Millard Fillmore

1
Millard Fillmore

• The 13th President of the United States of America

2
Background Family

• 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 fathers
  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.

3
Ascent to the Oval Office

• 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 Fillmores 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
  Fillmores 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

4
P.I.R.A.T.E.S.

• 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 didnt 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.

5
P.I.R.A.T.E.S. cont

• 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.

6
Key Domestic Policy Issue

• It was obvious with the death of Taylor, that
  Fillmore was a completely different leader.
  Taylors 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

7
Key Foreign Policy Issue

• 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 Fillmores foreign policy agenda
  mainly included an expansion of trade but
  limitations on commitments to Western Hemisphere.

8
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.
• -

9
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.

10
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.

11
Our Thoughts

• Thanks to several aspects of Fillmores
  Presidency we probably wouldnt 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.

12
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
  Fillmores Compromise of 1850.

13
Sources

• 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. lthttp//www.whitehouse.go
  v/about/presidents/millardfillmoregt(http//www.kno
  wledgerush.com/wiki_image/c/c8/Abigail_Fillmore.jp
  g)
• "American President Millard Fillmore." Miller
  Center of Public Affairs. Web. lthttp//millercente
  r.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmoregt.(http/
  /millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillm
  ore/essays/biography/1)
• "Wikimedia." Http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
  /commons/c/ca/1848whigbanner.jpg. Web.
• "Millard Fillmore." Web. lthttp//www.whitehouse.go
  v/about/presidents/millardfillmoregt((http//www.wh
  itehouse.gov/about/presidents/MillardFillmore)gt
• American Presidents Life Portraits. Web.
  lthttp//www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/pres
  ident.asp?PresidentNumber13gt.
• "American President Millard Fillmore Life
  Before the Presidency." Miller Center of Public
  Affairs. Web. lthttp//millercenter.org/academic/am
  ericanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/2gt.
• "Political Cartoons." Millard Fillmores Bathtub.
  Web. lthttp//timpanogos.wordpress.com/category/pol
  itical-cartoons/gt.
• American Presidents Life Portraits. Web.
  lthttp//www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/pres
  ident.asp?PresidentNumber13gt.

14
Sources cont

• "American President Millard Fillmore Domestic
  Affairs." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web.
  lthttp//millercenter.org/academic/americanpresiden
  t/fillmore/essays/biography/4gt.
• "American Treasures of the Library of Congress."
  Library of Congress Home. Http//www.loc.gov/exhib
  its/treasures/. Web. lthttp//www.loc.gov/exhibits/
  treasures/images/0090001.jpggt.
• American Presidents Life Portraits. Web.
  lthttp//www.americanpresidents.org/presidents/pres
  ident.asp?PresidentNumber13gt.
• "American President Millard Fillmore Foreign
  Affairs." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web.
  lthttp//millercenter.org/academic/americanpresiden
  t/fillmore/essays/biography/5gt.
• "Matthew C. Perry -." Wikipedia, the Free
  Encyclopedia. Web. lthttp//upload.wikimedia.org/wi
  kipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Matthewperry.jpg/404px-
  Matthewperry.jpggt.
• "Quotes from Millard Fillmore." American History
  From About. Web. lthttp//americanhistory.about.com
  /cs/millardfillmore/a/quotefillmore.htmgt.
• "US Presidents." Junto Society Home Page. Web.
  lthttp//www.juntosociety.com/uspresidents/fillmore
  .jpggt.
• "Millard Fillmore -." Wikipedia, the Free
  Encyclopedia. Web. lthttp//upload.wikimedia.org/wi
  kipedia/commons/1/19/Millard_Fillmore_Signature-2.
  svggt.
• "Doc1Map." Clarkstown Central School District.
  Web. lthttp//www.ccsd.edu/link/lms/CivilWarDBQ/com
  p1850.gifgt.
• "Millard Fillmore." The National Portrait
  Gallery. Web. lthttp//www.npg.si.edu/img2/travpres
  /big/bigmfill.gifgt.

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Team Members lt3
Lianne Laguitan
Moses Bernabeo
AND