Presidents 13-15

Presidential Seal

seal bar

Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore

The man who replaced Zachary Taylor in the White House was in many ways his predecessor's opposite. Taylor was a notoriously sloppy dresser; Fillmore was neat and elegant. Taylor was a southern soldier; Fillmore was a northern lawyer and politician. Taylor was warm and agreeable; Fillmore often seemed unemotional. Taylor was a plantation owner who also owned slaves; Fillmore detested slavery.

Born into a poor family in Summerhill, New York, Millard Fillmore was largely self-educated. His marriage to teacher Abigail Powers helped elevate his social status, and by age 23 he began his own law practice. He served as a Whig in Congress, and as New York State's comptroller general.

In 1848, the tall, white-haired, heavy-set politician from New York State was chosen by the Whigs to balance the presidential ticket in the campaign of 1848. They believed that Fillmore's political experience and northern background would help counteract the suspicion many northerners had for the southern Taylor. The strategy worked, and Taylor and Fillmore were elected.

When Zachary Taylor died in July of 1850, the nation was unsuccessfully trying to find a solution to the slavery issue. Unlike Taylor, Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850. The legislation admitted California into the Union as a free state, established governments for Utah and New Mexico, and prohibited slave trade in the District of Columbia. It also called for a tough fugitive slave law that pleased the South. Fillmore hoped the compromise would heal the breach between the North and the South, or at least avoid a war.

Fillmore's support helped pass the Compromise of 1850, but led to the death of his political career. Northern voters opposed the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Whigs declined to nominate Fillmore again in 1852.

Fillmore ran for President in 1856 as the candidate of the American Know-Nothing party, but he failed to win. He returned to Buffalo, New York, where he became chancellor of the University of Buffalo. He died on March 8, 1874, at the age of 74.

small seal

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce

Though Franklin Pierce served during a relatively prosperous time in American history, personal tragedy and the deeply divisive slavery issue hampered his role as President.

Born in Hillsborough (present-day Hillsboro), New Hampshire, on November 23, 1804, Franklin Pierce entered New Hampshire politics at an early age. He became a member of Congress in 1833, and four years later, at age 32, Pierce became the nation's youngest senator. Unfortunately, his wife, Jane, suffered from tuberculosis, and her ill health forced him to resign from the Senate in 1842.

During the Mexican War, Pierce served as a brigadier general. In 1852, the Democrats chose Pierce as their presidential candidate after rejecting more famous senators, such as Stephen Douglas, who took controversial positions on slavery. Pierce defeated Whig candidate Winfield Scott. At age 48, he became the youngest person ever to occupy the White House up until that time. Personal tragedy overshadowed his victory, however, when his son was killed in a railroad accident. Jane Pierce was so grief-stricken that she did not take an active role as First Lady.

Early in Pierce's term, the first trade treaty with Japan was finalized. Despite economic prosperity, the nation was split over slavery issues. The biggest debate was whether the Union should allow slavery to exist in new states. Pierce supported Stephen Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the territories to decide this issue for themselves. Yet instead of easing the tensions between North and South, the Act increased them. Proslavery and antislavery forces battled for control of Kansas.

Northern Democrats were so angered by Pierce's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act that they refused to re-nominate him for President. The party chose James Buchanan instead.

Pierce returned to New Hampshire, then traveled abroad with his wife. She died in 1863, and Pierce died on October 8, 1869.

small seal

James Buchanan

James Buchanan

Perhaps no man ever tried so hard to become President and was so relieved to leave the job as James Buchanan. He campaigned for the Democratic nomination three times before he was chosen. By the time his term ended, Buchanan told president-elect Abraham Lincoln: "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.

Born near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1791, James Buchanan grew up to be a successful businessman, lawyer, and politician. Andrew Jackson appointed Buchanan ambassador to Russia from 1832 to 1834. James Polk chose him to be Secretary of State during the Mexican War, and Franklin Pierce named him ambassador to Great Britain. Buchanan also served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

The Democrats chose Buchanan to be their presidential candidate in 1856, after President Pierce angered northern Democrats with his support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Buchanan defeated John C. Fremont, the candidate of the new Republican party, and ex-president Millard Fillmore, who ran for the American Know-Nothing party.

Buchanan was a likable, hard-working man who was known to be scrupulously honest. But he lacked the leadership ability necessary to heal a nation torn by slavery. Violence in Kansas, the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry all increased the anger between the North and the South. Even though Buchanan opposed slavery, he didn't believe that the national government should dictate the decisions of individual states.

Buchanan was soon heartily tired of the office he had wanted for so long. He did not seek a second term. By the time he left office in 1861, the southern states had begun to secede, and he left the crisis in Abraham Lincoln's hands.

Buchanan retired to Wheatland, his Pennsylvania estate, where he wrote his memoirs. He died there at the age of 77 on June 1, 1868.

seal bar

All images of Presidents are courtesy of whitehouse.gov

Information taken from Software titled "American Heritage The History of the United States for Young People.
The copyright belongs to: Forbes Inc. and Byron Preiss Multimedia Company. Thank You!

seal bar

seal bar

seal bar