After finishing third behind Democrat James Buchanan and Republican John C. Fremont, Fillmore retired from politics.
Before his presidency, Polk served in the Tennessee legislature and the U.S. ...read more, James Buchanan (1791-1868), America’s 15th president, was in office from 1857 to 1861. "[1], Over time, Nathaniel became more successful in Sempronius, but during Millard's formative years, the family endured severe poverty. "[100], Taylor had pressed Portugal for payment of American claims dating as far back as the War of 1812 and had refused offers of arbitration, but Fillmore gained a favorable settlement. Fillmore's political career encompassed the tortuous course toward the two-party system that we know today. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped to divide his party as the 1852 election approached. "[146] He ascribed much of the abuse to a tendency to denigrate the presidents who served in the years just prior to the Civil War as lacking in leadership. For example, President Harry S. Truman later "characterized Fillmore as a weak, trivial thumb-twaddler who would do nothing to offend anyone" and as responsible in part for the war. He went to Buffalo, New York, where he worked in a law office for room and board. Van Buren's sub-treasury and other economic proposals passed, but as hard times continued, the Whigs saw an increased vote in the 1837 elections and captured the New York Assembly, which set up a fight for the 1838 gubernatorial nomination.
Fillmore, unlike Taylor, supported Henry Clay's Omnibus Bill, which was the basis of the 1850 Compromise.
This stance alienated Fillmore from voters in the North, and in 1852 he failed to gain the Whig nomination. [54] He was not friendly to immigrants and blamed his defeat on "foreign Catholics.
Douglas’s effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore’s pressure from the White House to give impetus to the Compromise movement.
He ran in the election of 1856 as the party's presidential candidate, attempting to win a nonconsecutive second term as President (a feat accomplished only once in American politics, by Grover Cleveland). His solution was to appease both northern and southern Whigs. Delegates hung on his every word as he described himself as a Clay partisan; he had voted for Clay on each ballot. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery an evil but that it was beyond the powers of the federal government. Elected vice president in 1848, he became chief executive on the death of President Zachary Taylor (July 1850). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Fillmore's second choice, George Edmund Badger, asked for his name to be withdrawn.
[10] Fillmore was relegated to menial labor. Despite popular legend surrounding the humble origins of various politicians before and after him, Millard Fillmore was one of the few presidents actually born in a log cabin, in Cayuga County, part of New York’s Finger Lakes region, on January 7, 1800. [13] When the compromise finally came before both Houses of Congress, it was very watered down. [126], On election day, Buchanan won with 1,836,072 votes (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes to Frémont's 1,342,345 votes (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes. Some northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They formed the broad-based Whig Party from National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and disaffected Democrats. [141] Fillmore supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies since he felt that the nation needed to be reconciled as quickly as possible. Except for one term (1835–37) Fillmore served in Congress continuously until 1843. Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850. At the national Whig convention in 1848, Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican War (1846–48), was nominated for president and Fillmore for vice president, largely through Clay’s sponsorship. He received little formal education, apprenticing to a wool carder as a teenager before switching to work in a law office. Defeated in bids for the Whig nomination for vice president in 1844 and for New York governor the same year, Fillmore was elected Comptroller of New York in 1847, the first to hold that post by direct election.
Fillmore refused to change American policy, and decided to remain neutral despite the political implications that neutrality would produce. [28][29][30][31], While Fillmore's letters and papers are owned by multiple institutions, including the Penfield Library of the State University of New York at Oswego, the largest surviving collection is in the Research Library at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. The nomination of William C. Micou, a New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was not acted on by the Senate. https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/millard-fillmore. Millard Fillmore became the President because Zachary Taylor, or Old Rough and Ready, was a bit too old and rough and not enough ready.
Because the Whig party was so deeply divided, and the two leading national figures in the Whig party (Fillmore and his own Secretary of State, Daniel Webster) refused to combine to secure the nomination, Winfield Scott received it.
[78][79], Fillmore countered the Weed machine by building a network of like-minded Whigs in New York State.
Fillmore began his political career in the anti-Masonic party, but switched to the Whig Party through his association with Henry Clay. Fillmore was angered when President Polk vetoed a river and harbors bill that would have benefited Buffalo,[57] and he wrote, "May God save the country for it is evident the people will not. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. In a few years his law firm was one of the best known in the state. When Millard was 14 years old his father hired him out for seven years as a woolworker. 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.".
