[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. Webster was far more unhappy at the outcome than was Fillmore, who refused the secretary's resignation. [115], Dorothea Dix had preceded him to Europe and was lobbying to improve conditions for the mentally ill. 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. He carefully weighed the political pros and cons of meeting with Pius. [103], As the election of 1852 approached, Fillmore remained undecided on whether to run for a full term as president. [122], Buchanan won with 1,836,072 votes (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes to Frmont's 1,342,345 votes (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes. [55] Clay was beaten as well. Fillmore, unlike Taylor, supported Henry Clay's omnibus bill, which was the basis of the 1850 Compromise. Seward, however, was hostile to slavery and made it clear in his actions as governor by refusing to return slaves claimed by Southerners. Nevins stated about Fillmore that "by no spoken or written word had he indicated a subscription to American tenets. Fillmore was accused of complicity in Collier's actions, but that was never substantiated. [41] When the Buffalo bar proposed Fillmore for the position of vice-chancellor of the eighth judicial district in 1839, Seward refused, nominated Frederick Whittlesey, and indicated that if the New York Senate rejected Whittlesey he still would not appoint Fillmore. The convention was deadlocked until Saturday, June 19, when a total of 46 ballots had been taken, and the delegates adjourned until Monday. 13, 1806, d. Jan. 17, 1830, Darius Ingraham Fillmore, b. Nov. 16, 1814, d. Mar. Since March 4 (which was then Inauguration Day) fell on a Sunday, the swearing-in was postponed to the following day. 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). [100] Fillmore and Webster dispatched Commodore Matthew C. Perry on the Perry Expedition to open Japan to relations with the outside world. Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 - March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853, the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. Democrats, led by their presidential candidate, Vice President Martin Van Buren, were victorious nationwide and in Van Buren's home state of New York, but Western New York voted Whig and sent Fillmore back to Washington.[40]. Fillmore assured his running mate that the electoral prospects for the ticket looked good, especially in the Northeast. [49] Seeking to return to Washington, Fillmore wanted the vice presidency. Marie. 9, 1837, Charles De Witt Fillmore, b. Sept. 23, 1817, d. 1854, Phoebe Maria Fillmore, b. Nov. 23, 1819, d. July 2, 1843. which benefit does a community experience when its members have a high level of health literacy? 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. Thus Fillmore not only achieved his legislative goal but also managed to isolate Tyler politically. According to Rayback, "by mid-1849, Fillmore's situation had become desperate. [104], 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. The ongoing sectional conflict had already excited much discussion when on January 21, 1850, President Taylor sent a special message to Congress that urged the admission of California immediately and New Mexico later and for the Supreme Court to settle the boundary dispute whereby the state of Texas claimed much of what is now the state of New Mexico. Fillmore's political career encompassed the tortuous course toward the two-party system that we know today. Once he went to Washington, Seward made friendly contact with Taylor's cabinet nominees, advisers, and the general's brother. 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. Thus, approaching the national convention in Baltimore, to be held in June 1852, the major candidates were Fillmore, Webster, and General Scott. Such cases were widely publicized North and South, inflamed passions in both places, and undermined the good feeling that had followed the Compromise. As a youngster, Abigail's. 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. [60], Before moving to Albany to take office on January 1, 1848, he had left his law firm and rented out his house. Marriage: 5 February 1826. [152] Meanwhile, the Fillmore administration resolved a controversy with Portugal left over from the Taylor administration;[153] smoothed over a disagreement with Peru over guano islands; and peacefully resolved disputes with Britain, France, and Spain over Cuba. Fillmore received positive reviews for his service as comptroller. [e][76], Fillmore had spent the four months between the election and the swearing-in being feted by the New York Whigs and winding up affairs in the comptroller's office. He eventually suffered a stroke in 1874, which would soon lead to his death. The Know Nothing convention chose Fillmore's running mate: Andrew Donelson of Kentucky, the nephew by marriage and once-ward of President Jackson. Calhoun was dead, Webster was Secretary of State, and Clay was absent since he was recovering from his exertions on behalf of the bill at, Fillmore thus became the first former president to receive electoral votes, a distinction that later also included. [1] Fillmore's 1828 election contrasted the victories of the Jacksonian Democrats (soon the Democrats), who swept the general into the White House and their party to a majority in Albany and so Fillmore was in the minority in the Assembly. 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. By 1854 the order had morphed into the American Party, which became known as the Know Nothings. The 68-year-old Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841. In the 1860 presidential election Fillmore voted for Senator Douglas, the nominee of the northern Democrats. However, his financial worries were removed on February 10, 1858, when he married Caroline McIntosh, a well-to-do widow. [62], 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. 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. He was not able to get his party's nomination for a second term so he must have lacked something. Millard Fillmore, (born January 7, 1800, Locke township, New York, U.S.died March 8, 1874, Buffalo, New York), 13th president of the United States (1850-53), whose insistence on federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 alienated the North and led to the destruction of the Whig Party. Millard Fillmore has 1 child. [21] 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. )[112], Many from Fillmore's "National Whig" faction had joined the Know Nothings by 1854 and influenced the organization to take up causes besides nativism. Fillmore did not attend the convention but was gratified when it nominated General William Henry Harrison for president, with former Virginia Senator John Tyler his running mate. [9] By then much of Fillmore's legal practice was in Buffalo, and later that year he moved there with his family. Fillmore came to the notice of the influential Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, who took the new representative under his wing. However, Weed had sterner opponents, including Governor Young, who disliked Seward