* In 1823, a few years before Millard Fillmore and Abigail Powers wed, the former was admitted to the bar, and then began to practice law in East Aurora. Fillmore was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1828, serving from 1829 until 1831. Fillmore was then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1835. After switching his allegiances from the Anti-Masonic Party to the Whigs, he returned to Congress in 1837, and was re-elected twice more after that. During his fourth and final term in Congress, Fillmore was the chairman of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. He then entered the race to be the governor of New York in 1844, but he lost to Democratic Candidate Silas Wright.

* Fillmore did not let this defeat keep him down, though. He was later elected his native state's comptroller, or its chief fiscal officer. Not too long after that, the Whigs nominated Fillmore for vice president. Being placed on the ticket with General Zachary Taylor, Fillmore's heart was not set on what many viewed as a dead-end government position. Nevertheless, on March 4, 1849, he found himself being inaugurated as the 12th vice president of the United States. It was a position that he would hold for just over a year. For on July 4, 1850, President Taylor took ill at the White House and was swiftly carried off by death five days later.

* For Zachary Taylor's supporters, his death could not have happened at a worse time, mainly because of what was going on in Congress. Some members of that body were trying to pass what we know as the Compromise of 1850, which was a series of bills that dealt mainly with slavery in the United States. While one of the bills would allow California to be admitted to the Union as a free state, and another abolished the slave trade in the capital, some felt that the bill was too pro-slavery. This was because of the Fugitive Slave Act, which, if the Compromise were passed, would allow slave owners to search for and recapture their runaway slaves in free states. Zachary Taylor, although he was a slave holder himself, did not support the Compromise, and wished to veto it. Instead, Millard Fillmore was left to decide whether or not it would receive the presidential seal of approval. Wanting to keep the peace, Fillmore indeed threw his support to the Compromise of 1850, angering many men in his own party.

* The fact that Fillmore had passed such a controversial act did not sit well with many of his fellow Whigs. So, at the 1852 Whig National Convention, it was decided that General Winfield Scott would be on the Whig ticket, not Millard Fillmore. It did not matter. That year, American's decided to keep away from the Whigs entirely and vote for Franklin Pierce, a youthful former congressman from New Hampshire. On March 4, 1853, the last Whig president stepped down from power. Fillmore did try to regain the presidency in 1856, though with a different party. It did not work, and another Democrat, James Buchanan, was on his way to the White House. He did serve as the chancellor of the University of Buffalo after his retirement, and was also the founder and president of what is now called the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. He spent much of his time during the Civil War bashing President Abraham Lincoln, whose policies he disagreed with. He also supported Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policy after the conflict, earning him even more enemies. Fillmore's popularity continued to sink until his death in 1874.

First Lady: Abigail Powers Fillmore

        - Spouse: Abigail Powers Fillmore (1798-1853)

                        Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore (1813-1881)

Political Party: Anti-Masonic Party

                        Whig Party

                        American Party

Vice President: None

Last Words: "The nourishment is palatable."