as much ridicule as Millard Fillmore. [66][67], It was customary in the mid-19th century for a candidate for high office not to appear to seek it. [107] The Fillmores had planned a tour of the South after they had left the White House, but Abigail caught a cold at President Pierce's inauguration, developed pneumonia, and died in Washington on March 30, 1853. Meanwhile, the recent Mexican War had made heroes of two generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Though her proposal did not pass, they became friends, met in person, and continued to correspond well after Fillmore's presidency. [30] He was also active in the New York Militia and attained the rank of major as inspector of the 47th Brigade. Political fixers who had been Whigs, such as Weed, tended to join the Republican Party, and the Know Nothings lacked experience at selling anything but nativism. Abigail Fillmore ( ne Powers; March 13, 1798 - March 30, 1853), wife of President Millard Fillmore, was the first lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. Enjoying the holidays with his family on an early Christmas Eve morn, 1851, he heard the Washington, D.C. fire chiefs call "Fire! 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. In late May, the Democrats nominated former New Hampshire senator Franklin Pierce, who had been out of federal politics for nearly a decade before 1852 but had a profile that had risen by his military service during the Mexican War. He failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852 but gained the endorsement of the nativist Know Nothing Party four years later and finished third in the 1856 presidential election. Accordingly, Fillmore's pro-Union stance mostly went unheard. [100] Fillmore and Webster dispatched Commodore Matthew C. Perry on the Perry Expedition to open Japan to relations with the outside world. By 1854 the order had morphed into the American Party, which became known as the Know Nothings. Despite all that had happened during his presidency and the issues around the death of Lincoln, his funeral was well-attended, and one of the mourners was Lincoln's vice president. It was common at that time to use the mother's maiden name. As a young lawyer, Fillmore was approached by a fledgling political party and asked to run for the New York State Assembly. 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. Fillmore actually agreed with many of Clay's positions but did not back him for president and was not in Philadelphia. Weed was an influential editor with whom Fillmore tended to co-operate for the greater good of the Whig Party. There was anger across party lines in the South, where making the territories free of slavery was considered to be the exclusion of Southerners from part of the national heritage. John Tyler - Presidency, Children & Facts - History [75], Fillmore was sworn in as vice president on March 5, 1849, in the Senate Chamber. Webster had outraged his Massachusetts constituents by supporting Clay's bill and, with his Senate term to expire in 1851, had no political future in his home state. The Fugitive Slave Act, expediting the return of escaped slaves to those who claimed ownership, was a controversial part of the compromise. Otherwise, Webster would withdraw in favor of Fillmore. A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Upstate New York, Fillmore was elected as the 12th vice president in 1848, and succeeded to the presidency in July 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor. Fillmore, Seward and Weed had met and come to a general agreement on how to divide federal jobs in New York. [106], Fillmore was the first president to return to private life without independent wealth or the possession of a landed estate. [110], The former president ended his seclusion in early 1854, as a debate over Senator Douglas's KansasNebraska Bill embroiled the nation. With backing from wealthy New Yorkers, their positions were publicized by the establishment of a rival newspaper to Weed's Albany Evening Journal. "[47], Weed deemed Fillmore "able in debate, wise in council, and inflexible in his political sentiments". He was a rival for the state party leadership with the editor Thurlow Weed and his protg, William H. Seward. [28] He proved effective anyway by promoting legislation to provide court witnesses the option of taking a non-religious oath and, in 1830, abolishing imprisonment for debt. President Fillmore and the Whigs: Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States of America, taking office upon the sudden. Abigail Fillmore was the wife of Millard Fillmore and the first of the First Ladies to hold a job after marriage. 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. [50], 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. He carefully weighed the political pros and cons of meeting with Pius. [61], President Polk had pledged not to seek a second term, and with gains in Congress during the 1846 election cycle, the Whigs were hopeful of taking the White House in 1848. My 7 year old has to answer questions about Millard Fillmore, and one question is about his favorite food.Rick, owner of Fillmore's Restaurant in NY was contacted.According to him his. SIBLINGS Millard Fillmore was the second child in a family of nine. "[128] Among these were the Buffalo General Hospital, which he helped found.[129]. The 1851 completion of the Erie Railroad in New York prompted Fillmore and his cabinet to ride the first train from New York City to the shores of Lake Erie, in the company with many other politicians and dignitaries. [3], Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard moved from Vermont in 1799 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. [12] In 1819 he took advantage of idle time at the mill to enroll at a new academy in the town, where he met a classmate, Abigail Powers, and fell in love with her. [141] Fillmore's handling of major political issues, such as slavery, has led many historians to describe him as weak and inept. The bill would open the northern portion of the Louisiana Purchase to settlement and end the northern limit on slavery under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Zachary Taylor Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements Through the legislative process, various 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. Southern proslavery forces in the party mistrusted his compromise policies. When it reached Tyler's desk, he signed it but, in the process, offended his erstwhile Democratic allies. Millard Fillmore | Presidency, Accomplishments, & Facts [145][163], According to the assessment of Fillmore by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia:[164]. 