Second Tier Presidents: Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore: 13^th President, 1850-1853

What we say: “Millard Fillmore, a New York Whig, took office after Taylor’s death.  Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850, but its Fugitive Slave Act cost him northern Whig support and the nomination.”

Millard Fillmore was nominated to be Zachary Taylor’s Vice President on the basis of his anti-slavery views.  Upon Taylor’s death, and Fillmore’s ascension to President, slavery issues consumed much of Fillmore’s time.

He supported the Compromise of 1850, working to pass it and believing it to be in the interest of the Union it was passed.  Both pro- and anti-slavery factions disliked portions of the bill, such as the refusal guarantee slavery in the southwest and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, and instead of receiving credit, Fillmore faced grumbling anger.

Fillmore’s other accomplishments were to send Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan, though Perry did not ‘open’ Japan until Pierce took office, and to initiate the White House library.  His two-star ranking comes because of his work to keep the status quo in effect with slavery.  The compromise of 1850 averted the question of slavery, but it came no closer to solving the question.  Fillmore is a good symbol of an era of Presidents who were incapable of solving the issue.