Millard FillmoreFrom the time he left office in 1853, President Millard Fillmore has become increasingly shrouded in mystery and stereotyped by anecdotes with slender connections to facts. The real Fillmore was not the weak and boring figurehead many Americans believe he was.
This account of Fillmore's life is drawn largely from his family's personal papers, many of which have previously been suppressed or were unavailable or believed lost. It presents Fillmore as his own letters do, and as his friends, family members, and contemporaries saw him, as a distinguished and honorable man who was also a strong and effective president. This comprehensive work includes photographs, a genealogy of the Fillmore family, a chronology, a bibliography, and an index. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
| 7 | |
| 11 | |
| 15 | |
| 26 | |
THE ASSEMBLY YEARS | 36 |
THE YOUNG CONGRESSMAN | 46 |
THE WHITE HOUSE | 187 |
FOREIGN POLICY | 203 |
DIVERSE EVENTS | 217 |
ELECTION OF 1852 | 231 |
SMOOTH TRANSITION | 237 |
TRAGEDY | 244 |
SOUTHERN JOURNEY | 247 |
THE GRAND EXCURSION | 255 |
GAINING ATTENTION | 55 |
THE ELECTION OF 1840 | 64 |
THE FILLMORE TARIFF | 71 |
INTERLUDE | 80 |
STATE COMPTROLLER | 92 |
LOVING PARENTS | 98 |
PARENTAL ADVICE | 115 |
THE ELECTION OF 1848 | 129 |
TAYLORFILLMORE INAUGURATION | 141 |
VICEPRESIDENT | 146 |
BATTLE OVER PATRONAGE | 156 |
FRUSTRATION | 160 |
A STRONG PRESIDENT | 168 |
ANOTHER SHOCK | 263 |
A EUROPEAN VENTURE | 267 |
THE ELECTION OF 1856 | 274 |
CIVIL DISORDER | 303 |
CIVIL WAR | 311 |
DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN | 322 |
INTO OBSCURITY | 331 |
EPILOGUE | 341 |
CHAPTER NOTES | 347 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 409 |
INDEX | 417 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abby Abigail administration Albany Andrew Jackson Donelson April attended Auburn Buchanan Buffalo cabinet canal Capitol Cayuga County Charles citizens Compromise Congress convention Cyrus Powers daughter death Democrats dent Dorothea Dix East Aurora election Erie Erie County ex-president felt Fill Fillmore wrote Fillmore's friends Fugitive Slave governor Haven Historical Society History hope Hotel Ibid James John July June June 13 June 20 Lady later letter Library Lincoln March March 11 ment MF to Dix MF to MPF MF to Weed Millard Fillmore Millard Powers Moravia nation nomination North Pierce political president presidential railroad Rayback Republican Senate sent Sept Severance Seward slavery Snyder South Southern speech Street Syracuse Herald American tariff Taylor Thurlow Weed tion Union United vice-president vote Washington Webster Whig Party White House wife William writer wrote Fillmore York
Popular passages
Page 149 - The use of such a prohibition would be idle, as it respects any effect it would have upon the Territory; and I would not take pains to reaffirm an ordinance of Nature, nor to reenact the will of God.
Page 399 - If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.
Page 317 - ... accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
Page 47 - It is, sir, the people's Constitution, the people's government; made for the people; made by the people: and answerable to the people.
Page 236 - Representatives: The brief space which has elapsed since the close of your last session has been marked by no extraordinary political event. The quadrennial election of Chief Magistrate has passed off with less than the usual excitement. However individuals and parties may have been disappointed in the result, it is, nevertheless, a subject of national congratulation that the choice has been effected by the independent suffrages of a free people, undisturbed by those influences which in other countries...
Page 47 - The Union : next to our Liberty the most dear: may we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distributing equally the benefit and burden of the Union...
Page 149 - MR. PRESIDENT, — I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States.
Page 155 - Congress to adopt such measures as in their discretion may seem proper to perform with due solemnities the funeral obsequies of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, and thereby to signify the great and affectionate regard of the American people for the memory of one whose life has been devoted to the public service, whose career in arms has not been surpassed in usefulness or brilliancy, who has been so recently raised by the unsolicited voice of the people to the highest civil authority...
Page 155 - House of Representatives : A great man has fallen among us, and a whole country is called to an occasion of unexpected, deep, and general mourning. I recommend to the two Houses of Congress to adopt such measures, as in their discretion may seem proper, to perform with due solemnities the funeral obsequies of Zachary Taylor, late...