Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore
Comptroller of New York
In office January 1, 1848 – February 20, 1849
Governor	John Young Hamilton Fish
Preceded by	House Ways and Means Committee
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	John Winston Jones
Succeeded by	James I. McKay
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 32nd district
In office March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	Thomas C. Love
Succeeded by	William A. Moseley
In office March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Thomas C. Love
Personal details
Born	(1800-01-07)January 7, 1800 Forest Lawn Cemetery , Buffalo
Political party	Anti-Masonic (1828–1832) Whig (1832–1855) Know Nothing (1855–1856) Democratic (from 1857)
Spouses	Abigail Powers ​ ​ (m. 1826; died 1853)​ Caroline McIntosh ​ (m. 1858)​
Children	Millard Mary
Parent	Nathaniel Fillmore (father)
Occupation	Politician lawyer
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	New York Militia New York Guard
Years of service	1820s–1830s (Militia) 1860s–1870s (Guard)
Rank	Major (Militia) Captain (Guard)
Commands	Union Continentals (Guard)
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th

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

Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800, in a log cabin, on a farm in what is now Moravia, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. His parents were Phoebe Millard and Nathaniel Fillmore,^[1] and he was the second of eight children and the oldest son.^[2] The Fillmores were of English descent; John Fillmore arrived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the colonial era.^[3][4]

Nathaniel Fillmore was the son of Nathaniel Fillmore Sr., a native of Franklin, Connecticut, who became one of the earliest settlers of Bennington, Vermont, when it was founded in the territory that was then called the New Hampshire Grants.^[5]

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.^[6][7] The historian Tyler Anbinder described Fillmore's childhood as "one of hard work, frequent privation, and virtually no formal schooling."^[1]

Over time Nathaniel became more successful in Sempronius, but during Millard's formative years, the family endured severe poverty.

His father then placed him in the same trade at a mill in New Hope.^[14] Seeking to better himself, Millard bought a share in a circulating library and read all the books that he could.^[14] 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.^[15]

Later in 1819 Nathaniel moved the family to Montville, a hamlet of Moravia.

In 1821 Fillmore turned 21, reaching adulthood.^[23] He taught school in East Aurora and accepted a few cases in justice of the peace courts, which did not require the practitioner to be a licensed attorney.^[23] 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. Meanwhile, he also became engaged to Abigail Powers.^[23] In 1823 he was admitted to the bar, declined offers from Buffalo law firms, and returned to East Aurora to establish a practice as the town's only resident lawyer.^[21][24] Later in life, Fillmore said he had initially lacked the self-confidence to practice in the larger city of Buffalo. His biographer, Paul Finkelman, suggested that after being under others' thumbs all his life, Fillmore enjoyed the independence of his East Aurora practice.^[25] Millard and Abigail wed on February 5, 1826. They had two children, Millard Powers Fillmore (1828–1889) and Mary Abigail Fillmore (1832–1854).^[26]

Buffalo politician

Other members of the Fillmore family were active in politics and government in addition to Nathaniel's service as a justice of the peace.^[c] Millard also became interested in politics, and the rise of the Anti-Masonic Party in the late 1820s provided his entry.^[29]

External videos
Tour of Millard Fillmore House Museum, East Aurora, New York, August 19, 1995, C-SPAN

Many Anti-Masons were opposed to the presidential candidacy of General

In addition to his legal practice Fillmore helped found the Buffalo High School Association, joined the lyceum, attended the local Unitarian church, and became a leading citizen of Buffalo.^[32] He was also active in the New York Militia and attained the rank of major as inspector of the 47th Brigade.^[33][34]

Representative

First term and return to Buffalo

In 1832 Fillmore ran successfully for the

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.[36] Even during the 1832 campaign, Fillmore's affiliation as an Anti-Mason had been uncertain, and he rapidly shed the label once sworn in. Fillmore came to the notice of the influential Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, who took the new representative under his wing. Fillmore became a firm supporter, and they continued their close relationship until Webster's death late in Fillmore's presidency.^[37] Despite Fillmore's support of the Second Bank as a means for national development, he did not speak in the congressional debates in which some advocated renewing its charter although Jackson had vetoed legislation for a charter renewal.^[38] Fillmore supported building infrastructure by voting in favor of navigation improvements on the Hudson River and constructing a bridge across the Potomac River.^[39]

Anti-Masonry was still strong in Western New York though it was petering out nationally. When the Anti-Masons did not nominate him for a second term in 1834, Fillmore declined the Whig nomination, seeing that the two parties would split the anti-Jackson vote and elect the Democrat. Despite Fillmore's departure from office, he was a rival for the state party leadership with Seward, the unsuccessful 1834 Whig

Van Buren, faced with the economic Panic of 1837, which was caused partly by the lack of confidence in private banknote issues after Jackson had instructed the government to accept only gold or silver, called a special session of Congress. Government money had been held in so-called "pet banks" since Jackson had withdrawn it from the Second Bank. Van Buren proposed to place funds in sub-treasuries, government depositories that would not lend money. 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. 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 supported the leading Whig vice-presidential candidate from 1836, Francis Granger, but Weed preferred Seward.

