Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore Years as president:1850-1853 Presidential Party: Whig President Number: 13 http://popartmachine.com http://www.potus.com

Occupational Education and Background • Education: No formal eductation • Occupation: Lawyer • Vice president: None • Secretary of State: John M. Clayton (1850), Daniel Webster (1850-1852), Edward Everett (1852-1853) • States admitted to the Union: California (1850) http://www.potus.com

Elections • Millard Fillmore was previously the Vice President of Zachary Taylor (1848-1850). When Taylor, an American war hero, died of cholera at age 55 after only one year of presidency, Fillmore succeeded to presidency. • Fillmore did not run for presidency after 1953; instead Franklin Pierce took his place. But he did run again in 1856. (election shown below) The main reason that Fillmore lost his elections was that the northern Whigs would not forgive him for supporting the Fugitive Slave Law that they strongly disagreed with. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/keyevents/fillmore http://www.potus.com

Start of 1850- MAP http://usgenmap.rootsweb.ancestry.com/us1850.htm

Compromise of 1850 • A series of bills passed by Congress to resolve the imbalance of free and slave states. • Texas would give up land with compensation of $10 million • Territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery(the inhabitants would decide later when they applied for statehood) • The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted • California would be admitted as a free state Fugitive Slave Law- required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves and denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty(1850) • The agreements between the British and Us representatives when discussing possibility of a canal through Central America to link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It stated: • Not to seek exclusive control of the canal or territory on either side of such a canal • Not to fortify any position in the canal area • Not to establish colonies in Central America Much of the Public resented this treaty and regarded it as a renunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. Most historians today agree that the treaty prevented an immediate rush for influence in Central America and acted to strengthen relations between the two counties. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h344.html

Webster’s 7th of March Speech • On March 7, 1850, Webster gave one of his most famous speeches, characterizing himself "not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man but as an American...“ In this speech he included his support of the fugitive Law and of the whole Compromise of 1850. • Abolitionists from New England bitterly attacked him, saying things like "No living man has done so much to debauch the conscience of the nation,” and describing him as being “a fallen star!” http://www.cfhi.net/WilmingtonsDistinguishedVisitors.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster

California admitted to the Union • September 9, 1850 As one of the recommendations of the compromise, California enters the Union as the thirty-first state. As a "free" state, its admittance gives non-slaveholding states a majority in the Senate. http://saints.sqpn.com/california-usa/ http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/keyevents/fillmore

Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick(1851) Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His first two books gained much attention, though they were not bestsellers, and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby-Dick — largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and most responsible for Melville's fall from favor with the reading public — was rediscovered in the 20th century as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/melville.html http://www.audiobookbargains.co.uk http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1624.Herman_Melville

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin • This work was written in 1852 as a reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. In the 1830’s Stowe lived in Cincinnati, Ohio where thousands of runaway slaves passed through by the Underground Railroad. In the story, Uncle Tom is bought and sold three times, until he is beaten to death by his last owner. The story was quickly translated into 37 languages and sold half a million copies in 5 years. It became one of the most popular plays of the 19th century. By writing this book she exposed Northerners to the brutality of slavery which they had barely known. This created great differences between the northerners and the southerners, adding to the tensions creating the Civil War. When Stowe met Abraham Lincoln in D.C., he said to her “So you’re the little woman who wrote that book that started this Great War!” http://www.painterofwords.com/?m=200907 http://kirjasto.sci.fi/hbstowe.htm

1st compulsory high school education law passed in Massachusetts • In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first compulsory education law, aimed at all children of the state, which said that children between the ages of 8 and 14 were required to attend public school at least twelve weeks per year. http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2009/educationhistory/historyofeducation.html

Commodore Matthew C. Perry visits Japan and negotiates(1852-1854) • Perry wanted to use Japan as a “coaling base” for the US: a place where steamships, which used coal, could restock their coal supply. • They also wanted to open up Japan to make sure that shipwrecked sailors were well-treated(because of previous occurrences with ill-treatment of sailors.) • Trade was a huge factor in Perry’s visits. The Us wanted to increase their revenue and a large portion of revenue came from trade. • Before Perry arrived, Japan was very secluded. Out of the many restrictions beginning in the 1600s, one of them kept all Europeans from entering the country except for the Dutch. The Shogunate was very strict and focused on military. http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/perry_dinner_party http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/steam1.htm http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Matthew_C._Perry http://www.grifworld.com/perryhome.html

