PERIODIC PRESIDENTS on BOBBLEHEAD GEORGE

Millard Fillmore was born in a log cabin in Summerhill, New York.  He was the embodiment of the American dream and proof that through hard work and some competence a person can rise to the top.  After serving in New York State politics and then as a member of the House of Representatives for 8 years, Fillmore was elected as Vice President in 1848.

 

During his months as Vice President, Fillmore presided over the tense debates over the Compromise of 1850.  In July of 1850, Millard Fillmore became the second vice president to ascend to the presidency when Zachary Taylor unexpectedly died.  As president Millard Fillmore supported and eventually signed the Compromise of 1850 which brought California into the Union, admitted New Mexico as a territory, abolished slave trade in Washington, D.C., and allowed for the stronger and more harsh Fugitive Slave Act.

 

In 1852, moderate Whigs refused to nominate Fillmore for president because of his support of the Compromise of 1850 and in particular, the Fugitive Slave Act.  As the Whigs fell apart in the 1850s, Fillmore refused to join the Republican party.  In 1856, he accepted the nomination for president from the American (or Know-Nothing) Party…but came in a distant third place behind James Buchanan and John C. Fremont.  During the Civil War, Millard Fillmore opposed the policies of Abraham Lincoln.  Fillmore passed away in 1874 at the age of 74.