Fillmore was embittered when Weed got the nomination for Seward but campaigned loyally, Seward was elected, and Fillmore won another term in the House.^[43]

The rivalry between Fillmore and Seward was affected by the growing anti-slavery movement. Although Fillmore disliked slavery, he saw no reason for it to be a political issue. Seward, however, was hostile to slavery and made it clear in his actions as governor by refusing to return slaves claimed by Southerners.

Weed deemed Fillmore "able in debate, wise in council, and inflexible in his political sentiments".[50]

National figure

Out of office, Fillmore continued his law practice and made long-neglected repairs to his Buffalo home. He remained a major political figure and led the committee that welcomed John Quincy Adams to Buffalo. The former president expressed his regret at Fillmore's absence from the halls of Congress. Some urged Fillmore to run for vice president with Clay, the consensus Whig choice for president in 1844. Horace Greeley wrote privately that "my own first choice has long been Millard Fillmore," and others thought Fillmore should try to win back the governor's mansion for the Whigs.^[51] Seeking to return to Washington, Fillmore wanted the vice presidency.^[52]

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. Seward, however, withdrew before the 1844 Whig National Convention. 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. Weed's attempts to boost Fillmore as a gubernatorial candidate caused the latter to write, "I am not willing to be treacherously killed by this pretended kindness ... do not suppose for a minute that I think they desire my nomination for governor."^[53] New York sent a delegation to the convention in Baltimore pledged to support Clay but with no instructions as to how to vote for vice president. Weed told out-of-state delegates that the New York party preferred to have Fillmore as its gubernatorial candidate, and after Clay was nominated for president, the second place on the ticket fell to former New Jersey senator Theodore Frelinghuysen.^[54]

Putting a good face on his defeat, Fillmore met and publicly appeared with Frelinghuysen and quietly spurned Weed's offer to get him nominated as governor at the state convention. Fillmore's position in opposing slavery only at the state level made him acceptable as a statewide Whig candidate, and Weed saw to it the pressure on Fillmore increased. Fillmore had stated that a convention had the right to draft anyone for political service, and Weed got the convention to choose Fillmore, who had broad support, despite his reluctance.^[55]

The Democrats nominated Senator

Before moving to Albany to take office on January 1, 1848, he had left his law firm and rented out his house. Fillmore received positive reviews for his service as comptroller. In that office he was a member of the state canal board, supported its expansion, and saw that it was managed competently. He secured an enlargement of Buffalo's canal facilities. The comptroller regulated the banks, and Fillmore stabilized the currency by requiring that state-chartered banks keep New York and federal bonds to the value of the banknotes they issued. A similar plan was adopted by Congress in 1864.^[63]

Election of 1848

Nomination

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. The party's perennial candidates, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both wanted the nomination and amassed support from congressional colleagues. Many rank-and-file Whigs backed the Mexican War hero, General Zachary Taylor, for president. Although Taylor was extremely popular, many Northerners had qualms about electing a Louisiana slaveholder at a time of sectional tension over whether slavery should be allowed in the territories that had been ceded by Mexico. Taylor's uncertain political views gave others pause: his career in the Army had prevented him from ever casting a ballot for president though he stated that he was a Whig supporter. Some feared that they might elect another Tyler, or another Harrison.^[64]

With the nomination undecided, Weed maneuvered for New York to send an uncommitted delegation to the 1848 Whig National Convention in Philadelphia in the hope of being a kingmaker in a position to place ex-Governor Seward on the ticket or to get him a high federal office. He persuaded Fillmore to support an uncommitted ticket but did not tell the Buffalonian of his hopes for Seward. Weed was an influential editor with whom Fillmore tended to co-operate for the greater good of the Whig Party. However, Weed had sterner opponents, including Governor Young, who disliked Seward and did not want to see him gain high office.^[65]

Despite Weed's efforts, Taylor was nominated on the fourth ballot, to the anger of Clay's supporters and of

