Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore overcame the challenges of a poor frontier upbringing to become a successful lawyer. He had a career in state and federal politics before becoming vice president of the United States in 1848. He became the thirteenth president of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor (1784–1850; served 1849–50) in 1850.

Early years

Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800, in a log cabin on the frontier in western New York . His parents, Nathaniel and Phoebe Fillmore, had a small farm.

Fillmore learned to read as a child, but he did not attend school until he was nineteen. At the Academy of Good Hope in New Hope, New York, Fillmore fell in love with books and a young teacher, Abigail Powers. A long courtship began, and they were married on February 5, 1826. They had two children.

Abigail continued to teach throughout their courtship and marriage while Fillmore studied to become a lawyer. He never attended law school, but learned by studying and working in the offices of a county judge and other attorneys. In 1823, Fillmore passed the bar, a test that must be taken and passed to become a lawyer. Fillmore then established a successful practice in East Aurora, New York, and eventually formed a partnership with two other attorneys in nearby Buffalo. In 1830, he moved his family to Buffalo.

Politics

Fillmore was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1828. As a member of the Whig Party , Fillmore supported the national bank, protective U.S. tariffs, and internal improvements sponsored by the federal government. After serving three terms in the state legislature, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1832. He served one term of two years and then returned to his home in Buffalo to practice law.

Fillmore ran for Congress again in 1836 and returned to serve in the House of Representatives for three more terms, declining nomination in 1842. He rose rapidly within the Whig Party and became the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee during his last term.

The Whig Party was the second major political party in the United States by the mid-1840s. As a successful congressman, Fillmore earned his party's attention and was nominated for governor of New York in 1844. Fillmore lost the election to U.S. senator Silas Wright (1795–1847) by only ten thousand votes. He was elected as New York comptroller in 1847, but he remained in that position only briefly. In 1848, the Whigs nominated him as vice president to run with the presidential nominee, Mexican-American War general Zachary Taylor. They won election in November and were inaugurated in March 1849.

The presidency

President Taylor fell ill and died in July 1850. Upon Taylor's death, Fillmore was sworn in as president on July 10, 1850. At that time, debates concerning the westward expansion of slavery were raging in Congress, and the nation was on the verge of being torn apart by the issue.

In an effort to avert civil war, compromise legislation had been introduced in Congress. Fillmore backed the proposal. At first it was defeated, but when the legislation was broken down into five different bills, it passed. The Compromise of 1850 was adopted in September 1850 with Fillmore's approval.

The slavery issue was the most challenging aspect of Fillmore's presidency. The Compromise of 1850 was not fully satisfactory to the proslavery or antislavery political factions. Abolitionists and slaves remained determined to end slavery forever. Emotions were heightened by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required the federal government to enforce the return of runaway slaves. National debate continued with the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery book Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852.

By 1852, internal differences were weakening the Whig Party, and it was in decline. As a result, Fillmore failed to gain the party's support for nomination in the presidential election of 1852. It was the last presidential election in which the Whigs would participate, and the party dissolved soon after.

Many Whigs, including Fillmore, found a temporary political home in the Know-Nothing Party (also known as the American Party). In 1856, it nominated Fillmore as the party's presidential candidate. His campaign stressed the value of the Union and the dangers of sectionalism, and he lost.

Later years

Abigail had died soon after they left the White House in 1853. After losing the election in 1856, Fillmore returned to Buffalo and he soon busied himself with civic affairs. He was the first president of the Buffalo Historical Society, first chancellor of the University of Buffalo, a founder of the Buffalo General Hospital, and a trustee of the local library. In February 1858, he married a local widow, Caroline McIntosh. They shared life together in Buffalo until Fillmore's death, from a series of strokes, on March 8, 1874.