FILLMORE 



2172 



FILLMORE 



1850 FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION 1853 



DO 



Maine 



Passes 

 a 



State 

 Prohibition 

 Law 



UNCLE TO: 



CABIN 



Life Among tha 

 Harriet Bt.ch.r3 



Published, 1852 



decorum. Fillmore, however, with the Sen- 

 ate's approval, kept strict order and presided 

 with notable impartiality. During all the ex- 

 citing sessions in which Clay's compromise 

 measures were discussed he presided with such 

 fairness that nobody on the floor of the Senate 

 had knowledge of Fillmore's personal opinion. 

 While the discussion of Clay's proposals (see 

 COMPROMISE OF 1850) was at its height, the 

 sudden death of President Taylor, on July 9, 

 1850, called Fillmore to the highest office in 

 the United States. 



Administration of Fillmore (1850-1853). Im- 

 mediately after Taylor's death his Cabinet 

 resigned, and was replaced by Daniel Webster 

 as Secretary of State, Thomas Corwin as Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, and others chosen by 

 Fillmore. Webster, while he lived, added 

 much strength to the administration; he died 

 in 1852, and was succeeded by Edward Ev- 

 erett. Webster was the last of the great 

 triumvirate who played the chief parts in 

 American history for over thirty years; Clay 

 died only a few months earlier, and Calhoun 

 had passed away in March, 1850. Each of 

 these men made his last great speech in favor 

 of the Cdmpromise of 1850, though Calhoun 

 was so ill that his speech was read to Congress 

 by a friend. Fillmore promptly signed the 



various bills which were included in the Com- 

 promise, but his signature on the Fugitive 

 Slave Law lost him the support of the North- 

 ern Whigs. Of his honest belief, however, that 

 the Compromise was the only way to preserve 

 the Union, there never was doubt. The publi- 

 cation of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 did much 

 to crystallize anti-slavery sentiment in the 

 North. 



Besides the Compromise of 1850 the impor- 

 tant events of Fillmore's administration were 

 few. Fillmore was opposed to the agitation for 

 the annexation of Cuba to the United States, 

 and in 1851 attempted to prevent a filibustering 

 expedition to that island. The Whigs were 

 in the minority in both houses of Congress, 

 and most of the laws which Fillmore suggested 

 failed to meet approval from the legislators. 

 The Senate, nevertheless, approved the treaty 

 with Japan which was the result of Perry's 

 expedition (see PERRY, MATTHEW C.). Fill- 

 more laid the cornerstone for the addition to 

 the Capitol building and also secured a reduc- 

 tion in the rates of postage. In foreign rela- 

 tions Fillmore pursued the policy of non-inter- 

 vention, although Webster, his Secretary of 

 State, was instrumental in securing freedom 

 for Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot. 

 Other events of more than local interest were 