The Whig Party refused to nominate him for a second term in 1852, and Fillmore thus became the nation’s last Whig president. This proved to be the last campaign in which the Whigs took an effective part. [86], The brief pause from politics out of national grief at Taylor's death did not abate the crisis. Fillmore felt himself duty-bound to enforce it despite its damage to the popularity of both him and the Whig Party, which was torn between its northern and southern factions. Start your free trial today. Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, which languished in Congress. He found that many of his supporters could not accept Webster and that his action would nominate Scott. The vacancy was finally filled after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Millard-Fillmore, Maps of World - Biography of Millard Fillmoret the 13th President of US, National Park Service - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Millard Fillmore, The White House - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Millard Fillmore - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Millard Fillmore - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), presidency of the United States of America, vice president of the United States of America, Charles Magill Conrad (from August 15, 1850), Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (from August 15, 1850), Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (from September 16, 1850). 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.
[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. 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. They would have two children, Millard Powers Fillmore (1828–1889) and Mary Abigail Fillmore (1832–1854). After Taylor died suddenly on July 9, 1850, Fillmore became president. He carefully weighed the political pros and cons of meeting with Pius. 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.
After finishing third behind Democrat James Buchanan and Republican John C. Fremont, Fillmore retired from politics.
Before his presidency, Polk served in the Tennessee legislature and the U.S. ...read more, James Buchanan (1791-1868), America’s 15th president, was in office from 1857 to 1861. "[1], Over time, Nathaniel became more successful in Sempronius, but during Millard's formative years, the family endured severe poverty. "[100], Taylor had pressed Portugal for payment of American claims dating as far back as the War of 1812 and had refused offers of arbitration, but Fillmore gained a favorable settlement. Fillmore's political career encompassed the tortuous course toward the two-party system that we know today. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped to divide his party as the 1852 election approached. "[146] He ascribed much of the abuse to a tendency to denigrate the presidents who served in the years just prior to the Civil War as lacking in leadership. For example, President Harry S. Truman later "characterized Fillmore as a weak, trivial thumb-twaddler who would do nothing to offend anyone" and as responsible in part for the war. He went to Buffalo, New York, where he worked in a law office for room and board. Van Buren's sub-treasury and other economic proposals passed, but as hard times continued, the Whigs saw an increased vote in the 1837 elections and captured the New York Assembly, which set up a fight for the 1838 gubernatorial nomination.
Fillmore, unlike Taylor, supported Henry Clay's Omnibus Bill, which was the basis of the 1850 Compromise.
This stance alienated Fillmore from voters in the North, and in 1852 he failed to gain the Whig nomination. [54] He was not friendly to immigrants and blamed his defeat on "foreign Catholics.
Douglas’s effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore’s pressure from the White House to give impetus to the Compromise movement.
He ran in the election of 1856 as the party's presidential candidate, attempting to win a nonconsecutive second term as President (a feat accomplished only once in American politics, by Grover Cleveland). His solution was to appease both northern and southern Whigs. Delegates hung on his every word as he described himself as a Clay partisan; he had voted for Clay on each ballot. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery an evil but that it was beyond the powers of the federal government. Elected vice president in 1848, he became chief executive on the death of President Zachary Taylor (July 1850). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Fillmore's second choice, George Edmund Badger, asked for his name to be withdrawn.
[10] Fillmore was relegated to menial labor. Despite popular legend surrounding the humble origins of various politicians before and after him, Millard Fillmore was one of the few presidents actually born in a log cabin, in Cayuga County, part of New York’s Finger Lakes region, on January 7, 1800. [13] When the compromise finally came before both Houses of Congress, it was very watered down. [126], On election day, Buchanan won with 1,836,072 votes (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes to Frémont's 1,342,345 votes (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes. Some northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They formed the broad-based Whig Party from National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and disaffected Democrats. [141] Fillmore supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies since he felt that the nation needed to be reconciled as quickly as possible. Except for one term (1835–37) Fillmore served in Congress continuously until 1843. Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850. At the national Whig convention in 1848, Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican War (1846–48), was nominated for president and Fillmore for vice president, largely through Clay’s sponsorship. He received little formal education, apprenticing to a wool carder as a teenager before switching to work in a law office. Defeated in bids for the Whig nomination for vice president in 1844 and for New York governor the same year, Fillmore was elected Comptroller of New York in 1847, the first to hold that post by direct election.
