 |
SOCIAL STUDIES FACT CARDS
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES |
 |
MILLARD
FILLMORE
Copyright © by Toucan
Valley Publications, Inc.
|
13th
President
|
Physical Characteristics: 5'9" tall, blue eyes, gray hair
Born: January 7, 1800, in Cayuga County, New York
Died: March 8, 1874, in Buffalo, New York
Burial Place: Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York
FAMILY
Ancestry: English
Religion: Unitarian
Father: Nathaniel Fillmore (1771-1863); farmer and magistrate
Mother: Phoebe Millard Fillmore (1780-1831)
Married: February 5, 1826, to Abigail Powers (1798-1853); February 10, 1858, to Caroline Carmichael McIntosh (1813-1881)
The First Lady
Abigail Powers Fillmore was born in Saratoga County, New York. Her mother, widowed soon after Abigail’s birth, supervised the education of her two children and instilled in Abigail a life-long love of reading and learning. Abigail met Millard Fillmore, two years younger than she, at a school in New Hope. After their marriage, she worked as a school teacher. When Millard entered public service, Abigail learned to entertain but always enjoyed most her flower garden and her books. As First Lady, she found state dinners and receptions to be very tiring. Using her poor health as a reason, Abigail called on her daughter, Abby, to perform many of the social duties.
Children: Millard Powers Fillmore (1828-1889); Mary Abigail Fillmore (1832-1854)
CHILDHOOD
Millard Fillmore was born in a log cabin in a part of New York State that was still frontier land in 1800. He was the second child and first son in a family of nine children. The family was poor and young Millard had to help on the farm as soon as he was old enough to do so. There was little time left for school, and he was able to attend only a few months at a time. The family owned just two books, a Bible and a hymnbook. When Millard was 14 years old, his father apprenticed him for seven years to a cloth maker. Realizing that he needed more education, Millard studied on his own, memorizing words from the dictionary as he worked. Before the term of his apprenticeship was over, Millard bought his release for $30. He also bought a dictionary, the first book he ever owned.
EARLY CAREER
College: Did not attend
Occupation: Lawyer
Military Service
Millard Fillmore did not officially serve in the military, but at the beginning of the Civil War he organized a “home guard” in Buffalo, New York, consisting of men over the age of 45
Government Service
1829-31: New York State Assemblyman
1833-35, 1837-43: U.S. Representative (congress-man) from New York
1848-49: New York State Comptroller
1849-50: Vice President under President Taylor
THE PRESIDENCY
Became President on July 10, 1850, upon the death of Zachary Taylor; unsuccessful candidate for the Whig Party presidential nomination in 1852
Party: Whig
Upon Becoming President
Having visited the ailing President Taylor that day, Fillmore realized he was dying and was not surprised when he received a late night knock on his door.
Vice President: None
Fillmore’s Cabinet (Major Posts)
| Secretary of State |
John M. Clayton (1850) |
| Daniel Webster (1850-52) |
|
| Edward Everett (1852-53) |
|
| Secretary of the Treasury |
William M. Meredith (1850) |
| Thomas Corwin (1850-53) |
|
| Secretary of War |
George W. Crawford (1850) |
| Charles M. Conrad (1850-53) |
|
| Attorney General |
Reverdy Johnson (1850) |
| John J. Crittenden (1850-53) |
|
| Secretary of the Interior |
Thomas Ewing (1850) |
| Thomas M .T. McKennan (1850) |
|
| Alexander H. H. Stuart (1850-53) |
States Admitted to the Union During Presidency:
California (31)
Administration Highlights
Compromise of 1850 abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, admitted California as a free state, and left the territories of Utah and New Mexico to decide for themselves about whether to allow slavery. It also strengthened the fugitive slave law, resulting in the loss of freedom for many freed or escaped slaves and penalties for those aiding escapees on the Underground Railroad. Fugitives were not allowed the benefit of a trial.
Perry’s mission to Japan resulted in the opening of two Japanese ports to American trade when Commodore Matthew C. Perry negotiated the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government.
LATER YEARS
Fillmore continued to be involved in politics after he left the White House. He was a candidate for the presidency in 1856 under the Whig and Know-Nothing parties, but was defeated. He had returned to his law practice in Buffalo, New York, in 1854. He spoke out frequently on national issues, opposing some of Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War, and supporting Andrew Johnson’s program of Reconstruction after the war. Fillmore’s wife, Abigail, died just a few weeks after he left the presidency. In 1858 he married Caroline Carmichael McIntosh. They lived in a spacious home in Buffalo until Fillmore’s death at the age of 74.
· Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel about slavery, was first published
· Isaac B. Singer invented the sewing machine
· “Go West, young man” was a phrased made popular by newspaper editor Horace Greeley
· Direct railroad line between New York and Chicago was established
The World
· Napoleon became emperor of
· The clipper ship Flying Cloud sailed from New
York to San Francisco around the coast of South
· A gold rush began in
MUSEUMS
The Millard Fillmore House in East Aurora, New York, contains a period museum housed in the 1826 home of the President
INTERESTING FACTS & TIDBITS
· Nickname: Last of the Whigs
· Favorite color was fuchsia
· Refused an honorary degree written in Latin from Oxford University, saying a person shouldn’t accept a degree he cannot read
· First President to...
have a bathtub and a kitchen stove in the White House
have a library in the White House