Weed had wanted the vice-presidential nomination for Seward, who attracted few delegate votes, and Collier had acted to frustrate them in more ways than one, since with the New Yorker Fillmore as vice president, under the political customs of the time, no one from that state could be named to the Cabinet. Fillmore was accused of complicity in Collier's actions, but that was never substantiated.[67] Nevertheless, there were sound reasons for Fillmore's selection, as he was a proven vote-getter from electorally-crucial New York, and his track record in Congress and as a candidate showed his devotion to Whig doctrine, allaying fears he might be another Tyler were something to happen to General Taylor. Delegates remembered him for his role in the Tariff of 1842, and he had been mentioned as a vice-presidential possibility, along with Lawrence and Ohio's Thomas Ewing. His rivalry with Seward, who was already known for anti-slavery views and statements, made Fillmore more acceptable in the South.^[68][69]

General election

It was customary in the mid-19th century for a candidate for high office not to appear to seek it. Thus, Fillmore remained at the comptroller's office in Albany and made no speeches. The 1848 campaign was conducted in the newspapers and with addresses made by surrogates at rallies. The Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan for president, with General William O. Butler as his running mate, but it became a three-way fight since the Free Soil Party, which opposed the spread of slavery, chose ex-President Van Buren.^[70] There was a crisis among the Whigs when Taylor also accepted the presidential nomination of a group of dissident South Carolina Democrats. 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. Fillmore interceded with the editor and assured him that Taylor was loyal to the party.^[71][72]

Northerners assumed that Fillmore, hailing from a free state, was an opponent of the spread of slavery. Southerners accused him of being an abolitionist, which he hotly denied.^[73] Fillmore responded to one Alabamian in a widely published letter that slavery was an evil, but the federal government had no authority over it.^[71] Taylor and Fillmore corresponded twice in September, with Taylor happy that the crisis over the South Carolinians was resolved. Fillmore assured his running mate that the electoral prospects for the ticket looked good, especially in the Northeast.^[74]

In the end the Taylor-Fillmore ticket won narrowly, with New York's electoral votes again key to the election.^[75] 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.^[d] Minor party candidates took no electoral votes,^[76] but the strength of the burgeoning anti-slavery movement was shown by the vote for Van Buren, who won no states but earned 291,501 votes (10.1%) and finished second in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts.^[77]

Vice presidency (1849–1850)

Fillmore was sworn in as vice president on March 5, 1849, in the

Through 1849, slavery was an unresolved issue in the territories. Taylor advocated the admission of California and New Mexico,[f] which were both likely to outlaw slavery. Southerners were surprised to learn the president, despite being a Southern slaveholder, did not support the introduction of slavery into the new territories, as he believed the institution could not flourish in the arid Southwest. 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. When Congress met in December 1849, the discord was manifested in the election for Speaker, which took weeks and dozens of ballots to resolve, as the House divided along sectional lines.^[80][81]

Fillmore countered the Weed machine by building a network of like-minded Whigs in New York State. With backing from wealthy New Yorkers, their positions were publicized by the establishment of a rival newspaper to Weed's Albany Evening Journal. All pretense at friendship between Fillmore and Weed vanished in November 1849 when they happened to meet in New York City and exchanged accusations.^[82]

Fillmore presided

Succession amid crisis

BEP-engraved portrait of Fillmore as president

July 4, 1850 was a very hot day in Washington, and President Taylor, who attended the

By July 31 Clay's bill was effectively dead, as all significant provisions other than the organization of Utah Territory had been removed by amendment. As one wag put it, the "Mormons" were the only remaining passengers on the omnibus.[90] Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas then stepped to the fore, with Clay's agreement, proposing to break the omnibus bill into individual bills that could be passed piecemeal.^[90] Fillmore endorsed that strategy, which eventually divided the compromise into five bills.^[1]

Fillmore sent a special message to Congress on August 6, 1850; disclosed the letter from Governor Bell and his reply; warned that armed Texans would be viewed as intruders; and urged Congress to defuse sectional tensions by passing the Compromise. Without the presence of the

Domestic affairs

The Fugitive Slave Act remained contentious after its enactment. Southerners complained bitterly about any leniency in its application, but its enforcement was highly offensive to many Northerners. Abolitionists recited the inequities of the law since anyone aiding an escaped slave was punished severely, and it granted no due process to the escapee, who could not testify before a magistrate. The law also permitted a higher payment to the hearing magistrate for deciding the escapee was a slave, rather than a free man. 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. He did so even though some prosecutions or attempts to return slaves ended badly for the government, with acquittals and the slave taken from federal custody and freed by a Boston mob. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise.^[93]

In August 1850 the social reformer Dorothea Dix wrote to Fillmore to urge support of her proposal in Congress for land grants to finance asylums for the impoverished mentally ill. Though her proposal did not pass, they became friends, met in person, and continued to correspond well after Fillmore's presidency.^[94]

In September 1850 Fillmore appointed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young as the first governor of Utah Territory.^[95] In gratitude, Young named the first territorial capital "Fillmore" and the surrounding county "Millard".^[96]

