Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853, the last president to have been a member of the Whig Party while in office. A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Fillmore was elected vice president in 1848, and succeeded to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in July 1850. Fillmore was instrumental in passing the Compromise of 1850, which led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery.Fillmore was born into poverty in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York. Though he had little formal schooling, he studied diligently to become a lawyer. He became prominent in the Buffalo area as an attorney and politician, and was elected to the New York Assembly in 1828 and the House of Representatives in 1832. Fillmore initially belonged to the Anti-Masonic Party, but became a member of the Whig Party as it formed in the mid-1830s. He was a rival for the state party leadership with the editor Thurlow Weed and his protégé William H. Seward. Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery evil but said it was beyond the federal government's power to end it. Seward was openly hostile to slavery and argued that the federal government had a role to play in ending it. Fillmore was an unsuccessful candidate for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives when the Whigs took control of the chamber in 1841, but was made chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. 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.
As vice president, Fillmore was largely ignored by Taylor; even in dispensing patronage in New York, Taylor consulted Weed and Seward. But in his capacity as president of the Senate, Fillmore presided over its angry debates, as the 31st Congress decided whether to allow slavery in the Mexican Cession. Unlike Taylor, Fillmore supported Henry Clay's omnibus bill, the basis of the 1850 Compromise. Upon becoming president in July 1850, he dismissed Taylor's cabinet and pushed Congress to pass the compromise. The Fugitive Slave Act, expediting the return of escaped slaves to those who claimed ownership, was a controversial part of the compromise. Fillmore felt duty-bound to enforce it, though it damaged his popularity and also the Whig Party, which was torn between its Northern and Southern factions. In foreign policy, he supported U.S. Navy expeditions to open trade in Japan, opposed French designs on Hawaii, and was embarrassed by Narciso López's filibuster expeditions to Cuba. Fillmore failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852.
As the Whig Party broke up after Fillmore's presidency, he and many in its conservative wing joined the Know Nothings and formed the American Party. Despite his party's emphasis on anti-immigration and anti-Catholic policies, during his candidacy in the 1856 presidential election, he said little about immigration, focusing on the preservation of the Union, and won only Maryland. During the American Civil War, Fillmore denounced secession and agreed that the Union must be maintained by force if necessary, but was critical of Abraham Lincoln's war policies. After peace was restored, he supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. Fillmore remained involved in civic interests after his presidency, including as chancellor of the University of Buffalo, which he had helped found in 1846. Historians usually rank Fillmore among the worst presidents in American history, largely for his policies regarding slavery, as well as among the least memorable. His association with the Know Nothings and support of Johnson's reconstruction policies further tarnished his reputation. Provided by Wikipedia
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An examination of the question, 'Is it right to require any religious test as a qualification to be a witness in a court of justice?' by Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
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Speech of Mr. Fillmore, of New York, on the tariff bill / by Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
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Millard Fillmore papers ... / by Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
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Colored emigration -- British West Indies. Message from the President of the United States, in reference to the emigration of colored laborers to the British West Indies. May 3, 18...
Published 1852Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating the correspondence relative to the prisoners captured by the Spanish authorities at or near the island of Contoy; and...
Published 1851Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information in relation to the difficulties between the British autho...
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[Opinions of Attorneys General. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting opinions of Attorneys General. March 3, 1851. Ordered to be printed.]
Published 1851Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information concerning the forcible abduction of a citizen of the Uni...
Published 1851Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Foreigners -- Cuban expedition. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a report from the First Comptroller in response to such of the Cuban prisoners as were...
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Message of the President of the United States, communicating the correspondence in relation to the claim of the owners of the Amistad for compensation, on account of the liberation...
Published 1851Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message of the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, a report of the Secretary of State, with documents relating to the Afri...
Published 1850Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Mint and branches. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting the annual report of the Mint and branches. March 3, 1851. Ordered to be printed
Published 1851Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message of the President of the United States, communicating the correspondence in relation to the claim of the owners of the Amistad for compensation, on account of the liberation...
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Schooner Amistad. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Spanish minister relative to the case of the Amistad. January 19, 1853. --...
Published 1853Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message from the President of the United States, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, information in relation to foreign postal arrangements, and especiall...
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Message from the President of the United States to the two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the second session of the Thirty-second Congress. December 6, 1852. -- Read, a...
Published 1852Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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Message of the President of the United States, communicating the report of the Director of the Mint, showing the operations of the Mint and branch Mints during the year 1850. Febru...
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Mint of the United States. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting the annual report of the Director of the Mint. February 12, 1853. -- Ordered to be printed.
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Schooner Amistad. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Spanish minister relative to the case of the Amistad. January 19, 1853. --...
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Naval appropriations for 1842. (To accompany Bill H.R. No. 76.) May 2, 1842.
Published 1842Other Authors: “…Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874…”
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