Wednesday is style/women day on invisibleblog.com, but this is more important…

by Jason Proe

Allow me to introduce you to Millard Fillmore, our nation’s 13th president.

He was the second Vice President to assume the Presidency upon the death of a sitting President, succeeding Zachary Taylor who died of a heat stroke.

A group of practical politicians nominated Fillmore for vice president, believing that he would heal party wounds and help the ticket carry New York state.

It was thought that the obscure, self-made candidate from New York would complement Taylor, a slave-holding military man from the south.

Taylor and Fillmore disagreed on the slavery issue. Taylor wanted the new states to be free states, while Fillmore supported slavery in those states as a means of appeasing the South. In his own words: “God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil… and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution.”

After Taylor’s death, Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act into law, declaring that all fugitive slaves (even those that had escaped to a free state) be returned to their masters.

On an upbeat note, Fillmore started the White House library and founded the University of Buffalo.

Source(s):[Wikipedia]