Fillmore refused to change American policy, and decided to remain neutral despite the political implications that neutrality would produce. [28][29][30][31], While Fillmore's letters and papers are owned by multiple institutions, including the Penfield Library of the State University of New York at Oswego, the largest surviving collection is in the Research Library at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. The nomination of William C. Micou, a New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was not acted on by the Senate. https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/millard-fillmore. Millard Fillmore became the President because Zachary Taylor, or Old Rough and Ready, was a bit too old and rough and not enough ready.
Because the Whig party was so deeply divided, and the two leading national figures in the Whig party (Fillmore and his own Secretary of State, Daniel Webster) refused to combine to secure the nomination, Winfield Scott received it.
[78][79], Fillmore countered the Weed machine by building a network of like-minded Whigs in New York State.
Fillmore began his political career in the anti-Masonic party, but switched to the Whig Party through his association with Henry Clay. Fillmore was angered when President Polk vetoed a river and harbors bill that would have benefited Buffalo,[57] and he wrote, "May God save the country for it is evident the people will not. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. In a few years his law firm was one of the best known in the state. When Millard was 14 years old his father hired him out for seven years as a woolworker. 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.".
The Whig Party refused to nominate him for a second term in 1852, and Fillmore thus became the nation’s last Whig president. This proved to be the last campaign in which the Whigs took an effective part. [86], The brief pause from politics out of national grief at Taylor's death did not abate the crisis. Fillmore felt himself duty-bound to enforce it despite its damage to the popularity of both him and the Whig Party, which was torn between its northern and southern factions. Start your free trial today. Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, which languished in Congress. He found that many of his supporters could not accept Webster and that his action would nominate Scott. The vacancy was finally filled after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Millard-Fillmore, Maps of World - Biography of Millard Fillmoret the 13th President of US, National Park Service - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Millard Fillmore, The White House - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Millard Fillmore - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Millard Fillmore - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), presidency of the United States of America, vice president of the United States of America, Charles Magill Conrad (from August 15, 1850), Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (from August 15, 1850), Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (from September 16, 1850). 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.
[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. 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. They would have two children, Millard Powers Fillmore (1828–1889) and Mary Abigail Fillmore (1832–1854). After Taylor died suddenly on July 9, 1850, Fillmore became president. He carefully weighed the political pros and cons of meeting with Pius. 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.
Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. [69] Taylor and Fillmore corresponded twice in September, with Taylor happy that the crisis over the South Carolinians was resolved. "[58] At the time, New York governors served a two-year term, and Fillmore could have had the Whig nomination in 1846 had he wanted it. On January 7 each year, a ceremony is held at his grave site in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. 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 1828. "[150], On the other hand, Smith found him to be "a conscientious president" who chose to honor his oath of office and enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, rather than govern based on his personal preferences. [24] Meanwhile, the Fillmore administration resolved a serious dispute with Portugal left over from the Taylor administration,[25] smoothed over a disagreement with Peru, and then peacefully resolved other disputes with England, France, and Spain over Cuba. By continuing to use this site, you consent to the terms of our cookie policy, which can be found in our. Campaign banner for Whig Party candidate Zachary Taylor and vice presidential running mate Millard Fillmore, 1848.
After finishing third behind Democrat James Buchanan and Republican John C. Fremont, Fillmore retired from politics.
Before his presidency, Polk served in the Tennessee legislature and the U.S. ...read more, James Buchanan (1791-1868), America’s 15th president, was in office from 1857 to 1861. "[1], Over time, Nathaniel became more successful in Sempronius, but during Millard's formative years, the family endured severe poverty. "[100], Taylor had pressed Portugal for payment of American claims dating as far back as the War of 1812 and had refused offers of arbitration, but Fillmore gained a favorable settlement. Fillmore's political career encompassed the tortuous course toward the two-party system that we know today. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped to divide his party as the 1852 election approached. "[146] He ascribed much of the abuse to a tendency to denigrate the presidents who served in the years just prior to the Civil War as lacking in leadership. For example, President Harry S. Truman later "characterized Fillmore as a weak, trivial thumb-twaddler who would do nothing to offend anyone" and as responsible in part for the war. He went to Buffalo, New York, where he worked in a law office for room and board. Van Buren's sub-treasury and other economic proposals passed, but as hard times continued, the Whigs saw an increased vote in the 1837 elections and captured the New York Assembly, which set up a fight for the 1838 gubernatorial nomination.
