The Obscure Presidents: Millard Fillmore-Part 2 (Fillmore's Presidency)
After Zachary Taylor died unexpectedly on July 9, 1850, Millard Fillmore became President. Taylor's death may have resulted in a change in the nation's future. Many (thought not all) historians believe that Taylor would have vetoed the Compromise of 1850, but as Vice-President, it was Fillmore who had cast the deciding vote in favor.
When Fillmore became President, Taylor's entire cabinet offered their resignations. Fillmore accepted them all and in their place he appointed cabinet members who supported the Compromise of 1850, with the exception of Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin. When a watered-down version of the compromise was placed before both Houses of Congress, Fillmore urged Congress to pass the original bill. An exhausted Henry Clay left Washington, passing leadership to Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. On August 6, 1850, Fillmore sent a message to Congress recommending that Texas's debts be paid provided Texas abandoned its claims in New Mexico. This helped shift a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the Wilmot Proviso (an amendment demanding that slavery be prohibited in the land acquired in the Mexican War). Douglas modified Clay's bill accordingly, and then split it into five separate Senate bills. The five parts to the Compromise provided as follows:
1. California was admitted to the union a free state
2. The Utah Territory and the New Mexico Territory were organized with slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty
3. Texas dropped its claim to land north of the 32nd parallel north and west of the 103rd meridian west in favor of New Mexico Territory, and north of the 36°30' parallel north and east of the 103rd meridian west which became unorganized territory. Texas's boundaries were set at their locations.
4. The slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. (but not slavery itself)
5. The Fugitive Slave Act was strengthened, requiring absconding slaves to be returned no matter where in the nation they were captured (free states included) and imposing penalties on those law enforcement officers who refused to uphold the law.
Each measure obtained a majority, and, by September 20, 1850, Fillmore had signed them into law. The compromise seemed to be acceptable to a majority of Americans. A slave-state convention that had been called to discuss secession only drew a few delegates. But the Compromise caused divisions within the Whig party, and the party fared badly in the fall 1850 elections in the north.
The biggest complaint Fillmore faced was was the Fugitive Slave Act. Southerners complained that it wasn't being enforced and northerners did not want to enforce it. Fillmore pushed for greater enforcement, but he also sought to enforce the Neutrality Act of 1818,which prohibited Southerners from trying to promote insurrection in Cuba in an effort to make it a slave state.
In the Utah Territory, which was created as part of the Compromise, Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as the territory's first governor in 1850. A grateful Young named the territorial capital "Fillmore" and the surrounding county "Millard".
In his brief tenure, Fillmore had the opportunity to fill two US Supreme Court vacancies. He appointed Benjamin Robbins Curtis to one vacancy, and Curtis was sworn in on September 22, 1851. Fillmore had more difficulty with the other vacancy. He tried on four occasions to fill the other vacancy caused by Justice John McKinley's death. He first nominated New Orleans attorney Edward A. Bradford, but the Senate refused to vote on confirmation. He next offered the position to George Edmund Badger, but he withdrew his nomination which it was clear that he too would not pass confirmation. Senator Judah P. Benjamin declined the offer to serve., and the nomination of William C. Micou, another New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was also not voted on by the Senate. The vacancy was not filled until after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate.
In foreign affairs, Fillmore enjoyed some measure of success. At the time Japan prohibited almost all foreign contact. American merchants and shipowners wanted to open a relationship with Japan so that American ships could stop there for food and water on voyages to Asia. Fillmore and Secretary of State Daniel Webster dispatched Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan to attempt to open diplomatic relations with the Japanese. Although Perry did not reach Japan until after the end of Fillmore's term, it was Fillmore who ordered the expedition, and who is credited with its success. Fillmore was opposed to European meddling in Hawaii. Napoleon III of France attempted to annex Hawaii, but backed down after Fillmore sent a message warning that "the United States would not stand for any such action."
President Taylor had signed the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty preventing Great Britain and the U.S. from acquiring new possessions in the Americas, but despite the treaty, both nations were still attempting to gain ground in the region. Fillmore ordered several warships to guard American merchants in an attempt to prevent British interference.