A longtime supporter of national infrastructure development, Fillmore signed bills to subsidize the

Fillmore appointed one justice to the Supreme Court of the United States and made four appointments to United States district courts, including that of his law partner and cabinet officer, Nathan Hall, to the federal district court in Buffalo.^[98] When Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury died in September 1851 with the Senate not in session, Fillmore made a recess appointment of Benjamin Robbins Curtis to the Court. In December, with Congress convened, Fillmore formally nominated Curtis, who was confirmed. In 1857 Justice Curtis dissented from the Court's decision in the slavery case of Dred Scott v. Sandford and resigned as a matter of principle.^[99]

Justice John McKinley's death in 1852 led to repeated fruitless attempts by the president to fill the vacancy. The Senate took no action on the nomination of the New Orleans attorney Edward A. Bradford. Fillmore's second choice, George Edmund Badger, asked for his name to be withdrawn. Senator-elect Judah P. Benjamin declined to serve. The nomination of William C. Micou, a New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was not acted on by the Senate. The vacancy was finally filled after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate.^[100]

Foreign relations

Fillmore oversaw two highly-competent Secretaries of State, Daniel Webster, and after the New Englander's 1852 death,

Fillmore was a staunch opponent of European influence in Hawaii. France, under Emperor Napoleon III, sought to annex Hawaii but backed down after Fillmore issued a strongly-worded message warning that "the United States would not stand for any such action."^[102]

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.^[103]

Fillmore had difficulties regarding Cuba since many Southerners hoped to see the island as an American slave territory. Cuba was a Spanish slave colony.^[102]

The Venezuelan adventurer Narciso López recruited Americans for three filibustering expeditions to Cuba in the hope of overthrowing Spanish rule. After the second attempt in 1850, López and some of his followers were indicted for breach of the Neutrality Act but were quickly acquitted by friendly Southern juries.^[102] The final López expedition ended with his execution by the Spanish, who put several Americans before the firing squad, including the nephew of Attorney General Crittenden. That resulted in riots against the Spanish in New Orleans, which caused their consul to flee. The historian Elbert B. Smith, who wrote of the Taylor and the Fillmore presidencies, suggested that Fillmore could have had war against Spain had he wanted. Instead, Fillmore, Webster, and the Spanish worked out a series of face-saving measures that settled the crisis without armed conflict. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped to divide his party as the 1852 election approached.^[104]

A much-publicized event of the Fillmore presidency was the late 1851 arrival of Lajos Kossuth, the exiled leader of a failed Hungarian revolution against Austria. Kossuth wanted the United States to recognize Hungary's independence. 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. Kossuth was feted by Congress, and Fillmore allowed a White House meeting after he had received word that Kossuth would not try to politicize it. Despite his promise, Kossuth made a speech promoting his cause. The American enthusiasm for Kossuth petered out, and he departed for Europe. Fillmore refused to change the American policy of remaining neutral.^[105]

Election of 1852 and completion of term

As the election of 1852 approached, Fillmore remained undecided on whether to run for a full term as president. Secretary Webster had long coveted the presidency and was past 70 but planned a final attempt to gain the White House. 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. Thus, approaching the national convention in Baltimore, to be held in June 1852, the major candidates were Fillmore, Webster, and General Scott. Weed and Seward backed Scott. 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. His nomination as a Northerner sympathetic to the southern view on slavery united the Democrats and meant that the Whig candidate would face an uphill battle to gain the presidency.^[106]

Fillmore had become unpopular with northern Whigs for signing and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act but still had considerable support from the South, where he was seen as the only candidate capable of uniting the party. Once the convention passed a party platform endorsing the Compromise as a final settlement of the slavery question, Fillmore was willing to withdraw. He found that many of his supporters could not accept Webster and that his action would nominate Scott. The convention was deadlocked until Saturday, June 19, when a total of 46 ballots had been taken, and the delegates adjourned until Monday. Party leaders proposed a deal to Fillmore and Webster: if the latter could increase his vote total over the next several ballots, enough Fillmore supporters would go along to put him over the top. Otherwise, Webster would withdraw in favor of Fillmore. The President quickly agreed, but Webster did not do so until Monday morning. On the 48th ballot, Webster delegates began to defect to Scott, and the general gained the nomination on the 53rd ballot. Webster was far more unhappy at the outcome than was Fillmore, who refused the secretary's resignation. 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. Smith suggested that the Whigs might have done much better with Fillmore.^[107]

The final months of Fillmore's term were uneventful. Webster died in October 1852, but during his final illness, Fillmore effectively acted as his own Secretary of State without incident, and Everett stepped competently into Webster's shoes. 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. There was little discussion of slavery during the lame-duck session of Congress, and Fillmore left office on March 4, 1853, to be succeeded by Pierce.^[108]

