Millard Fillmore

Born into desperate poverty at the dawn of the nineteenth century, Millard Fillmore climbed to the highest office in the land—and inherited a nation breaking into fragments over the question of slavery. Despite his best efforts, the lines of the future battles of the Civil War were drawn, and Fillmore found himself rejected by his own dying party and denied renomination. After almost a quarter of a century out of the White House, he died in New York state in 1874.

The great law of morality ought to have a national as well as a personal and individual application. We should act toward other nations as we wish them to act toward us…. First Annual Message
First Annual Message

Legacy

The issue of slavery continued to dominate national politics during Fillmore’s presidency. In an effort to appease both sides of the issue, he supported the Compromise of 1850 (whose laws Taylor had rejected), which ultimately allowed California to join the Union as a free state, while New Mexico and Utah were allowed to decide on the issue for themselves. The Compromise also abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia and enforced the return of runaway slaves to their original owners. This latter law was called the Fugitive Slave Act.

Northern members of the Whig Party were angered that Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act and helped to ensure he was not re-nominated for a second term. Fillmore did run for president again in 1856 as a member of the American Party, but was not able to gain widespread support and lost.

Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore

Legacy

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