FILLMORE 



2171 



FILLMORE 



its history. At the time of his birth, on Feb- 

 ruary 7, 1800, his father and mother were living 

 on a little clearing in Cayuga County, N. Y., 

 within the limits of the present village of 

 Summer Hill. Through some flaw in the title 

 the father lost his farm, and was obliged to 

 lease an uncleared tract of poorer land some 

 miles distant. On this new farm, Millard 

 worked until he was fourteen. He helped to 

 clear off the timber, and in many ways did 

 the work of a man. As the poverty of the fam- 

 ily seemed to prohibit a professional career, 

 the boy was apprenticed to a maker of carding 

 wool and cloth. He was the youngest appren- 

 tice in the shop and was so brutally treated 

 that on one occasion he threatened his em- 

 ployer with an ax. In the next year he found 

 a new master, with whom he stayed four years. 

 In 1819, when he still had two years of his 

 apprenticeship to serve, he bought his release 

 for $30 and made his way to Buffalo. 



Up to that time young Fillmore had acquired 

 practically no education. He had attended 

 school occasionally for a month or two at a 

 time, but in the intervals nearly forgot what 

 he had learned. His father owned only two 

 books, the Bible and a book of hymns, and 

 young Fillmore himself did not buy his first 

 book, a small English dictionary, until he was 

 nearly nineteen. In spite of this lack of early 

 training he determined to study law. He ar- 

 ranged with a retired lawyer to give his serv- 

 ices in the law-office in return for his board 

 and a chance to study. He earned a little 

 money, too, by teaching school and by work- 

 ing in spare time in the Buffalo post office. In 

 1823, although he had not yet completed the 

 usual course of study, he was admitted to the 

 bar. His practice grew slowly, but in time his 

 ability was recognized, and in the late "thir- 

 ties" and the "forties" there was hardly an 

 important case in Western New York in which 

 he was not engaged. 



Political Career. Fillmore's political career 

 began with the birth of the Whig party, and 

 came to an end when that party disintegrated 

 (see WHIG). Fillmore was always a Whig at 

 heart; he believed in the necessity of com- 

 promise, and when the time for compromise 

 passed he could no longer lead. He was elected 

 to his first public office, that of representative 

 in the New York legislature, in 1828, and 

 served three terms, during which he distin- 

 guished himself chiefly by securing the passage 

 of a law abolishing punishment for debt in 

 New York. 



He then served in the national House of 

 Representatives from 1833 to 1835 and again 

 from 1837 to 1843, when he declined renomina- 

 tion. In Congress he was one of the leaders 

 of the opposition to Jackson and Van Buren, 



MILLARD FILLMORE 



and during his last term, when the Whigs were 

 in the majority, was chairman of the Commit- 

 tee on Ways and Means, which then not only 

 raised money but made the appropriations. 

 Fillmore opposed the annexation of Texas as 

 slave territory, advocated a protective tariff 

 and internal improvements, desired Federal 

 prohibition of the slave trade between the 

 states, and forced the total abolition of slavery 

 in the District of Columbia. Perhaps his 

 most important work in Congress was con- 

 nected with the tariff law of 1842, of which, 

 as chairman of the Ways and Means Com- 

 mittee, he was the chief author (see TARIFF). 

 He retired from Congress in 1843, was the 

 unsuccessful Whig nominee for governor of 

 New York in 1844, and in 1847 was elected 

 comptroller of the state. A year later he 

 was nominated for the Vice-Presidency by the 

 Whigs, General Zachary Taylor being the can- 

 didate for President, and was elected. For 

 details of the election, see TAYLOR, ZACHARY. 



Fillmore's return to Washington as Vice- 

 President occurred at a time when Congress 

 was in the midst of a heated controversy in- 

 volving the extension of slavery. He speedily 

 reversed the precedent set in 1826 by Calhoun, 

 who stated that the Vice-President had no 

 right to call Senators to order for breach of 



