The 13th POTUS Millard Fillmore was born on this day in 1800.

Ten Notes On Millard Fillmore.

1. Millard Fillmore is probably the most obscure president in the history of the United States. He was the Vice-President for Zachary Taylor and became POTUS when Taylor died July 9th, 1850. Fillmore would fill out the rest of Taylor’s term. Fillmore would not get the Whig Party nomination for POTUS in 1852.

2. Millard Fillmore was 5’9″  he had blue eyes and graying hair. He was a native of New York state.

3. Millard Fillmore was the last member of the Whig Party to be POTUS.

4. Millard Fillmore was the co-founder of the University of Buffalo, helped found the Buffalo Historical Society and Buffalo General Hospital.

5. Up until Millard Filmore all of the presidents had been very wealthy starting with Fillmore we had a run of presidents who were of modest wealth, who were middle class and had spent most of their lives in public service.

6. The biggest event during Fillmore’s presidency was the Compromise of 1850 which passed in Congress and was signed by Millard Fillmore. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California into the United States as a free state. It also included the Fugutive Slave Act which provided for the return of runaway slaves no matter where in the United States they were found. The Fugutive Slave Act was also called the “Bloodhound Law” because dogs were used to track down slaves. The slave trade was banned in Washington,D.C.  The Compromise of 1850 would turn out to be a band-aid that would soon fall off.

7. While he was Vice-President, Fillmore was not close to President Taylor at all. They didn’t even meet until after the election. During his presidency Taylor excluded Fillmore from all decision making. The two men were very different. Fillmore would become the second Vice Daddy to take over the office of President with the death of a POTUS.

8. Fillmore built and designed a house for his family in East Aurora, New York. He is the only POTUS who ever buit and designed his own house. Jimmy Carter in his post-presidency would help build houses [the one thing he is good at- he should have made it his life work] in the Habitat for Humanity Project.

9. Millard Fillmore did not drink or smoke which during that period of time was different from the norm. Fillmore also helped found and served as the vice president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

10. In 1856 Fillmore was given the presidential nomination by the Know-Nothing Party. The Know-Nothing Party was anti Catholic and against immigration. He would only carry Maryland in the presidential election. During the American Civil War he was a strong supporter of the Union but not a big supporter of President Lincoln. Fillmore died on March 8th,1874 of a stroke at the age of 74.