Millard Fillmore

13th President of the United States (1850-1853) · Vice President of the United States · U.S. Representative from New York · Lawyer

Thirteenth U.S. president who signed the Compromise of 1850, enforced its fugitive slave law, sent Commodore Perry to Japan and later ran for president as the Know-Nothing candidate.

Position
Solid, past the ring: second pole
Short, inside the ring: first pole
Balanced

★ Millard Fillmore on 12 axes

Share of each pole

Economy

Equality / Markets

OwnershipMild: Private
35%65%
PublicPrivate
MarketsMild: Planned
55%45%
PlannedFree
WelfareNo clear record
SharedSelf-reliant

State and liberty

Liberty / Authority

AuthorityMild: Democratic
58%42%
DemocraticStrong leader
SecurityModerate: Order
28%72%
LibertyOrder
StructureModerate: Central
33%67%
LocalCentral

Society

Progress / Tradition

MoralityNo clear record
ProgressiveTraditional
ReligionNo clear record
SecularReligious
TechnologyNo clear record
EmbraceCaution
CultureModerate: National identity
20%80%
MulticulturalNational identity

World

Global / Nation

TradeModerate: Protected
30%70%
GlobalProtected
Foreign policyBalanced
50%50%
CooperationStrength

How we placed it

Judgment calls

Positions summarize typical stances from primary sources and reference works. Where an axis is genuinely contested, the reasoning is below.

Ownership: No public ownership debate in his era; scored from his Whig support for private enterprise encouraged by federal policy.
Markets: A Whig who backed government encouragement of home industry through tariffs within a market economy; scored slightly toward a managed economy.
Welfare: No documented position on federal relief or redistribution; left null.
Authority: Worked through Congress to pass the Compromise of 1850 and accepted the Whig view of a limited presidency; scored toward the democratic side.
Security: Vigorously enforced the Fugitive Slave Law, which denied due process to people accused of escaping slavery and empowered federal marshals to seize them.
Structure: Used federal power to enforce national law in Northern states that resisted the fugitive slave law and stood against Southern secession threats.
Morality: No documented position on family or social norms beyond the conventions of his era; left null.
Religion: His party's hostility to Catholic immigrants is reflected under culture; no documented program on religion in law, so left null.
Technology: No documented view; 19th-century context.
Culture: Blamed his 1844 defeat on 'foreign Catholics' and ended his career as presidential nominee of the Know-Nothings, a party formed to oppose immigration.
Trade: Urged Congress in 1850 to raise tariffs to encourage home production.
Foreign policy: Sent Commodore Perry to open Japan to trade and warned France off Hawaii, while refusing to back filibusters against Cuba; scored at the middle.

4 axes are marked as no clear record: there is no reasonable basis to place Millard Fillmore there, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Millard Fillmore?

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) grew up poor in western New York, became a lawyer and served in the state assembly and the U.S. House as an Anti-Mason and then a Whig. Elected vice president with Zachary Taylor in 1848, he became president on Taylor's death in July 1850 and helped push through the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California as a free state, organized New Mexico and Utah without a ban on slavery, ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia and created a stronger fugitive slave law. The Whigs passed him over in 1852, and in 1856 he ran for president as the nominee of the American, or Know-Nothing, Party.

Political views

Supported and signed the measures of the Compromise of 1850, seeing them as the way to hold the Union together.
Source: millercenter.org
Decided to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law vigorously in response to Southern pressure and secession threats.
Source: millercenter.org
Recommended higher, specific tariff duties that would encourage home production without excluding foreign competition.
Source: millercenter.org
Ordered Commodore Matthew Perry's mission to open Japan to American trade.
Source: millercenter.org
Refused to back an invasion of Cuba by Southern adventurers and warned France against annexing Hawaii.
Source: millercenter.org
Ran for president in 1856 as the candidate of the Know-Nothings, a party formed to oppose immigration.
Source: millercenter.org

Legacy

Some historians credit Fillmore with helping to delay civil war through the Compromise of 1850 and with a disciplined foreign policy that included the opening of Japan. Most scholars rank his presidency low. Abolitionists and many Northerners condemned his enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, which allowed federal commissioners to send people into slavery without due process and led to the capture of free Black Americans as well as people who had escaped. Historians also fault his later leadership of the nativist Know-Nothings, whose platform targeted Catholic and immigrant voters. Historian Michael Holt argues that by siding with proslavery elements on enforcement, Fillmore all but guaranteed that he would be the last Whig president.

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FAQ

Millard Fillmore: questions

What political party was Millard Fillmore?

Fillmore was a Whig as president. In 1856 he ran as the nominee of the American Party, known as the Know-Nothings.

What was the Compromise of 1850?

A set of laws that admitted California as a free state, organized New Mexico and Utah without banning slavery, ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and created a stricter federal fugitive slave law.

Who were the Know-Nothings?

The American Party of the 1850s, a nativist movement that sought to limit the political influence of immigrants and Catholics. Fillmore was its presidential candidate in 1856 and carried only Maryland.

Sources

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