Fillmore, unlike Taylor, supported Henry Clay's Omnibus Bill, which was the basis of the 1850 Compromise.
This stance alienated Fillmore from voters in the North, and in 1852 he failed to gain the Whig nomination. [54] He was not friendly to immigrants and blamed his defeat on "foreign Catholics.
Douglas’s effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore’s pressure from the White House to give impetus to the Compromise movement.
He ran in the election of 1856 as the party's presidential candidate, attempting to win a nonconsecutive second term as President (a feat accomplished only once in American politics, by Grover Cleveland). His solution was to appease both northern and southern Whigs. Delegates hung on his every word as he described himself as a Clay partisan; he had voted for Clay on each ballot. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery an evil but that it was beyond the powers of the federal government. Elected vice president in 1848, he became chief executive on the death of President Zachary Taylor (July 1850). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Fillmore's second choice, George Edmund Badger, asked for his name to be withdrawn.
[10] Fillmore was relegated to menial labor. Despite popular legend surrounding the humble origins of various politicians before and after him, Millard Fillmore was one of the few presidents actually born in a log cabin, in Cayuga County, part of New York’s Finger Lakes region, on January 7, 1800. [13] When the compromise finally came before both Houses of Congress, it was very watered down. [126], On election day, Buchanan won with 1,836,072 votes (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes to Frémont's 1,342,345 votes (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes. Some northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They formed the broad-based Whig Party from National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and disaffected Democrats. [141] Fillmore supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies since he felt that the nation needed to be reconciled as quickly as possible. Except for one term (1835–37) Fillmore served in Congress continuously until 1843. Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the Compromise of 1850. At the national Whig convention in 1848, Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican War (1846–48), was nominated for president and Fillmore for vice president, largely through Clay’s sponsorship. He received little formal education, apprenticing to a wool carder as a teenager before switching to work in a law office. Defeated in bids for the Whig nomination for vice president in 1844 and for New York governor the same year, Fillmore was elected Comptroller of New York in 1847, the first to hold that post by direct election.
Fillmore refused to change American policy, and decided to remain neutral despite the political implications that neutrality would produce. [28][29][30][31], While Fillmore's letters and papers are owned by multiple institutions, including the Penfield Library of the State University of New York at Oswego, the largest surviving collection is in the Research Library at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. The nomination of William C. Micou, a New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was not acted on by the Senate. https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/millard-fillmore. Millard Fillmore became the President because Zachary Taylor, or Old Rough and Ready, was a bit too old and rough and not enough ready.
Because the Whig party was so deeply divided, and the two leading national figures in the Whig party (Fillmore and his own Secretary of State, Daniel Webster) refused to combine to secure the nomination, Winfield Scott received it.
[78][79], Fillmore countered the Weed machine by building a network of like-minded Whigs in New York State.
Fillmore began his political career in the anti-Masonic party, but switched to the Whig Party through his association with Henry Clay. Fillmore was angered when President Polk vetoed a river and harbors bill that would have benefited Buffalo,[57] and he wrote, "May God save the country for it is evident the people will not. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. In a few years his law firm was one of the best known in the state. When Millard was 14 years old his father hired him out for seven years as a woolworker. 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.".
The Whig Party refused to nominate him for a second term in 1852, and Fillmore thus became the nation’s last Whig president. This proved to be the last campaign in which the Whigs took an effective part. [86], The brief pause from politics out of national grief at Taylor's death did not abate the crisis. Fillmore felt himself duty-bound to enforce it despite its damage to the popularity of both him and the Whig Party, which was torn between its northern and southern factions. Start your free trial today. Taylor was unenthusiastic about the bill, which languished in Congress. He found that many of his supporters could not accept Webster and that his action would nominate Scott. The vacancy was finally filled after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Millard-Fillmore, Maps of World - Biography of Millard Fillmoret the 13th President of US, National Park Service - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Millard Fillmore, The White House - Biography of Millard Fillmore, Millard Fillmore - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Millard Fillmore - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), presidency of the United States of America, vice president of the United States of America, Charles Magill Conrad (from August 15, 1850), Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (from August 15, 1850), Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (from September 16, 1850). 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.
[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. 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. They would have two children, Millard Powers Fillmore (1828–1889) and Mary Abigail Fillmore (1832–1854). After Taylor died suddenly on July 9, 1850, Fillmore became president. He carefully weighed the political pros and cons of meeting with Pius. 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.