Post-presidency (1853–1874)

Personal tragedies

Fillmore was the first president to return to private life without independent wealth or the possession of a landed estate. With no pension to anticipate, he needed to earn a living and felt that it should be in a way that would uphold the dignity of his former office. His friend Judge Hall assured him it would be proper for him to practice law in the higher courts of New York, and Fillmore so intended.^[109] 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. A saddened Fillmore returned to Buffalo for the burial.^[110] The fact that he was in mourning limited his social activities, and he made ends meet on the income from his investments.^[111] He was bereaved again on July 26, 1854, when his only daughter, Mary, died of cholera.^[112]

Subsequent political activity

The former president ended his seclusion in early 1854, as a debate over Senator Douglas's Kansas–Nebraska Bill embroiled the nation. 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. Fillmore retained many supporters, planned an ostensibly nonpolitical national tour, and privately rallied disaffected Whig politicians to preserve the Union and to back him in a run for president. Fillmore made public appearances opening railroads and visiting the grave of Senator Clay but met with politicians outside the public eye during the late winter and the spring of 1854.^[113]

Such a comeback could not be under the auspices of the Whig Party, with its remnants divided by the Kansas–Nebraska legislation, which passed with the support of Pierce. Many northern foes of slavery, such as Seward, gravitated toward the new

Many from Fillmore's "National Whig" faction had joined the Know Nothings by 1854 and influenced the organization to take up causes besides nativism.[115] Fillmore was encouraged by the success of the Know Nothings in the 1854 midterm elections in which they won in several states of the Northeast and showed strength in the South. On January 1, 1855, he sent a letter for publication that warned against immigrant influence in American elections, and he soon joined the order.^[116]

Later that year Fillmore went abroad, and stated publicly that as he lacked office he might as well travel. 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. He spent over a year, from March 1855 to June 1856, in Europe and the Middle East. Queen Victoria is said to have pronounced the ex-president as the handsomest man she had ever seen, and his coincidental appearance with Van Buren in the gallery of the House of Commons provoked a comment from the MP John Bright.^[117]

Fillmore's allies were in full control of the American Party and arranged for him to get its presidential nomination while he was in Europe. The

Once Fillmore was back home in Buffalo, he had no excuse to make speeches, and his campaign stagnated through the summer and the fall of 1856. 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. Accordingly, Fillmore's pro-Union stance mostly went unheard. Although the South was friendly towards Fillmore, many people feared that a Frémont victory would lead to secession, and some of those who were sympathetic to Fillmore moved into the Buchanan camp for fear of splitting the anti-Frémont vote, which might elect the Republican.^[123] Scarry suggested that the events of 1856, including the conflict in Kansas Territory and the caning of Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate, polarized the nation and made Fillmore's moderate stance obsolete.^[124]

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. Fillmore and Donelson finished third by winning 873,053 votes (21.6%) and carrying the state of Maryland and its eight electoral votes.^[j] The American Party ticket narrowly lost in several southern states, and a change of fewer than 8,000 votes in Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee would have thrown the election to the House of Representatives, where the sectional divide would have made the outcome uncertain.^[126]

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. Nevins stated about Fillmore that "by no spoken or written word had he indicated a subscription to American tenets."^[127][128] However, Fillmore had sent a letter for publication in 1855 that explicitly denounced immigrant influence in elections^[116] and Fillmore stated that the American Party was the "only hope of forming a truly national party, which shall ignore this constant and distracting agitation of slavery."^[1]

Remarriage, later life, and death

Fillmore considered his political career to have ended with his defeat in 1856. He again felt inhibited from returning to the practice of law. But his financial worries ended on February 10, 1858, when he married Caroline McIntosh, a well-to-do widow. Their combined wealth allowed them to purchase a large house on Niagara Square in Buffalo, where they lived for the remainder of his life.^[129] There, the Fillmores devoted themselves to entertaining and philanthropy. According to the historian Smith, "They generously supported almost every conceivable cause."^[130] Among these were the Buffalo General Hospital, which he helped found.^[131]

In the 1860 presidential election Fillmore voted for Senator Douglas, the Democratic nominee. After the vote, in which the Republican nominee, former Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln, was elected, many sought out Fillmore's views, but he refused to take any part in the secession crisis that followed, feeling that he lacked influence.^[132] He decried Buchanan's inaction as states left the Union and wrote that although the federal government could not coerce a state, those advocating secession should be regarded as traitors. When Lincoln came to Buffalo en route to his inauguration, Fillmore led the committee selected to receive him, hosted him at his mansion, and took him to church.

