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Millard Fillmore
Historical figureUnited States1800-1874

Millard Fillmore

13th President of the United States (1850-1853) · Vice President of the United States

Thirteenth president who signed the Compromise of 1850, enforced its harsh fugitive slave clause, sent Perry to open Japan and later ran as the Know-Nothing candidate.

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Profile on 12 axes8 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Millard Fillmore, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+30
    PublicPrivate

    There was no debate on public ownership in his time. The score comes from the Whig backing for private business helped along by federal policy.

  2. 02Markets-10
    PlannedFree

    A Whig who wanted tariffs to encourage home industry inside a market economy, so he leans slightly toward a managed economy.

  3. 03WelfareNo clear record
    SharedSelf-reliant

    No recorded stance on federal relief or redistribution, so this axis is left blank.

  4. 04Authority-15
    DemocraticStrong leader

    Worked through Congress to get the 1850 Compromise passed, and held the Whig idea of a modest presidency, so he scores toward the democratic side.

  5. 05Security+45
    LibertyOrder

    Applied the Fugitive Slave Law with vigor, though it denied a fair hearing to people accused of fleeing slavery and let federal marshals seize them.

  6. 06Structure+35
    LocalCentral

    Used national power to carry out federal law in Northern states that defied the fugitive slave act, and stood against Southern threats to leave the Union.

  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional

    No recorded view on family or social customs beyond what was usual in his day, so this axis is left blank.

  8. 08ReligionNo clear record
    SecularReligious

    His party's hostility to Catholic immigrants is counted under culture. He had no program on religion and law, so this axis is left blank.

  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution

    No recorded view, and the question belongs to a later age, so this axis is left blank.

  10. 10Culture+60
    MulticulturalNational identity

    Blamed foreign Catholics for his 1844 defeat and ended his career as the Know-Nothing presidential nominee, a party formed against immigration.

  11. 11Trade+40
    GlobalProtected

    Urged Congress in 1850 to raise tariff rates so that home producers would be helped.

  12. 12Foreign policy0
    CooperationStrength

    Dispatched Commodore Perry toward Japan and warned France off Hawaii, but would not back filibusters aimed at Cuba. Scored in the middle.

4 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Millard Fillmore?

Millard Fillmore was raised in poverty in western New York. He qualified as a lawyer, sat in the state assembly and then in Congress, first with the Anti-Masons and then the Whigs. He was elected vice president under Zachary Taylor in 1848 and moved up when Taylor died in July 1850. He backed the Compromise of 1850, a package that let California in as a free state, left slavery open in New Mexico and Utah, banned the slave trade in the capital and toughened the fugitive slave law. His party refused him in 1852. In 1856 he ran again, this time as the candidate of the nativist Know-Nothing movement.

Political views

  • Signed the bills of the Compromise of 1850, believing they were the best way to keep the Union together.Source: millercenter.org
  • Decided to carry out the Fugitive Slave Law firmly after Southern pressure and talk of secession.Source: millercenter.org
  • Asked for higher duties set as fixed amounts, to help home producers without shutting out foreign goods.Source: millercenter.org
  • Sent Commodore Matthew Perry on the mission that opened Japan to American trade.Source: millercenter.org
  • Would not support a Southern-led invasion of Cuba, and warned France not to take over Hawaii.Source: millercenter.org
  • Became the 1856 presidential candidate of the Know-Nothings, a movement built around hostility to immigration.Source: millercenter.org

Legacy

Some historians say the Compromise of 1850 bought the country time before civil war, and they credit Fillmore with a steady foreign policy that included opening Japan. Most scholars still place his presidency near the bottom. Abolitionists and many Northerners hated the way he applied the Fugitive Slave Law, under which federal officials could send people into slavery with no fair hearing, and free Black Americans were seized along with people who had escaped. He is also faulted for leading the nativist Know-Nothings, who targeted Catholics and immigrants. The historian Michael Holt argues that by taking the proslavery side on enforcement, Fillmore all but ensured he would be the last Whig in the White House.

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Millard Fillmore: questions

Was Millard Fillmore pro-slavery?

He was not a defender of slavery in principle, but he signed the Compromise of 1850 and enforced its fugitive slave law firmly. That made abolitionists treat him as an ally of the slave South.

Who were the Know-Nothings?

They were a nativist party that opposed immigration, especially by Catholics. Fillmore was their presidential candidate in 1856 and lost.

What is Millard Fillmore remembered for?

He signed the Compromise of 1850 and sent Commodore Perry to Japan. Historians usually rank him low, mostly because of the Fugitive Slave Law and his later ties to the Know-Nothings.

Sources