|
Millard Fillmore inherited the office of the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in office, and he proved a competent, level-headed leader. Though personally opposing slavery, Fillmore stood on middle ground when it came to the issue of slavery. He felt the issue was simply not worth a civil war.
At age 18, Fillmore took learning into his own hands and joined a public library and bought a small dictionary with the intention of looking up the meaning of every word he read but did not understand. He later worked as a country schoolteacher and went to work for a Quaker Judge. After passing the bar in 1823, he set up his own practice in a small town near Buffalo.
By 1828 he was a delegate to the New York Assembly, and four years later he was elected to Congress. He was the Whig nominee for governor in 1844 but was caught between pro- and anti- slavery forces. In 1848, the Whigs turned to the conservative Fillmore to balance the ticket of Zachary Taylor. He inherited the office in 1850.
Fillmore sought the re-nomination of his party in 1852 but was passed over. He ran instead as the nominee of the Know-Nothing Party in an attempt to reconcile the North and South. After is defeat, he finished out his time a president of the Buffalo Historical Society.
|
|