and did not want to see him gain high office. In the immediate aftermath of Harrison's death, there was confusion about whether Tyler. Fillmore's constant attention to Mexico avoided a resumption of the MexicanAmerican War and laid the groundwork for the Gadsden Treaty during Pierce's presidency. Weed was an influential editor with whom Fillmore tended to co-operate for the greater good of the Whig Party. To avoid that, Pius remained seated throughout the meeting. When Fillmore discovered that after the election, he went to Taylor, which only made the warfare against Fillmore's influence more open. Many features only work on your mobile device. A memorial to Fillmore on the gate surrounding his plot in Buffalo, Detail of the Fillmore obelisk in Buffalo, For further information on the procedures of American political conventions, see, Fillmore was Vice President under President, Nathaniel Fillmore, the first father of a President to visit his son at the White House, told a questioner how to raise a son to be president: "Cradle him in a sap trough.". (In its early days, members were sworn to keep its internal deliberations private and, if asked, were to say they knew nothing about them. [10] Fillmore was relegated to menial labor, and unhappy at not learning any skills, he left Hungerford's employ. The Whigs nominated him anyway, but he refused the nomination. Read the news online & stay up-to-date with the latest from our Utah community. While he was in office, the Compromise of 1850 was passed, staving off the Civil War for 11 more years. [15] Fillmore earned money teaching school for three months and bought out his mill apprenticeship. Smith suggested that the Whigs might have done much better with Fillmore. As a young lawyer, Fillmore was approached by a fledgling political party and asked to run for the New York State Assembly. [121] 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. [83], Fillmore had been called from his chair presiding over the Senate on July 8 and had sat with members of the cabinet in a vigil outside Taylor's bedroom at the White House. [96] 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. Nathaniel Fillmore (1771-1863), a farmer, was Millard Fillmore's father. In that office he was a member of the state canal board, supported its expansion, and saw that it was managed competently. 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. He suffered a stroke in February 1874, and died on March 8, 1874, at the age of 74 after suffering a second stroke. The Continentals trained to defend the Buffalo area in the event of a Confederate attack. "[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. [34] Even during the 1832 campaign, Fillmore's affiliation as an Anti-Mason had been uncertain, and he rapidly shed the label once sworn in. Hall later became Fillmore's partner in Buffalo and his postmaster general during Fillmore's presidency. what happens when you drink cold water when you are hot? Otherwise, Webster would withdraw in favor of Fillmore. 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. [85] The new department heads were mostly supporters of the Compromise, like Fillmore. [145][163], According to the assessment of Fillmore by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia:[164]. [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. [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. No -Fillmore did not serve in the regular military. Fillmore was one of five "accidental" presidents. [108] The fact that he was in mourning limited his social activities, and he made ends meet on the income from his investments. Fillmore made a celebrated return in June 1856 by speaking at a series of welcomes, which began with his arrival at a huge reception in New York City and continued across the state to Buffalo. [1] Harrison was expected to go along with anything Clay and other congressional Whig leaders proposed, but Harrison died on April 4, 1841. Millard Fillmore lived a long life after leaving office in 1852. 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. In his capacity as president of the Senate, however, Fillmore presided over the Senate's angry debates, as the 31st Congress decided whether to allow slavery in the Mexican Cession. 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. [2], Nathaniel Fillmore was the son of Nathaniel Fillmore Sr. (17391814), 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. All pretense at friendship between Fillmore and Weed vanished in November 1849 when they happened to meet in New York City and exchanged accusations. [14] Appreciating his son's talents, Nathaniel followed his wife's advice and persuaded Judge Walter Wood, the Fillmores' landlord and the wealthiest person in the area, to allow Millard to be his law clerk for a trial period. [20], In 1821 Fillmore turned 21, reaching adulthood. Become a. [31][32], In 1832 Fillmore ran successfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. [114], Benson Lee Grayson suggested that the Fillmore administration's ability to avoid potential problems is too often overlooked. Fillmore applied pressure to get Northern Whigs, including New Yorkers, to abstain, rather than to oppose the bill. 8, 1874, Almon Hopkins Fillmore, b. Apr. [4][5] The historian Tyler Anbinder described Fillmore's childhood as "one of hard work, frequent privation, and virtually no formal schooling. 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. 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. [100] The final Lpez expedition ended with his execution by the Spanish, who put several Americans before the firing squad, including the nephew of Attorney General Crittenden. [12] Seeking to better himself, Millard bought a share in a circulating library and read all the books that he could. [48], Out of office, Fillmore continued his law practice and made long-neglected repairs to his Buffalo home. [149] However, according to Smith, the enforcement of the Act has given Fillmore an undeserved pro-southern reputation. American merchants and shipowners wanted Japan "opened up" for trade, which would allow commerce and permit American ships to call there for food and water and in emergencies without them being punished. He became prominent in the Buffalo area as an attorney and politician, and he was elected to the New York Assembly in 1828 and to the House of Representatives in 1832. On February 5, 1826, Millard Fillmore, who later becomes the 13th president of the United States, marries Abigail Powers, a New York native and a preacher's daughter. Buffalo's Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital officially closed its last remaining services at 6 a.m.. 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. Throughout his career, Fillmore declared slavery an evil but that it was beyond the powers of the federal government. [69] Taylor and Fillmore corresponded twice in September, with Taylor happy that the crisis over the South Carolinians was resolved. 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. After the vote, in which the Republican candidate, 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 since he felt that he lacked influence.