Millard Fillmore – 13th President of the United States

The 13th president of the United States was Millard Fillmore. Millard was born on January 7th, 1800 in Monrovia, Cayuga County. He was the eldest son and second born in a family of eleven. He was named after his mother, Phoebe Millard. His father Nathaniel Fillmore apprenticed him into cloth making in his early life. He struggled for education joining New Hope Academy in 1819 where he met Abigail Powers, who became his wife when they got married in February 1826. They had a boy and a girl, Millard, and Mary. He was admitted to the bar in 1823 after studying law and he later practiced in New York. In 1834 he founded the now Hodgson Russ LLP formerly known as Fillmore and Hall through a partnership with his friend Nathan Hall. In 1846 he helped found the now State University of New York at Buffalo formerly known as the private University of Buffalo

Political life of Millard Fillmore

On the anti-Masonic ticket, Mallard was elected into New York State Assembly in 1828 where he served three terms of one year each. In his final term in 1831, he was elected the chairperson of a special legislative committee that was mandated with enacting bankruptcy law. He served in the 23rd Congress after being elected a US Representative in 1832. He served as a Whig from 1837 to 1843 having been elected in 1836. In 1848 Whig National Convection nominated Mallard as Zachary Taylor’s running mate for the 1849 presidential election which they won with a majority of votes. During this time, the Anti-slavery movement was gaining momentum with demands that all territories of the US be opened for new slaves.