Once the Civil War began, Fillmore supported Lincoln's efforts to preserve the Union.^[133] He commanded the Union Continentals, a corps of home guards of men over 45 from upstate New York. The Continentals trained to defend the Buffalo area in the event of a Confederate attack. They performed military drills and ceremonial functions at parades, funerals, and other events. The Union Continentals guarded Lincoln's funeral train in Buffalo. They continued operations after the war, and Fillmore remained active with them almost until his death.^[134][135]

Despite Fillmore's zeal in the war effort, he gave a speech in early 1864 calling for magnanimity toward the South after the war and counted its heavy cost, both in finances and in blood. The Lincoln administration saw the speech as an attack on it that could not be tolerated in an election year, and Fillmore was criticized in many newspapers and was called a Copperhead and even a traitor. That led to lasting ill-feeling against Fillmore in many circles.^[136]

In the 1864 presidential election, Fillmore supported the Democratic nominee, George B. McClellan, since he believed that the Democratic Party's plan for immediate cessation of fighting and allowing the seceded states to return with slavery intact was the best chance to restore the Union.^[137]

After

Fillmore stayed in good health almost to the end of his life. He suffered a stroke in February 1874, and died on March 8, at age 74, after suffering a second stroke. Two days later, he was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo after a funeral procession including hundreds of others.[141] The U.S. Senate sent three of its members to honor Fillmore, including former vice president Hannibal Hamlin.^[142]

Legacy and historical view

Fillmore is

According to the assessment of Fillmore by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia:^[164]

Any assessment of a President who served a century and a half ago must be refracted through a consideration of the interesting times in which he lived. Fillmore's political career encompassed the tortuous course toward the two-party system that we know today. The Whigs were not cohesive enough to survive the slavery imbroglio, while parties like the Anti-Masonics and Know-Nothings were too extremist. When, as President, Fillmore sided with proslavery elements in ordering enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, he all but guaranteed that he would be the last Whig President. The first modern two-party system of Whigs and Democrats had succeeded only in dividing the nation in two by the 1850s, and seven years later, the election of the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, would guarantee civil war.

See also

• List of presidents of the United States
• 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
• Fillmore Street, San Francisco, named for Millard Fillmore

