Millard Fillmore
th
13
The
President of
the United
States of
America
Background & Family
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He was born in an impoverished family the
second of eight children. He grew up in Cayuga
County, Finger Lakes of New York in 1800.
From birth he was a frontiers man. He worked
on his father’s farm. Until at about the age of
15 he became apprentice for a cloth dresser in
order to help support his family. He paid his
obligation money of $30 to get out of his
apprenticeship. He had no real formal college
education, he taught himself to read and write.
He was very determined to learn. Abigail
Powers (not even 2 years older than her pupil)
was a teacher encouraging him in his
education. After being admitted to bar, as a
lawyer in 1823 he got a clerkship with a local
judge and was able to court Abigail. They
married 1826 He had two children with
Abigail, Millard Powers Fillmore and Mary
Abigail Fillmore. He died March of 1874 in
due to stroke.
Ascent to the Oval Office
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As a young lawyer Fillmore began to run for the New York state Assembly
by 1829 he served his first three terms. During which he participated in
various legislations. By 1832 he was elected to the House of representatives.
At the time Jackson was President, many parties shifted. This included
Fillmore’s Anti-Masonic party which combined with the Whigs. A party of
major contrast to Jacksonians and Democrats In 1843, he resigned from the
legislature after unsuccessfully lobbying for the vice presidential nomination
on the Whig ticket with Henry Clay and losing an election for governor of
New York, both in 1844. However, by 1847 Fillmore was elected New York
state comptroller, or chief financial officer. He won this election by such a
wide margin that he was in consideration for the national office. In the
election of 1848 the Whigs party choose General Zachary Taylor for
President and chose to balance out the slave-owning general with the
Northerner Fillmore as Vice President. Taylor and Fillmore were an odd
match. Taylor had no trouble shutting out Fillmore from his administration
however, due to Fillmore’s responsibility as hold a tie-breaking vote many
respected him for his wisdom, humor, and diverse views. Due to the sudden
death of Taylor, Fillmore as Vice president rises to presidency and
immediately chose Daniel Webster as Secretary of State indicating his favor
towards the compromise of 1850 and the Whigs party. He was in office from
1850-1853
P.I.R.A.T.E.S.
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P
In essence, Fillmore was a self-learning lawyer that took up aspirations first in a state and House
of Representatives basis until finally achieving both a Vice President and President title.
I
As mentioned before Fillmore was a self-learner. He didn’t have real formal education so he
learned reading and writing on his own. Continued on to be a successful Vice President and
President.
R
Fillmore was a Unitarian, Unitarianism is a Nontrinitarian Christian theology which teaches
belief in the single personality of God, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity
A
There are various Cartoons dipctiing previous
stuggles of Fillmore for example the picture above
shows the picture of Fillmore first running only to
lose due to his “blindfold” or coming into the race
blindly.
P.I.R.A.T.E.S. cont…
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T
Fillmore underwent the battle for control of a region formation of canal for the
Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
E
After seeing such successful trade opening with China and Britain America attempted
this same technique with Japan. It was part of his foreign issues policy to expand on
trading with other countries. This included Japan. After sending Commodore Perry to
Japan the movement to open trade started with Fillmore and continued on with
Pierce.
S
The slavery issue was a prominent aspect during his Presidency. Due to his belief in
neutrality and preserving the Union he struggled in trying to give each side what they
wanted concerning slavery but the views were not only various but distinct and hard
to please.
Key Domestic Policy Issue
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It was obvious with the death of Taylor, that Fillmore was a
completely different leader. Taylor’s cabinet resigned with the evident
fact that Taylor had every intention of compromise. He later replaced
his cabinet with Whigs that shared his Pro-North Pro-Compromise
views. His ally, Henry Clay tried to modify the previous bill only to
result in the bills not being passed, a disappointed Fillmore, and Clay
leaving Washington DC.
Soon the opposing party, Stephen Douglas that drafted five small bills,
reworking the compromise and slowly but surely was passed. Due to
those bills it allowed the Texas border dispute with New Mexico
halted receiving a $10 million compensation. It gained California
statehood as well as New Mexico and Utah territorial status. However,
this included the Fugitive Slave law, which passed with surprising
ease. However due to the many conflicting issues of slavery and this
bill it tore apart the Whig party. Fillmore tried desperately to please
both sides. Point blank, this compromise was essentially made to not
have war, although it separated the two parts of the nation it prevented
the war occurring for another 10 years
Key Foreign Policy Issue
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Thanks to Fillmore the beginning of the opening trade with Japan, by
sending Matthew C Perry to Japan as envoy started. It was fully
opened by the preceding president Franklin Pierce but all positive and
negative aspects were gained due to Fillmore.
