Fillmore, Millard (1800-1874)

13th president of the USA 1850-53, a Whig. He was Zachary Taylor's vice-president from 1849, and succeeded him on Taylor's death. Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850 on slavery to reconcile North and South.

This compromise pleased neither side, and although it provided for California's admission to the Union as a free state, it contained a harsh law requiring escaped slaves to be returned to their owners. Fillmore threatened to enforce this act with troops, if necessary, earning the wrath of the abolitionists. He failed to be nominated for another term.

Fillmore was born into a poor farming family in New Cayuga County, New York State. He became a barrister 1823, and served in the New York state legislature 1828-31. He sat in Congress for eight years between 1833 and 1843. In 1856 he was nominated for president by the Know-Nothing Party but won only eight electoral-college votes and retired from politics.