Notes

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} American National Biography.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Millard Fillmore: Life Before the Presidency". American President: Miller Center of Public Affairs. 2010. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
3. ISBN 978-0-7864-4340-6
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4. ^ Millard Fillmore (1907). Millard Fillmore Papers. Buffalo Historical Society.
5. ^ Bassett, Mary Cooley; Johnston, Sarah Hall (1914). Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Vol. 39. Harrisburg, PA: Telegraph Printing Company. p. 111. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
6. ^ Rayback, 191–197.
7. ^ Storke, Elliot G (1879). History of Cayuga County, New York. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co. p. 513. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Internet Archive Digital Library.
8. ^ Snyder, p. 50.
9. ISBN 978-1-62376-576-7. Archived
   from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
10. ^ Smith, Henry Perry (1884). History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County. Vol. I. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co. p. 197.
11. ^ ^{a b} Scarry, 18.
12. OCLC 14246825. Archived
    from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
13. ^ Scarry, 19.
14. ^ ^{a b} Scarry, 20.
15. ^ Rayback, 224–258.
16. ^ Scarry, 22.
17. ^ ^{a b} Scarry, 23.
18. ^ Scarry, 24.
19. ^ Scarry, 25.
20. ^ Rayback, 258–308.
21. ^ ^{a b} Finkelman, p. 5.
22. ISBN 978-0-7385-0445-2
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23. ^ ^{a b c} Scarry, 26.
24. ^ Scarry, 528–34.
25. ^ Finkelman, pp. 5–6.
26. ^ Scarry, 128–134.
27. ^ Johnson, Crisfield (1876). Centennial History of Erie County, New York. Buffalo, NY: Matthews & Warren. pp. 355–356. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
28. ^ Centennial History of Erie County, New York.
29. ^ ^{a b c} Finkelman, pp. 12–13.
30. ^ Scarry, 42.
31. ^ Smith, p. 45.
32. ^ Rayback, 314, 750–810.
33. ^ Skinner, Roger Sherman (1830). The New-York State Register for 1830. New York: Clayton & Van Norden. p. 361. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
34. ^ Millard Fillmore Papers.
35. ^ Scarry, 936–940, 993–999.
36. ^ Rayback, 878–905.
37. ^ Finkelman, p. 13.
38. ^ Rayback, 1261.
39. ^ Scarry, 999.
40. ^ Finkelman, p. 14.
41. ^ Scarry, 1079.
42. ^ Rayback, 1495–1508.
43. ^ ^{a b} Rayback, 1556–1679.
44. ^ Scarry, 1326–1331.
45. ^ Scarry, 1356–1361.
46. ^ Scarry, 1891.
47. ^ Rayback, 1950–1957.
48. ^ Rayback, 1957–2186.
49. ^ Scarry, 1729–1776.
50. ^ Scarry, 1766.
51. ^ Scarry, 1776–1820.
52. ^ Rayback, 2417.
53. ^ Rayback, 2425–2471.
54. ^ Rayback, 2471–2486.
55. ^ ^{a b} Rayback, 2486–2536.
56. ^ Rayback, 2536–2562.
57. ^ Finkelman, p. 24.
58. ^ Finkelman, pp. 23–24.
59. ^ Finkelman, pp. 35, 152.
60. ^ Rayback, 2620.
61. ^ Rayback, 2735–2763.
62. ^ Finkelman, p. 25.
63. ^ Rayback, 2769–2799.
64. ^ Finkelman, pp. 43–45.
65. ^ Rayback, 2902–2955.
66. ^ Rayback, 2981–2994.
67. ^ Rayback, 3001–3008.
68. ^ Finkelman, pp. 47–49.
69. ^ Snyder, p. 37.
70. ^ Scarry, 3138–3150.
71. ^ ^{a b} Finkelman, p. 53.
72. ^ Scarry, 3188–3245.
73. ^ Finkelman, p. 51.
74. ^ Scarry, 3245–3258.
75. ^ Rayback, 3090.
76. ^ Scarry, 3283.
77. ^ Finkelman, pp. 51–52.
78. ^ ^{a b} Rayback, 3101–3307.
79. ^ Smith, pp. 160–162.
80. ^ Rayback, 3307–3367.
81. ^ Smith, pp. 93–94.
82. ^ Rayback, 3367–3399.
83. ^ Scarry, 3445–3467.
84. ^ Smith, pp. 138–139, 163–165.
85. ^ Finkelman, p. 1.
86. ^ Snyder, p. 43.
87. ^ Finkelman, pp. 72–77.
88. ^ ^{a b} Greenstein & Anderson, p. 48.
89. ^ Smith, pp. 152–157.
90. ^ ^{a b} Smith, pp. 158–160.
91. ^ Scarry, 4025–4102.
92. ^ Finkelman, pp. 82–85.
93. ^ Smith, pp. 208–13.
94. ^ Snyder, pp. 80–82.
95. ^ "The American Franchise". American President, An Online Reference Resource. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
96. ISBN 978-1-59811-452-2
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97. ^ Smith, pp. 199–200.
98. ^ "Biographical Dictionary of the Federal Judiciary". Washington, DC: Federal Judicial Center. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2012. searches run from page, "select research categories" then check "court type" and "nominating president", then select U.S. District Courts (or U.S. Circuit Courts) and also Millard Fillmore.
99. ^ Smith, pp. 218, 247.
100. ^ "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789–Present". Senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
101. ^ Smith, p. 233.
102. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Millard Fillmore: Foreign Affairs". American President: Miller Center of Public Affairs. 2010. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
103. ^ Smith, pp. 72–73.
104. ^ Smith, p. 228.
105. ^ Smith, pp. 230–232.
106. ^ Smith, pp. 238–244.
107. ^ Smith, pp. 244–247.
108. ^ Smith, pp. 247–249.
109. ^ Rayback, 5726–5745.
110. ^ Rayback, 5858–5865.
111. ^ Rayback, 6025–6031.
112. ^ Millard Fillmore, author, Frank H. Severance, editor, Millard Fillmore Papers Archived November 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Volume X, 1907, p. 25.
113. ^ Rayback, 6038–6057.
114. ^ Rayback, 5900–5966.
115. ^ Rayback, 5952–5959.
116. ^ ^{a b c} Smith, pp. 252–253.
117. ^ Rayback, 6191–6234.
118. ^ Snyder, pp. 217–218.
119. ^ Rayback, 6248.
120. ^ Finkelman, p. 132.
121. ^ Scarry, 6650–6699.
122. ^ Rayback, 6326–6411.
123. ^ Rayback, 6398–6458.
124. ^ Scarry, 6918.
125. ^ "Presidential Elections, 1789–2016". infoplease.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
126. ^ Rayback, 6458–6473.
127. ^ Nevins, Allan (1947). Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing 1852–1857. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 467.
128. ^ Gienapp, William E. (1987). The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856. p. 260n.
129. ^ Rayback, 6476–6518.
130. ^ Smith, pp. 254–255.
131. ^ "Hospital History". Kaleida Health. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
132. ^ Scarry, 7285–7297.
133. ^ Rayback, 6578–6600.
134. Buffalo Historical Society. 1885. p. 72. Archived
     from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
135. ^ Smith, pp. 264–265.
136. ^ Rayback, 6667–6706.
137. ^ Neil A. Hamilton, Presidents: A Biographical Dictionary Archived November 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, 2010, p. 111.
138. ^ Rayback, 6706.
139. ^ Finkelman, p. 154.
140. ^ Rayback, 6783–6790.
141. ^ Rayback, 6930–6946.
142. ^ Scarry, 8118.
143. ^
     ISBN 978-1-4408-6591-6
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144. ^ Scarry, 8151.
145. ^ Scarry, 8157–8161.
146. ^ Jacoby, Jeff (February 18, 2017). "Millard Fillmore was deservedly forgotten, but his politics sound familiar". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
147. ^ ^{a b} Anna Prior (February 18, 2010). "No Joke: Buffalo and Moravia Duke It Out Over Millard Fillmore". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
148. ^ Finkelman, p. 137.
149. ^ Rayback, 6953.
150. ^ Smith, pp. 257, 260.
151. ^ Calabresi & Yoo, p. 151.
152. ^ Smith, pp. 260–261.
153. ^ Smith, p. 254.
154. ^ Grayson, p. 120.
155. ^ Grayson, p. 83.
156. ^ Grayson, pp. 103–109.
157. ^ Smith, pp. 288–289.
158. ^ Greenstein & Anderson, p. 55.
159. ^ Campbell, James E. (September 19, 2020). "Millard Fillmore's achievements should be celebrated, not vilified". The Buffalo News. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
160. ^ "First Lady Biography: Abigail Fillmore". The National First Ladies' Library. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
161. ^ Rayback, 8151–8157.
162. ^ Scarry, 6946–6953.
163. ^ Smith, Lester (ed.). "Millard Fillmore Presidential $1 Coin – 13th President, 1850–1853". United States Mint. Archived from the original on December 14, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
164. ^ Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia (October 4, 2016). "Millard Fillmore: Impact and Legacy". Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016.