13, 1806, d. Jan. 17, 1830, Darius Ingraham Fillmore, b. Nov. 16, 1814, d. Mar. Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800, in a log cabin, on a farm in what is now Moravia, Cayuga County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. In his 1856 candidacy, he had little to say about immigration, focused instead on the preservation of the Union, and won only Maryland. Fillmore was instrumental in the passing of the Compromise of 1850, a bargain that led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped to divide his party as the 1852 election approached. Smith suggested that the Whigs might have done much better with Fillmore. [105], The final months of Fillmore's term were uneventful. Without the votes of much of the South and also of Northerners who depended on peaceful intersectional trade, Scott was easily beaten by Pierce in November. SIBLINGS Millard Fillmore was the second child in a family of nine. [132][133], Despite Fillmore's zeal in the war effort, he gave a speech in early 1864 calling for magnanimity towards the South after the war and counted its heavy cost, both in finances and in blood. The law also permitted a higher payment to the hearing magistrate for deciding the escapee was a slave, rather than a free man. 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 1842. Meanwhile, he also became engaged to Abigail Powers. 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. [124], The historian Allan Nevins wrote that Fillmore was not a Know Nothing or a nativist, offering as support that Fillmore was out of the country when the nomination came and had not been consulted about running. His association with the Know Nothings and his support of Johnson's reconstruction policies further tarnished his reputation and legacy. As a youngster, Abigail's. Webster was far more unhappy at the outcome than was Fillmore, who refused the secretary's resignation. With the Democrats split over the issue of slaverysome had left to form the anti-slavery Free Soil PartyTaylor and Fillmore took the White. The Continentals trained to defend the Buffalo area in the event of a Confederate attack. According to Rayback, "by mid-1849, Fillmore's situation had become desperate. [45] Nevertheless, Fillmore was made chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Most contentious was the Fugitive Slave Bill, whose provisions were anathema to abolitionists. [145] Another Fillmore biographer, Finkelman, commented, "on the central issues of the age his vision was myopic and his legacy is worse in the end, Fillmore was always on the wrong side of the great moral and political issues. Fillmore, sympathetic to the ambitions of his longtime friend, issued a letter in late 1851 stating that he did not seek a full term, but Fillmore was reluctant to rule it out for fear the party would be captured by the Sewardites. He continued to be active in the lame duck session of Congress that followed the 1842 elections and returned to Buffalo in April 1843. They were concerned that American sailors cast away on the Japanese coast were imprisoned as criminals. Fillmore intended to lecture Congress on the slavery question in his final annual message in December but was talked out of it by his cabinet, and he contented himself with pointing out the prosperity of the nation and expressing gratitude for the opportunity to serve it. Parents and Siblings. Buffalo was then rapidly expanding, recovering from British conflagration during the War of 1812, and becoming the western terminus of the Erie Canal. Many Americans were sympathetic to the Hungarian rebels, especially recent German immigrants, who were now coming in large numbers and had become a major political force. [73] The Whig ticket won the popular vote by 1,361,393 (47.3%) to 1,223,460 (42.5%) and triumphed 163 to 127 in the Electoral College. [21] 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. [100], The Venezuelan adventurer Narciso Lpez recruited Americans for three filibustering expeditions to Cuba in the hope of overthrowing Spanish rule. [59] With a united party at his back, Fillmore won by 38,000 votes, the largest margin that a Whig candidate for statewide office would ever achieve in New York. [147] Smith, on the other hand, found Fillmore "a conscientious president" who honored his oath of office by enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act rather than govern based on his personal preferences. 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. Millard Fillmore, author, Frank H. Severance, editor, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Navy expeditions to open trade in Japan, Tour of Millard Fillmore House Museum, East Aurora, New York, August 19, 1995, United States presidential nominating convention, federal court for the District of Columbia, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ranked by historians and political scientists, List of vice presidents of the United States, List of presidents of the United States by previous experience, Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps, "Millard Fillmore: Life Before the Presidency", "Biographical Dictionary of the Federal Judiciary", "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789Present", "Millard Fillmore was deservedly forgotten, but his politics sound familiar", "No Joke: Buffalo and Moravia Duke It Out Over Millard Fillmore", "Millard Fillmore's achievements should be celebrated, not vilified", "Millard Fillmore Academic Center (MFAC)", "Millard Fillmore Presidential $1 Coin 13th President, 18501853", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Presentation on Millard Fillmore by Paul Finkelman, June 23, 2011, Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos, Finding Aid to Millard Fillmore Letters, 18291859, Millard and Abigail Fillmore House Museum, East Aurora, NY, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Millard_Fillmore&oldid=1152168452. [2], 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. [143] Fillmore's name has become a byword in popular culture for easily forgotten and inconsequential presidents. The trip was at the advice of political friends, who felt that by touring he would avoid involvement in the contentious issues of the day. The addresses were portrayed as expressions of thanks for his reception, rather than as campaign speeches, which might be considered illicit office-seeking if they were made by a presidential hopeful. He did not seek re-election in 1831.[27][29]. [17] Refusing to pledge not to do so again, Fillmore gave up his clerkship.