As previously mentioned, many southerners wanted to expand slave territory in the U.S., but the Missouri Compromise and other laws prevented that, so they looked to Cuba, which was then a colony of Spain and a place where slavery was practiced. Some southerners wanted to get Cuba annexed to the U.S. as a slave state. A Venezuelan named Narciso López recruited Americans for three expeditions to Cuba (there were known as "filibustering" expeditions). It was his goal to incite a rebellion and overthrow Spanish rule there, a sort of 19th century Bay of Pigs fiasco. Lopez's first attempt was in 1849, but it was suppressed by U.S. officials by orders of President Taylor. López tried again a year later on Fillmore's watch. He reached Cuba but was chased away by Spanish troops and disbanded his force in Key West. López and several of his followers were arrested and tried for breaching the Neutrality Act, but they were easily acquitted by friendly Southern juries. Southerners thought that Fillmore should have supported the invasion. France and Britain dispatched warships to the region in response. López tried a third time in 1851. This time most of his force was captured by the Spanish. He and many of his American followers were executed. Fillmore was criticized by southerners for not supporting Lopez and for doing nothing to prevent the execution of American citizens by a foreign nation.
Another issue that Fillmore confronted during his presidency was the arrival of Lajos Kossuth, the exiled leader of a failed Hungarian revolution. Kossuth wanted the U.S. to recognize Hungary's independence. Many Americans were sympathetic to the Hungarian rebels, especially recent German immigrants, who were now coming to the U.S. in large numbers and had become a major political force. But Fillmore adhered tothe U.S. policy of nonintervention in European affairs. Fillmore ultimately refused to change that policy and remained neutral on the issue.
As the election of 1852 approached, Fillmore decided to run for a full term as President. The Whigs held their National Convention in June that year. But by this time Fillmore was unpopular with northern Whigs for signing and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act and was also unpopular with southerners over his refusal to support their efforts to annex Cuba. At the convention he led narrowly on the early ballots, but was short of a majority and was not gaining any support. On the 52nd ballot, Daniel Webster's delegates switched their support to General Winfield Scott, who won the nomination on the 53rd ballot. Democrat Franklin Pierce defeated Scott in the November election. Fillmore completed his term and was succeeded by Pierce in March 1853.
(Tomorrow: Part III-Fillmore's Post-presidency).
When Fillmore became President, Taylor's entire cabinet offered their resignations. Fillmore accepted them all and in their place he appointed cabinet members who supported the Compromise of 1850, with the exception of Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin. When a watered-down version of the compromise was placed before both Houses of Congress, Fillmore urged Congress to pass the original bill. An exhausted Henry Clay left Washington, passing leadership to Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. On August 6, 1850, Fillmore sent a message to Congress recommending that Texas's debts be paid provided Texas abandoned its claims in New Mexico. This helped shift a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the Wilmot Proviso (an amendment demanding that slavery be prohibited in the land acquired in the Mexican War). Douglas modified Clay's bill accordingly, and then split it into five separate Senate bills. The five parts to the Compromise provided as follows:
1. California was admitted to the union a free state
2. The Utah Territory and the New Mexico Territory were organized with slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty
3. Texas dropped its claim to land north of the 32nd parallel north and west of the 103rd meridian west in favor of New Mexico Territory, and north of the 36°30' parallel north and east of the 103rd meridian west which became unorganized territory. Texas's boundaries were set at their locations.
4. The slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. (but not slavery itself)
5. The Fugitive Slave Act was strengthened, requiring absconding slaves to be returned no matter where in the nation they were captured (free states included) and imposing penalties on those law enforcement officers who refused to uphold the law.
Each measure obtained a majority, and, by September 20, 1850, Fillmore had signed them into law. The compromise seemed to be acceptable to a majority of Americans. A slave-state convention that had been called to discuss secession only drew a few delegates. But the Compromise caused divisions within the Whig party, and the party fared badly in the fall 1850 elections in the north.
The biggest complaint Fillmore faced was was the Fugitive Slave Act. Southerners complained that it wasn't being enforced and northerners did not want to enforce it. Fillmore pushed for greater enforcement, but he also sought to enforce the Neutrality Act of 1818,which prohibited Southerners from trying to promote insurrection in Cuba in an effort to make it a slave state.
