Fillmore, Millard

(born Jan. 7, 1800, Locke Township, N.Y., U.S.—died March 8, 1874, Buffalo, N.Y.) 13th president of the U.S. (1850–53). Born into poverty, he became an indentured apprentice at age 15. He studied law with a local judge and began to practice in Buffalo in 1823. Initially identified with the Anti-Masonic Party (1828–34), he followed his political mentor, Thurlow Weed, to the Whigs and was soon a leader of the party's northern wing.

He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1833–35, 1837–43), where he became a follower of Henry Clay. In 1848 the Whigs nominated Fillmore as vice president, and he was elected with Zachary Taylor. He became president on Taylor's death in 1850. Though he abhorred slavery, he supported the Compromise of 1850 and insisted on federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. His stand, which alienated the North, led to his defeat by Winfield Scott at the Whigs' nominating convention in 1852. He was an early champion of U.S. commercial expansion in the Pacific. In 1853 he sent Matthew Perry with a fleet of warships to Japan to force its isolationist government to enter into trade and diplomatic relations. He returned to Buffalo and was nominated for president by the Know-Nothing Party in 1856.

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