Treaty of Kanagawa http://www.archives.gov/calendar/features/2004/03.html • In 1852, this treaty ended over two centuries of virtual exclusion of foreign traders from the coast of Japan. • Sent on his return trip in 1854, merchants from Canton wrote to him saying: "You have conquered the obstinate will of man and, by overturning the cherished policy of an empire, have brought an estranged but culturated people into the family of nations. You have done this without violence, and the world has looked on with admiration to see the barriers of prejudice fall before the flag of our country without the firing of a shot." http://www.state.gov/t/pm/64830.htm http://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/150th/html/historyE.htm http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob25.html

Brigham Young named president of Mormon Church http://www.truthandgrace.com/1851NYTimes1203.htm • September 28, 1850 President Fillmore names Brigham Young, president of the Mormon Church, governor of the Utah territory. From 1846 to 1847, Young leads thousands of disciples from Illinois to the central Utah valley, where he establishes Salt Lake City, the site for the Church's new temple. With hundreds of new arrivals each year, Young founds scores of colonies to provide the inhabitants with homes and land; at his death in 1877, nearly 400 Mormon colonies exist. Serving as governor until 1857, Young clashes with the "outside" federal employees who oppose many of the Church's stances. http://www.igougo.com/journal-j3569-Salt_Lake_City-Salt_Lake_City_Sights.html http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/keyevents/fillmore

Worcester Convention of 1850 • From October 23-24 a national women’s rights convention was held in Worcester, Massachusetts by fellow feminists and abolitionists. • This even, it attracted hundreds of people, discussing employment opportunities, political and legal rights, property rights after marriage, and educational opportunities for women, especially in medicine. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/keyevents/fillmore

Praising Quotes about the President • After the strategizing of Fillmore and Clay to organize the bills to be passed by the Senate of the Compromise of 1850, Daniel Webster said “I can now sleep of nights,” reflecting many of the other politicians’ views on the final bills. • Washington Irving described him as “worthy Mr. Fillmore.” http://www.millardfillmore.org/

Critical Quotes about the president • Whigs on both sides refused to accept the finality of Fillmore's law (which led to more party division, and a loss of numerous elections), which forced Northern Whigs to say "God Save us from Whig Vice Presidents." • Many also said that “he lacked the benefit of a classical education” therefore he could not read Latin and accept a degree offered to him at oxford college. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore

Positive Contributions • He chaired a special legislative committee to enact a new bankruptcy law that eliminated debtors' prison • Fillmore, a bookworm, started the White House library when he found the White House devoid of books • Fillmore was particularly active in the Asian Pacific, especially Japan- permitted trade mission lead by Matthew Perry that eventually opened up Japan • Napoleon attempted to annex the Hawaiian islands by Fillmore let him know that "the United States would not stand for any such action.”- Hawaii is still a part of the Us today • One of the founders of the University of Buffalo which still exists today • Supported the Compromise of 1850, which generally settled dispute about imbalance of slave states and free states within the nation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore

Negative Contributions • When the compromise finally came before both Houses of Congress, it was very watered down. As a result, Fillmore urged Congress to pass the original bill. This move only provoked an enormous battle where "forces for and against slavery fought over every word of the bill.” • By forcing issues of slavery, Fillmore believed he had helped to safeguard the Union, but it soon became clear that the compromise, rather than satisfying anyone, gave everyone something to hate. • His support of the Compromise, although mostly positive, also caused further splitting of political parties, especially the Northern Whigs. • Fillmore's constant attention to Mexico avoided a resumption of the hostilities that had only broken off in 1848 and laid the groundwork for the Gadsden Treaty during Pierce’s administration. • Southerners blamed him for refusing to back an invasion of Cuba by a group of Southern adventurers who wanted to expand the South into a slave-based Caribbean empire http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/1

By: Saskia Matthews

Millard Fillmore