Sparks Commentary: Millard Fillmore: A moderate on slavery who pleased no one

In July 1850, President Zachary Taylor mysteriously died while still in office. Most seem to believe that his stomach disease was from natural causes, but there has long been a theory that it came from arsenic poisoning instead. This actually led to Mr. Taylor’s long-dead body being exhumed in 1991, nearly a century and a half after his death. The medical examiner failed to find any evidence of arsenic poisoning. Thus, most seem to believe that his stomach disease was indeed from natural causes, and that Millard Fillmore had no involvement in his death. There were open sewers in Washington, D.C. at that time, which caused an epidemic in the city. Nine of Mr. Taylor’s Cabinet officials were sick with the same disease as President Taylor. Thus, most believe that the poor sanitation led to Taylor’s food and drink being contaminated. As vice president, Millard Fillmore succeeded Zachary Taylor upon his death. And, fortunately for Mr. Fillmore, relatively few Americans suspected him of any involvement in his predecessor’s death. But Millard Fillmore would fail to be elected president in his own right, and only served for two-and-a-half years. Specifically, Fillmore finished out the term that he had inherited from Zachary Taylor. Fillmore would destroy the Whig political party, by enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Millard Fillmore

Early life and political career, through the presidential elections of 1848

But Millard Fillmore was born in a log cabin in New York, back in the year 1800. He was the second of eight children. As a child, Millard Fillmore had virtually no formal schooling. His father served in some local political offices, including justice of the peace. Millard Fillmore also read several books at a nearby library, and enrolled at a new academy. He eventually read for the law, then the standard way of becoming a lawyer in the United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1823, and married his only wife Abigail Powers in 1826. He joined the little-known “Anti-Masonic Party,” and soon was running for political office – including the New York assembly. But he also briefly served in the New York militia as well. In 1832, he was elected as a United States Congressman from New York, arguably his first real break. In the mid-1830s, he joined the new Whig political party, which would be important for his presidential career. He spent most of the next several years in the federal House of Representatives. Throughout his career, Millard Fillmore declared slavery to be evil, but declared that it was beyond the federal government’s power to end the institution. He failed to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, but instead became Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in 1841. He failed to become the Whigs’ vice presidential candidate in 1844, and also failed that year to become Governor of New York. However, he did succeed in being elected as “Comptroller of New York” in 1847, and took the office soon afterwards in 1848. He was still the “Comptroller of New York,” when he again became nationally prominent during the 1848 elections.

Millard Fillmore

Zachary Taylor becomes president in 1848, and Millard Fillmore becomes his vice president

In 1848, the incumbent president was James K. Polk, a Democrat. But James K. Polk had pledged not to run for a second term as president. Thus, Polk kept his promise, and did not even seek the nomination. Thus, the former president Martin Van Buren initially ran for the Democratic nomination. But the Democratic nomination instead went to Lewis Cass that year. Van Buren would instead run as a third-party candidate in 1848, from the “Free-Soil Party.” On the Whig side, most of the Whigs had been opposed to the then-recent war with Mexico. But they knew that they had very little chance of winning, if they did not choose the Southern-born Zachary Taylor – a popular general from that war. This is why Zachary Taylor, by then a Kentuckian, was nominated without having any prior political experience. He also had no known political beliefs or affiliations. Because Zachary Taylor was Southern-born, the Whigs chose Millard Fillmore of New York to geographically balance out the ticket. Despite being a Northerner, Millard Fillmore was known to have moderate views on slavery. This probably helped him in 1848. From the “Free-Soil Party,” Martin Van Buren won 10.1% of the popular vote in 1848 (a high showing for a third-party candidate), but Van Buren got no electoral votes that year. The Democratic candidate Lewis Cass won 42.5% of the popular vote in 1848, and 43.8% of the electoral vote. And the Whig candidate Zachary Taylor won 47.3% of the popular vote in 1848, and 56.2% of the electoral vote. Thus, Zachary Taylor had just been elected the 12th President of the United States, and Millard Fillmore had just been elected as his vice president.

Millard Fillmore

Taylor dies of stomach disease in 1850, making Millard Fillmore into the new president

But the vice presidency would be difficult for Fillmore. As Wikipedia puts it, “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.” (Source: Their page on “Millard Fillmore”) But in July 1850, as mentioned earlier, Zachary Taylor died of stomach disease while in office. This meant that Millard Fillmore would now become the 13th President of the United States. There was a precedent for this – since, nearly a decade earlier, John Tyler had become president upon the death of William Henry Harrison in April 1841. Thus, Millard Fillmore took the presidential oath of office, just as John Tyler had done, in July 1850. As Wikipedia puts it, Millard Fillmore then “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.” (Source: Their page on “Millard Fillmore”)

Millard Fillmore

But Fillmore fails to be re-nominated in 1852, and the Whig party soon disintegrates

In 1852, Millard Fillmore was now seeking to be elected as president in his own right. But he failed even to get the Whig nomination that year. Instead, the Whigs nominated Winfield Scott, another hero of the Mexican-American War. And, in the end, the election went to the Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce. Millard Fillmore was thus the last president to be a part of the Whig political party while in office. The Whig party was on its way out, and many were now abandoning the party. One future president to abandon the party in the coming years was Abraham Lincoln, who would soon join the new Republican Party instead. (But I’m getting ahead of myself here.) Millard Fillmore instead joined the Know Nothings, and formed the American Party. As part of this party, he would again run for president in 1856, campaigning on the preservation of the Union. His party was anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant, but Fillmore himself actually commented very little on immigration that year. Regardless, Millard Fillmore failed to return to the White House in 1856 (or ever). Electorally speaking, all that he won in 1856 was the state of Maryland. Again, Millard Fillmore was a Northerner from New York. Thus, when the Civil War eventually began, Mr. Fillmore denounced secession, and agreed with Lincoln that the Union should be maintained by force if necessary. Nonetheless, he was critical of the war policies of President Lincoln.

Millard Fillmore

Conclusion: Fillmore may be among the worst presidents in American history

After the Civil War, Millard Fillmore would later support the Reconstruction policies of Andrew Johnson. Millard Fillmore continued to be involved in civic matters after his presidency, and even became chancellor of the University of Buffalo. (Fillmore had helped to found the school back in 1846.) As Wikipedia puts it, “Historians usually rank Fillmore among the worst presidents in American history, largely for his policies regarding slavery, as well as among the least memorable. His association with the Know Nothings and support of Johnson's reconstruction policies further tarnished his reputation.” (Source: Their page on “Millard Fillmore”) I tend to agree with these assessments. Regardless of one’s opinion of him, though, his presidency certainly left its mark upon American history.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

The complicated legacy of Martin Van Buren

James K. Polk: President during the Mexican-American War

Why is Zachary Taylor now considered a “forgettable” president?

Franklin Pierce: One of our most pro-slavery presidents

A review of PBS’s “Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided”

Andrew Johnson: The man who botched Reconstruction

A review of PBS’s “Ulysses S. Grant: Warrior President”

Part of a series about

The Presidents

1. George Washington
2. John Adams
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Madison
6. John Quincy Adams
7. Andrew Jackson

8. Martin Van Buren