Millard Fillmore: Poverty to Presidency

Millard Fillmore

President from: July 10, 1850- March 3, 1853

Age at inauguration: 50

Political party: Whig, Know Nothing aka American Party

What I read:

Millard Fillmore by Paul Finkelman

Age at death: 74

Cause of Death: Stroke

Health & Appearance: Fillmore stood 5’9” tall with blue eyes and sandy blond hair. He was one of our healthiest presidents. Millard did not smoke or drink. He suffered a stroke a month before he died, and then a second, fatal stroke.

Pre-Presidency: Millard Fillmore was born into poverty,  the oldest son of eight children. His father, a tenant farmer, sold him into the garment trade as an “apprentice” (indentured servant) when Fillmore was 12 years old. He was forced to work long brutal hours until he borrowed $30 to buy himself out of bondage and walked 100 miles back to his family home.

He taught himself to read and read everything he could get his hands on. He went to school and was encouraged by his red-headed teacher, only two years older than he was, to continue he education. Seeing his determination, his father got him an apprenticeship with a local lawyer. Fillmore would marry that teacher, Abigail Powers, and have two children. He passed the New York bar and became a successful lawyer.

His introduction to politics came with the Anti-Masonic Party in New York which formed to combat secretive orders, specifically the Free Masons. He won election to the NY state assembly three times. His fight to end debtors prison made him popular with the working class, who then elected him to Congress.

Andrew Jackson, who was a Free Mason, was president at the time of Fillmore’s election to congress. The Anti-Masonic Party merged with the anti-Jackson Whig party. Fillmore left congress to run for Vice-President with Henry Clay but was instead forced to run for governor of New York.  He lost that election, blaming his defeat on anti-slavery forces.

Eventually, he was elected Comptroller of New York. His popularity in New York lead to his being Zachery Taylor's VP choice in order to help The Whig nominee secure New York’s electors. Fillmore became president on the untimely death of Taylor.

Major accomplishments: The Compromise of 1850 was seen as an accomplishment for Fillmore, though it was opposed by Zachary Taylor. The Compromise of 1850 permitted slavery in Washington, D.C., but outlawed the slave trade; added California to the Union as a “free state;" established Utah and New Mexico as territories that could decide via popular sovereignty if they would permit slavery; and defined new boundaries for the state of Texas following the Mexican-American War, removing its claims to parts of New Mexico but awarding the state $10 million in compensation. History shows that this “Compromise” only caused more tension and hatred between the North and South. In addition, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required citizens to assist in apprehending runaway slaves and denied enslaved people a right to trial by jury, further fueling the country's trajectory toward Civil War.

A definite positive for Fillmore’s legacy was his foreign policy. Fillmore told France and England to keep their paws off of Hawaii or there would be trouble. He chose to send Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan in order to end that country's trade isolation. Though the fruits of Perry’s outreach would not be felt until Franklin Pierce’s presidency, it was all Fillmore and his Secretary of State Daniel Webster’s actions that brought about the opening up of Japan’s trade relations.

His presidency was also plagued by a Cuban crisis that resembled the Bay of Pigs fiasco during the Kennedy administration. As an enslaved Spanish colony, the South had long wanted Cuba as another American state. President Polk had previously tried to buy Cuba but Spain refused. Under Taylor, the U.S. Navy failed to stop a group of mostly Southern American mercenaries from invading Cuba, twice. Despite that, the militia failed to provoke a Cuban rebellion against Spain, twice. The Spanish captured and hanged most of the leaders. During this chaos, France and Britain also sent their naval forces to support Spain. The South hated Fillmore for not backing the invasion. The Northern Democrats hated him for apologizing to Spain. Ultimately, this ended any chance for him to get the Whig Party nomination for reelection.

When the Whigs became the Republican Party, he refused to join and later ran for President with the nomination of the Know Nothing, also known as the American Party. He lost, of course.

Are you kidding me? Millard went from dirt poor, indentured servant to the presidency.  He married his school teacher. He was a rather dull man. He did not seek a second term and was not offered one by Whig supporters.

What I learned:  His support of the Compromise of 1850, going against the wishes of deceased President Taylor, accelerated the country's move toward Civil War.  That being said, you have to admire his drive to pull himself out of obscurity with a strong will to succeed. He does not get enough credit for opening up trade with Japan or his desire for a cross country railroad, or for starting the conversation about what became, 60 years later, the Panama Canal.

PRECEDED BY: Zachary Taylor

SUCCEEDED BY: Franklin Pierce