Happy Birthday Dear Millard
Every year on this day (January 7th) a ceremony is held at the grave of President Millard Fillmore at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo New York. Faculty, staff, students, administrators and friends of the University of Buffalo gather at Fillmore’s gravesite to mark the birthday of the university’s first chancellor, who also happens to be the 13th president of the United States and the founder of many Buffalo institutions, like the Buffalo History Museum, the Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo General Hospital and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. On January 7, 1800 (214 years ago today) Millard Fillmore was born in Moravia, Cayuga County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.
Millard Fillmore was the last President to be a member of the Whig Party. As Zachary Taylor's Vice President, he assumed the presidency on July 9, 1850, following Taylor's death. Fillmore was a lawyer from western New York state, and one of the first members of the Whig Party. He served in the state legislature from 1829 to 1831, as a U.S. Representative for two non-consecutive terms (1833–1835 and 1837–1843), and as New York State Comptroller from 1848 to 1849. He was elected Vice President of the United States in 1848 as Taylor's running mate, and served from 1849 until Taylor's death in 1850, at the height of the "Crisis of 1850" over slavery. When the Compromise of 1850 was proposed, it was ironic that Fillmore the northerner supported it, while Taylor, the southerner and slave holder, opposed it.
Fillmore had been an anti-slavery moderate, but he opposed abolitionist demands to exclude slavery from all of the territory gained in the Mexican War. Instead he supported the Compromise of 1850, which briefly ended the crisis. In foreign policy, Fillmore supported U.S. Navy expeditions to open up trade with Japan, he opposed French designs on Hawaii, and was also opposed Narciso López's filibuster expeditions to liberate Cuba from Spain. He sought re-election in 1852, but lost his party's nomination to General Winfield Scott.
When the Whig Party broke up prior to the 1856 election, Fillmore and other conservative Whigs joined the American Party, the political arm of the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic "Know-Nothing" movement. He was selected as the American Party candidate for President in 1856, but finished third.
During the American Civil War, Fillmore denounced secession and agreed that the Union must be maintained by force if necessary, but was very critical of the war policies of President Abraham Lincoln. After the war, he supported the Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. He died at 11:10 pm on March 8, 1874, at his home in Buffalo following a stroke.
Today, the remarks at the 2014 Fillmore commemoration are being delivered by longtime University of Buffalo political science faculty member Claude E. Welch Jr. Welch gave the remarks at the 1968 Fillmore commemoration, 46 years ago. At the time, he was a young faculty member. Welch, is an internationally known authority on human rights, African politics and civil-military relations. This is his 50th year at the university (he joined the UB faculty as an assistant professor in August 1964 after earning his doctorate from Oxford University that same year.)
Millard Fillmore was the last President to be a member of the Whig Party. As Zachary Taylor's Vice President, he assumed the presidency on July 9, 1850, following Taylor's death. Fillmore was a lawyer from western New York state, and one of the first members of the Whig Party. He served in the state legislature from 1829 to 1831, as a U.S. Representative for two non-consecutive terms (1833–1835 and 1837–1843), and as New York State Comptroller from 1848 to 1849. He was elected Vice President of the United States in 1848 as Taylor's running mate, and served from 1849 until Taylor's death in 1850, at the height of the "Crisis of 1850" over slavery. When the Compromise of 1850 was proposed, it was ironic that Fillmore the northerner supported it, while Taylor, the southerner and slave holder, opposed it.
Fillmore had been an anti-slavery moderate, but he opposed abolitionist demands to exclude slavery from all of the territory gained in the Mexican War. Instead he supported the Compromise of 1850, which briefly ended the crisis. In foreign policy, Fillmore supported U.S. Navy expeditions to open up trade with Japan, he opposed French designs on Hawaii, and was also opposed Narciso López's filibuster expeditions to liberate Cuba from Spain. He sought re-election in 1852, but lost his party's nomination to General Winfield Scott.
When the Whig Party broke up prior to the 1856 election, Fillmore and other conservative Whigs joined the American Party, the political arm of the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic "Know-Nothing" movement. He was selected as the American Party candidate for President in 1856, but finished third.
During the American Civil War, Fillmore denounced secession and agreed that the Union must be maintained by force if necessary, but was very critical of the war policies of President Abraham Lincoln. After the war, he supported the Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. He died at 11:10 pm on March 8, 1874, at his home in Buffalo following a stroke.
Today, the remarks at the 2014 Fillmore commemoration are being delivered by longtime University of Buffalo political science faculty member Claude E. Welch Jr. Welch gave the remarks at the 1968 Fillmore commemoration, 46 years ago. At the time, he was a young faculty member. Welch, is an internationally known authority on human rights, African politics and civil-military relations. This is his 50th year at the university (he joined the UB faculty as an assistant professor in August 1964 after earning his doctorate from Oxford University that same year.)