Sources

• Anbinder, Tyler (February 2000). "Fillmore, Millard". American National Biography Online. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
• ISBN 978-0-300-12126-1
  .
• ISBN 978-0-8050-8715-4
  .
• Grayson, Benson Lee (1981). The Unknown President: The Administration of Millard Fillmore.
  ISBN 978-0-8191-1457-0
  .
• ISBN 978-1-4008-4641-2
  .
• Rayback, Robert J. (2015) [1959]. Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President (Kindle ed.). Pickle Partners Publishing., a major scholarly biography
• Scarry, Robert J. (2001). Millard Fillmore (Kindle ed.).
  ISBN 978-1-4766-1398-7
  .
• ISBN 978-0-7006-0362-6
  .
• Snyder, Charles M. (1975). The Lady and the President: The Letters of Dorothea Dix and Millard Fillmore.
  ISBN 978-0-8131-1332-6
  .

Further reading

• Anbinder, Tyler. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s (1992). Oxford University Press.
• Fazio, N. Robert (2021). The Forgotten Four: The American Whig Presidents. Amazon Publishing.
  ISBN 979-8722977069
  .
• Holt, Michael F. (2004).
  ISBN 978-0-618-38273-6
  .
• Overdyke, W. Darrell (1950). The Know-Nothing Party in the South. Baton Rouge:
  OCLC 1377033
  .
• Schelin, Robert C. "Millard Fillmore, Anti-Mason to Know-Nothing: A Moderate in New York Politics, 1828-1856" (PhD dissertation, State University of New York at Binghamton; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1975.7520029).
• ISBN 978-1-118-60929-3
  . pp. 309–344.
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. "Fillmore, Millard". Encyclopedia Americana. Archived from the original on May 10, 2004. Retrieved May 9, 2007.

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Millard Fillmore

Wikiquote has quotations related to Millard Fillmore.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Millard Fillmore.

• United States Congress. "Millard Fillmore (id: F000115)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External videos
Presentation on Millard Fillmore by Paul Finkelman, June 23, 2011, C-SPAN

• Millard Fillmore: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos
• Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Millard Fillmore Papers by the Buffalo History Museum
• Finding Aid to Millard Fillmore Letters, 1829–1859 at the New York State Library
• Millard Fillmore Residences and Offices: A guide to Fillmore's addresses in Buffalo, NY, courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum
• Works by Millard Fillmore at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Millard Fillmore at Internet Archive
• Works by Millard Fillmore at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Millard Fillmore House, Buffalo, NY
• Millard and Abigail Fillmore House Museum, East Aurora, NY
• Essays on Fillmore and his presidency from the Miller Center, U of Virginia
• "Life Portrait of Millard Fillmore", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, June 11, 1999