Millard Fillmore Facts and Trivia

Other Interesting Facts and Trivia:

- Fillmore was born in a log cabin in upstate New York.

- Fillmore taught himself how to read. While working for a cloth maker, he would sneak peeks at a dictionary to learn new words.

- Fillmore took a job with a judge, studied law and then married his teacher, Abigail Powers.

- Fillmore was selected to run on the Whig ticket with Zachary Taylor in 1848. His party needed a Northerner to balance Taylor's proslavery ideas.

- When Taylor died suddenly on July 5, 1850 - Fillmore became president. He worked quickly to prevent Civil War by supporting a series of agreements known as the Compromise of 1850.

- The Compromise of 1850 was 5 separate deals:

1. California was admitted to the Union as a free state.
2. A border dispute between Texas and New Mexico was settled. Texas surrendered it's claim to New Mexico.
3. The South avoided adoption of the Wilmot Proviso which would have banned slavery on all territories acquired from Mexico. Because of this, New Mexico and Utah were named territories of the U.S. without clear rulings about slavery.
4. The slave trade Washington, DC was banned.
5. By the power of the Fugitive Slave Act, Federal law officers were required to return runaway slaves to their owners.