Signature of Millard Fillmore
American President An Online Reference Resource for U.S. Presidents

Millard Fillmore

At a Glance

Term: 13th President of the United States (1850-1853)

Born: January 7, 1800, Summerhill, New York

Nickname: "The American Louis Philippe"

Education: Six months of grade school; read law in 1822

Religion: Unitarian

Marriage: February 5, 1826, to Abigail Powers (1798-1853); February 10, 1858, to Caroline Carmichael McIntosh (1813-1881)

Children: Millard Powers (1828-1889), Mary Abigail (1832-1854)

Career: Lawyer

Political Party: Whig

Died: March 8, 1874, Buffalo, New York

Buried: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York

A Life in Brief: Born into desperate poverty at the dawn of the nineteenth century, Millard Fillmore climbed to the highest office in the land -- and inherited a nation breaking into fragments over the question of slavery. Despite his best efforts, the lines of the future battles of the Civil War were drawn, and Fillmore found himself rejected by his own dying party and denied renomination. More....

Essays on Millard Fillmore and His Administration


Millard Fillmore
A Life in BriefLife Before the PresidencyCampaigns and ElectionsDomestic AffairsForeign AffairsLife After the PresidencyFamily LifeThe American FranchiseImpact and LegacyKey Events
First Lady
Abigail Fillmore
Vice President
none
Secretary of State
John M. Clayton (1850 - 1850)Daniel Webster (1850 - 1852)Edward Everett (1852 - 1853)
Secretary of War
Charles M. Conrad (1850 - 1853)George W. Crawford (1850 - 1850)
Postmaster General
Jacob Collamer (1850 - 1850)Nathan K. Hall (1850 - 1852)Samuel D. Hubbard (1852 - 1853)
Secretary of the Treasury
Thomas Corwin (1850 - 1853)William M. Meredith (1850 - 1850)Thomas Ewing (1850 - 1850)
Secretary of the Interior
Alexander H. H. Stuart (1850 - 1853)Thomas M. T. McKennan (1850 - 1850)
Attorney General
John J. Crittenden (1850 - 1853)Reverdy Johnson (1850 - 1850)
Secretary of the Navy
William B. Preston (1850 - 1850)William A. Graham (1850 - 1852)John P. Kennedy (1852 - 1853)

Consulting Editor: Michael F. Holt

Professor Holt is the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. His writings include:

The Civil War and Reconstruction (Co-authored with Jean H. Baker and David Herbert Donald, W.W. Norton, 2001)

The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 1999)

Political Parties and American Political Development from the age of Jackson to the age of Lincoln (Louisiana State University Press, 1992)


Presidential Speeches

Below are selections from the Miller Center's Millard Fillmore speech collection. To view the Miller Center's other speeches by Millard Fillmore or by another President, please click the link below.

December 2, 1850 - First Annual Message

Miller Center Scholarship and Speakers

The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on Millard Fillmore.

 Listen Tony Coelho’s 1989 presentation at the Miller Center on the Electoral Process and the Selection of President and Vice Presidents

Click here to learn more about the Center’s National Commission on the Vice Presidency and its relationship to Fillmore.

Scripps Library Reference Resources

Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center's Scripps Library that are designed to help students and scholars quickly conduct their research.

Information on Millard Fillmore's Private and Public Papers

Presidential Speeches
Academic Programs | Public Programs
Policy Programs
Presidential Bibliographies | Presidential Papers
Home | About Us | News Room | Academic Programs | Public Programs | Policy Programs
Scripps Library | Support Us | Directions to the Miller Center | Contact Us