We're now on the 13th day of my daily presidents threads celebrating the 250th anniversary of the USA.Today we have Millard Fillmore (1/7/1800 - 3/8/1874), the last Whig president, and the last president who wasn't a Democrat or a Republican. He was president from 1850 to 1852, finishing Zachary Taylor's term after his death. He'd prior been a Representative from New York as well as the state's first elected comptroller for a year. He later fought in the Civil War. Notable actions or events during his presidency included the Compromise of 1850, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, the Donation Land Claim Act, the Perry Expedition, blocking the French annexation of Hawaii, and improving relations with Spain over Cuba and Narciso Lopez. A later attempt at reelection in 1856 failed miserably. Also as an aside I put the Fugitive Slave Act and Compromise of 1850 under Zachary Taylor. It was actually under Fillmore a couple months after Taylor had died. Sorry. What do your think of the book thief?
>>18507037Surprisingly pretty good for an accidental president, but the Fugitive Slave Act pretty much ended the Whigs.
>>18507037>celebrating the 250th anniversary of the USA.disgusting.
>>18506401>>185070371850, really niftyMillard Fillmore's in
>The Compromise of 1850 contained the following provisions:>California was admitted as a free state without passing through the territorial phase first>the Utah and New Mexico Territories were created>Texas was to cede her western region to the newly created New Mexico Territory, in exchange for which the Federal government would assume all of the state's outstanding debts>the Fugitive Slave Act made it a Federal offense to refuse to turn over a runaway slave to law enforcement officials>the slave trade was abolished in Washington D.C.>The Missouri Compromise was repealed>The Fugitive Slave Act created an instant outrage among abolitionists. Ralph Waldo Emerson declared in a July 1851 speech in Massachusetts, "This filthy act was created in the nineteenth century by men who could read and write. I will not obey it." Emerson was later jailed for refusing to pay his poll tax in protest. Henry David Thoreau visited him and asked "Why are you in jail?" Emerson replied "Why aren't you?">The Missouri Compromise had also long since been accepted by all sections of the nation and its removal, opening the door for new slave states to exist anywhere, was a scandal.
>>18507037Fugitive Slave Act was terrible, a act Fillmore fully supported and forever tarnishes his legacy.
>>18507037Judging solely on his presidency. he had a below average presidency, but I think that historians are a little harsh with how low people rate his presidency. I'd rate Fillmore about the 15th worst president rather than bottom 5. The FSA was bad, but dunno if the Compromise would have passed without it.If you grade him by his whole life and not just his presidency- that's where he was truly bottom 5. He was a truly deplorable ex-president with his run in the Know Nothing Party and his support of Johnson's Reconstruction policies. He probably had the second worst ex-presidency in US history, ahead of only Franklin Pierce.
He's the least bad of the three 1850s presidents.
I think he was a good president. The Compromise of 1850 was probably the best anyone was going to get out of the situation the country was in and the anti-slavery camp got much more out of it (the FSA was arguably the only pro-slavery victory a part of it.)Fillmore was solid on most other issues as well, stopping a potential South Carolina secession attempt, fixing relations with Spain after filibuster attempts, among other things.
>>18507165New Mexico took 62 years for statehood because of its large non-Anglo population.
