Millard Fillmore
July 1850- March 1853
- The Accidental President
- Wool-Carder-President
- The American Louis Philippe
Filmore gained the presidency after Taylor’s untimely death, and he then got rid of Taylor’s entire cabinet. Wiped ‘em out in favor of people that would be agreeable to a compromise (of 1850). Filmore was all in favor of preserving the union in the great rift that was the slavery debate.
His insistence on federal enforcement on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 alienated the North and helped to bring about the dissolution of the Whig party.
- Filmore was the first president to have a step-mother
- Filmore refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford, claiming no man should have a degree he “could not read.”
- Filmore’s wife was the first to have a “running water” bathtub in the White House.
- Established the first permanent library in the White House.
- Last president born in the 18th Century.
- Didn’t have an inaugural address.
Wow, he looks angry. And with a name like Millard, who wouldn’t be. Do you think his pals called him Milly? I know why he has a step-Mother, he was so pissed at his real Mother for naming him Millard that he made sure she had an accident. I’m just saying.
Also, you missed that he coined the expresson “stop whiggin’.” as he was working to put an end to the Whig party.
What’s up with Queen Fillmore? What, servants pouring jugs of hot water in to her bathtub just wasn’t good enough? She needs “plumbing” and “drains” and all modern conveniences. Show off.
Lastly, it’s a little known fact that the entire Fillmore White House library was comprised of Playboys and carry-out menus. But hey, it was a start. And Dubya loves it.
The Know-Nothing party was also known as the American Party, its members had a strong anti-immigrant stance that cut across slavery-abolitionist lines. (poor Millard – he didn’t know which way to jump). The party got its name because its members would not publicly admit their political views. When asked what they thought about the political issues of the day, they would say, “I know nothing.”
Their only presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore, lost badly to Democrat Franklin Pierce in 1856 when he carried only Maryland (a state that didn’t know which way to jump) . The party fell apart after that, with many of its followers joining some former members of the Whig Party (which had also fallen apart) to form the Constitutional Union Party( which also must have fallen apart since there is no CU candidate today).
Additional trivia: Fillmore married his schoolteacher, Abigail Powers, in 1826; she died a month after he left office and in 1858 he married a wealthy widow, Mrs. Caroline C. McIntosh… After President Lincoln’s assassination, a mob, unforgiving of Fillmore’s sympathy for the South, surrounded his house and draped it in black cloth – the 1860’s version of getting TPed?
I love the “Man I don’t know my President…” feature.
Probably not the guy who put the plumbed bathtub in the White House after all — that’s an H. L. Mencken hoax.
Interesting feature. Lots of claims about Fillmore here that don’t appear much of anywhere else!
C’mon over to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub with anything else you find, will you?