Fun Facts About Millard Fillmore

   Welcome to the Wannaskan Almanac for Friday.

   On this day in 1874, Millard Fillmore died in Buffalo, NY at the age of 74.  Wait! It gets more interesting. After all, he did reach the presidency of the United States: he was our thirteenth. He was also our twelfth vice-president, serving under Zachery Taylor, until Taylor died in 1850, leaving Fillmore in charge for two and a half years. This all occured at a most interesting point in our nation's history, but we'll get to that later.
   When people try to come up with a joke president, they often think of Millard Fillmore. I think his  name itself is part of the problem. Millard was his mother's maiden name. The rest of the problem is that Americans have mostly forgotten all about Fillmore and his times.
   Fillmore's parents left their farm in Vermont and settled in the Finger Lakes region of New York where Millard was born in 1800. The family worked hard on their tenant farm, but lived on the edge of poverty. Fillmore's parents recognized his intelligence and convinced a local judge to let their son clerk for him.
    When Fillmore was 21, he moved with his family to a farm of their own near East Aurora, just east of Buffalo. The family achieved some prosperity here and Fillmore set off on his own, teaching school and taking legal cases until he was admitted to the bar.  Buffalo was a boomtown then. It was still rebuilding after being burned by the British in the War of 1812. Buffalo was also the western terminus of the recently opened Erie Canal which connected the Great Lakes with New York City.
   Fillmore became a leading citizen in Buffalo, was elected to the New York Assembly, and became a major in the local militia. In 1832, he was elected to the U.S. House, the same year Andrew Jackson was elected to his second term. Fillmore was a member of the Whig Party. The Whigs represented land and business interests and were opposed to the Jackson Democrats. Lincoln served his single term in the House as a Whig.
   These were the years when the country was being torn apart by the slavery issue. The Whigs were considered the more moderate party to the Democratic hotheads. In 1840, the Whigs got William Henry Harrison elected. "Old "Tippecanoe" was expected to push the Whig agenda, but died a month after his inauguration. His vice-president, John Tyler, was a Whig in name only and the hothead cause advanced, until 1844 when President Polk initiated war with Mexico.
   The U.S won the war and acquired a third of Mexico's territory. The South was hoping to create new states here to expand slavery and balance the growth of the North. Another war hero, Zachery Taylor, won as a Whig in 1848. Fillmore was his vice president. Henry Clay came up with the Compromise of 1850, but Taylor refused to support it. Then he died. Fillmore got it through Congress and North and South were able to limp along together for another ten years.
   Part of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Act which allowed slave owners to pursue their escaped slaves into the North. This was hugely unpopular in the North and Fillmore's reputation was soiled because he supported it as president.
   He lost the Whig nomination in 1852. Winfield Scott (another war hero) got it and lost the election to Franklin Pierce. Fillmore's reputation was further sullied when he accepted the American Party nomination for president in 1856. This was the infamous "Know Nothing" party of nativists. Fillmore was not a nativist himself. He saw the party as trying to keep the country together. The Democrat, James Buchanan, won the election and did nothing to slow the dissolution of the Union.
   Fillmore had always been an able administrator. He was a public spirited philanthropist, founder of the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo Art Museum. He always tried to do the right thing and often succeeded. His greatest achievement in my opinion was helping to keep the Union together until Abraham Lincoln could get into position to save it.

No one is calling for Fillmore's removal from Buffalo City Hall....yet.