In the Utah Territory, which was created as part of the Compromise, Fillmore appointed Brigham Young as the territory's first governor in 1850. A grateful Young named the territorial capital "Fillmore" and the surrounding county "Millard".
In his brief tenure, Fillmore had the opportunity to fill two US Supreme Court vacancies. He appointed Benjamin Robbins Curtis to one vacancy, and Curtis was sworn in on September 22, 1851. Fillmore had more difficulty with the other vacancy. He tried on four occasions to fill the other vacancy caused by Justice John McKinley's death. He first nominated New Orleans attorney Edward A. Bradford, but the Senate refused to vote on confirmation. He next offered the position to George Edmund Badger, but he withdrew his nomination which it was clear that he too would not pass confirmation. Senator Judah P. Benjamin declined the offer to serve., and the nomination of William C. Micou, another New Orleans lawyer recommended by Benjamin, was also not voted on by the Senate. The vacancy was not filled until after Fillmore's term, when President Franklin Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell, who was confirmed by the Senate.
In foreign affairs, Fillmore enjoyed some measure of success. At the time Japan prohibited almost all foreign contact. American merchants and shipowners wanted to open a relationship with Japan so that American ships could stop there for food and water on voyages to Asia. Fillmore and Secretary of State Daniel Webster dispatched Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan to attempt to open diplomatic relations with the Japanese. Although Perry did not reach Japan until after the end of Fillmore's term, it was Fillmore who ordered the expedition, and who is credited with its success. Fillmore was opposed to European meddling in Hawaii. Napoleon III of France attempted to annex Hawaii, but backed down after Fillmore sent a message warning that "the United States would not stand for any such action."
President Taylor had signed the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty preventing Great Britain and the U.S. from acquiring new possessions in the Americas, but despite the treaty, both nations were still attempting to gain ground in the region. Fillmore ordered several warships to guard American merchants in an attempt to prevent British interference.
As previously mentioned, many southerners wanted to expand slave territory in the U.S., but the Missouri Compromise and other laws prevented that, so they looked to Cuba, which was then a colony of Spain and a place where slavery was practiced. Some southerners wanted to get Cuba annexed to the U.S. as a slave state. A Venezuelan named Narciso López recruited Americans for three expeditions to Cuba (there were known as "filibustering" expeditions). It was his goal to incite a rebellion and overthrow Spanish rule there, a sort of 19th century Bay of Pigs fiasco. Lopez's first attempt was in 1849, but it was suppressed by U.S. officials by orders of President Taylor. López tried again a year later on Fillmore's watch. He reached Cuba but was chased away by Spanish troops and disbanded his force in Key West. López and several of his followers were arrested and tried for breaching the Neutrality Act, but they were easily acquitted by friendly Southern juries. Southerners thought that Fillmore should have supported the invasion. France and Britain dispatched warships to the region in response. López tried a third time in 1851. This time most of his force was captured by the Spanish. He and many of his American followers were executed. Fillmore was criticized by southerners for not supporting Lopez and for doing nothing to prevent the execution of American citizens by a foreign nation.
Another issue that Fillmore confronted during his presidency was the arrival of Lajos Kossuth, the exiled leader of a failed Hungarian revolution. Kossuth wanted the U.S. to recognize Hungary's independence. Many Americans were sympathetic to the Hungarian rebels, especially recent German immigrants, who were now coming to the U.S. in large numbers and had become a major political force. But Fillmore adhered tothe U.S. policy of nonintervention in European affairs. Fillmore ultimately refused to change that policy and remained neutral on the issue.
As the election of 1852 approached, Fillmore decided to run for a full term as President. The Whigs held their National Convention in June that year. But by this time Fillmore was unpopular with northern Whigs for signing and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act and was also unpopular with southerners over his refusal to support their efforts to annex Cuba. At the convention he led narrowly on the early ballots, but was short of a majority and was not gaining any support. On the 52nd ballot, Daniel Webster's delegates switched their support to General Winfield Scott, who won the nomination on the 53rd ballot. Democrat Franklin Pierce defeated Scott in the November election. Fillmore completed his term and was succeeded by Pierce in March 1853.
(Tomorrow: Part III-Fillmore's Post-presidency).