Fillmore also expressed his view of not letting Hawaii fall into British
or French hands. He personally warned Napoleon the 3rd that the US
would not allow the French to take Hawaii.
Taylor had signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 with England.
This agreement prevented both the U.S. and Great Britain from
claiming further territories in Central America. However, both nations
had every intent on influencing the region and control of the canal
construction to the Atlantic and Pacific. While doing very little to ally
themselves with Western powers.
In essence Fillmore’s foreign policy agenda mainly included an
expansion of trade but limitations on commitments to Western
Hemisphere.
Quote
“ Let us remember that revolutions do not
always establish freedom. Our own free
institutions were not the offspring of our
Revolution. They existed before.“
-
Successes & Failures
Compromise of 1850 a success and failure
It is often said that the best compromise is the
type that pleases none of the compromisers.
By the end of his presidency, Millard
Fillmore knew this all too well. By
championing the Compromise of 1850, he can
be credited for keeping America from civil
war for more than a decade. The political cost
to himself, however, was total. Slavery was,
like abortion today, the type of moral issue
that terrifies politicians because it offers no
easy middle ground. Though it did halt the
war for another ten years it only separated the
union even further.
One Word
One word that can describe President
Millard Fillmore is the word Neutrality.
Although he had a political party, he was
always trying to unite them in one way or
another. According to some of our sources
(credible internet sites) he would constantly
give people similarities and differences of
the parties in order to cause a bond to form
between them. Then, he would always try
to prevent (but in reality forlong) the
Secession of the confederacy from the
Union.
Our Thoughts
Thanks to several aspects of Fillmore’s Presidency
we probably wouldn’t have been the same country.
Through the Compromise of 1850 he prevented a
war for about 10 years, but at the same time it
seemed that the Union separation accelerated due to
this Compromise. Particularly the Fugitive Slave
Law. Although he prevented it, the Civil War
would have still occurred. Perhaps preventing it
would have caused it to occur sooner and perhaps
cause change sooner to make a chain of events of
other movements to start, however this is uncertain.
Additional Slides
 Most of the information that you have wished
to see on this additional slide are incorporated
within the other slides. They are information
that make the information on the rest of the
slides more logical and complete.
 Cabinet Members: As Zachary neared his
death, he planned on replacing his already
scandle-ridden cabinet. So, when Fillmore took
office, he replaced those spots quite easily. All
but Secretary Treasury Thomas Corwin,
supported Fillmore’s Compromise of 1850.
Sources
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Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Andrew Bailey. The American Pageant: a History of
the American People. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
"Millard Fillmore." Web.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/millardfillmore>(http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_im
age/c/c8/Abigail_Fillmore.jpg)
"American President: Millard Fillmore." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web.
<http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore>.(http://millercenter.org/academic/america
npresident/fillmore/essays/biography/1)
"Wikimedia." Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/1848whigbanner.jpg. Web.
"Millard Fillmore." Web.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/millardfillmore>((http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presid
ents/MillardFillmore)>
American Presidents: Life Portraits. Web.
<http://www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/president.asp?PresidentNumber=13>.
"American President: Millard Fillmore: Life Before the Presidency." Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Web. <http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/2>.
"Political Cartoons." Millard Fillmores Bathtub. Web.
<http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/category/political-cartoons/>.
American Presidents: Life Portraits. Web.
<http://www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/president.asp?PresidentNumber=13>.
Sources cont…
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"American President: Millard Fillmore: Domestic Affairs." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web.
<http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/4>.
"American Treasures of the Library of Congress." Library of Congress Home. Http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/.
Web. <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/0090001.jpg>.
American Presidents: Life Portraits. Web.
<http://www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/president.asp?PresidentNumber=13>.
"American President: Millard Fillmore: Foreign Affairs." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web.
<http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/5>.
"Matthew C. Perry -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Matthewperry.jpg/404px-Matthewperry.jpg>.
"Quotes from Millard Fillmore." American History From About. Web.
<http://americanhistory.about.com/cs/millardfillmore/a/quotefillmore.htm>.
"US Presidents." Junto Society Home Page. Web. <http://www.juntosociety.com/uspresidents/fillmore.jpg>.
"Millard Fillmore -." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Millard_Fillmore_Signature-2.svg>.
"Doc1Map." Clarkstown Central School District. Web. <http://www.ccsd.edu/link/lms/CivilWarDBQ/comp1850.gif>.
"Millard Fillmore." The National Portrait Gallery. Web. <http://www.npg.si.edu/img2/travpres/big/bigmfill.gif>.
Team Members <3
Lianne Laguitan
Moses Bernabeo
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