today we're looking at president millard fillmore
hello welcome to the daily bell ringer please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at the
questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailybelringer.com where
you'll find more resources that go with many of the bell ringer videos millard fillmore was the
13th president of the united states from 1850 to 1853 and was a member of the whig party actually
fillmore would be the final whig president in the white house as the whig party dissolved
just a few years later fillmore was born january 7 1800 near morovia new york in the finger lakes
region he was one of eight children born to phoebe millard and nathaniel fillmore his family grew up
very poor moving from rented farm to rented farm in the north central area of new york millard
had very little formal education but did learn to read and write and he became an avid reader
reading any book he could get his hands on he apprenticed as a cloth maker but did not enjoy
the work and then by the age of 19 served as a law clerk until his father purchased a farm
near buffalo new york in 1821 millard began to study law to become an attorney and in 1823 he
established a law office in east aurora new york near buffalo a few years later in 1826 he married
abigail powers and together they would have two children in 1829 fillmore became involved in
politics and was elected to the new york state assembly in albany he served for three years
there and was adamantly opposed to then president andrew jackson's policies at the same time his law
practice was rapidly growing and he relocated it to buffalo which was just a small village
but was expanding quickly as it was located at the western end of the recently completed erie canal
in 1832 he was elected to the u.s house of representatives in which he would serve until
1842 during his time in the house he became one of the most influential congressmen in washington and
for two years served as chairman of the house ways and means committee which is an extremely powerful
committee in congress that has the authority over all taxes and other revenue raising measures
that the government takes on in 1843 fillmore left politics and returned to buffalo to practice
law many in the whig party were upset and urged fillmore to return to politics and run for vice
president with henry clay in 1844 fillmore however did not run but instead waited a few years and ran
for comptroller of new york which a comptroller is an elected official that oversees the finances of
a state or government shortly after democratic president james polk announced he would not be
running for reelection in 1846 the whig party quickly nominated mexican-american war hero
general zachary taylor to be their nominee for president the whig party felt they needed a
vice presidential nominee that would garner new york votes and a candidate that had a
lenient stance on slavery which fillmore did the election of 1848 was close and new york's
electoral votes were crucial in securing a win for taylor fillmore was sworn in as vice president of
the united states on march 5th 1849. being vice president fillmore oversaw much of the debate
in the senate as california applied for statehood and the compromise of 1850 was discussed in july
of 1850 president zachary taylor unexpectedly died and on july 10 1850 millard fillmore was
sworn in as the 13th president of the united states immediately fillmore was at the center
of the compromise debate as any bill passed in congress would have to have his approval to become
law unlike zachary taylor fillmore was much more open to compromise and not as adamantly against
the spread of slavery west soon california was admitted as a free state and fillmore signed
into law the controversial fugitive slave act which required northerners to aid in the capture
of escaped enslaved people and made it illegal to aid enslaved people in their escape
fillmore and others believed this act would settle the slavery issue but it only served to
greater divide the nation and led to resistance to fillmore being nominated to run for a second term
instead the whig party nominated another war hero general winfield scott who was defeated
by democrat franklin pierce interestingly fillmore would be the first president to return to private
life without a sizable fortune to basically retire on so phil moore planned to go back
to his law practice unfortunately tragedy soon struck fillmore his wife abigail caught a cold at
president pierce's inauguration which developed into pneumonia and she died march 30th of 1853
then his daughter mary died of cholera the following year in 1854 fillmore refused to
join the new republican party upon the dissolving of the whig party and then in 1856 accepted the
nomination for president from the know nothing or american party as the nation descended into civil
war fillmore opposed abraham lincoln's policies and criticized him for his handling of the war
and then after the war uh fillmore supported andrew johnson's reconstruction plans
in february of 1874 fillmore suffered a stroke and then died on march 8th of 1874 at the age of 74.
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching