Biographies of the Civil War and Reconstruction

Biographies of the Civil War and Reconstruction — page 7
CHAPTER 1 MILLARD FILLMORE n 185o the United States was close to civil war over the seemingly impassable prob lems of slavery A proposed compromise had touched off the greatest political storm in the nation s history Amid this bitter struggle President Zachary Taylor suddenly died on July 9 1850 Succeeding to the presidency was Vice President Millard Fillmore a Whig from New York Fillmore worked hard to secure the passage of five separate mea sures dealing with the slavery problem This set of laws called the Compromise of 1850 postponed war for another ten years It also ended Fillmore s political career The Whig party refused to nominate him for a second term in 1852 and Fillmore thus became the nation's last Whig president Fillmore was born in a log cabin on a frontier farm in Cayuga County N Y on Jan 7 18oo Work on the farm took up most of young Millard's time and he was unable to attend school more than three months each year When he was 14 years old his father hired Millard out for seven years as a 12