Millard Fillmore
| Millard Fillmore | |
|---|---|
| File:Millard Fillmore Presidential Portrait.jpg | |
| Order | 13th President of the United States |
| In office | July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853 |
| Vice President | None |
| Preceded by | Zachary Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Franklin Pierce |
| Born | January 7, 1800 Summerhill, New York, United States |
| Political Party | Whig |
| Spouse | Abigail Fillmore (m. 1826–1853) Caroline Carmichael McIntosh (m. 1858–1874) |
| Children | Millard Powers, Mary Abigail |
| Profession | Lawyer, politician |
| Alma mater | Read law (no formal college) |
| Signature | 
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Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. The last Whig to hold the presidency, he assumed office after the death of Zachary Taylor and is best known for signing the Compromise of 1850, including the controversial Fugitive Slave Act.
Early Life and Education
Born in frontier New York to a poor farming family, Fillmore apprenticed as a cloth-dresser and educated himself. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and established a practice in upstate New York. He helped found what became the University at Buffalo, later serving as its first chancellor.
Rise in Politics
A Whig, Fillmore served in the New York State Assembly and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1833–1835; 1837–1843), where he focused on finance and tariffs. He lost the 1844 New York governor’s race but became Comptroller of New York (1848–1849). In 1848 he was elected vice president on the Whig ticket with Zachary Taylor.
Presidency (1850–1853)
Fillmore became president on July 9, 1850, after Taylor’s sudden death. He supported and signed the Compromise of 1850, a package intended to ease sectional tensions by, among other things, admitting California as a free state and strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act. While the compromise briefly calmed the crisis, enforcement of the fugitive law angered Northerners and accelerated the breakup of the Whig coalition.
Domestic and Foreign Policy
- Compromise of 1850: Signed all five measures; backed enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, which proved deeply unpopular in the North.
- Economic/administrative: Continued tariff moderation and civil service regularization consistent with Whig priorities.
- Foreign affairs: Initiated the naval mission under Commodore Matthew C. Perry to open Japan to U.S. trade (the treaty would be concluded under Pierce). Supported commercial expansion and a stronger Pacific posture.
Later Life
Denied his party’s nomination in 1852, Fillmore returned to Buffalo. In 1856, he ran for president as the candidate of the American (Know Nothing) Party, finishing third. He remained active in civic and cultural institutions and hosted public events during the Civil War while backing Union preservation.
Legacy
Fillmore is remembered as a capable administrator whose embrace of the Fugitive Slave Act damaged his standing in the North and hastened the collapse of the Whig Party. Modern assessments credit his competence and institution-building but judge his sectional policies as short-sighted.