"THE UNION" and Millard Fillmore
BillJones
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Some people like to make jokes about Millard Fillmore. He's the president no one could recall until some people got together to form the Millard Fillmore Society. I'm not sure if the Millard Fillmore Society still exists. It doesn't seem to have a website since nothing popped up for using a Google search. It's last action was to award its "mediocre vice president" award to Dan Quayle whom they cited as the most mediocre vice president since Spiro Agnew.
That to me is totally unfair. Quayle certainly messed up when he tried to spell "potato" on a schoolroom blackboard, but he was not a crook who took bribes and was forced to resign in disgrace. At any rate back to the subject at hand. Here is an interesting 1856 Millard Fillmore presidential campaign medalet.
Millard Fillmore ran for vice president with Zachary Taylor in 1848. He was placed on the ticket for regional balance. Taylor was listed as a Louisiana resident while Fillmore was from New York. It is interesting to note that there is barely any mention of Fillmore on Taylor's 1848 campaign pieces.
Zachary Taylor died in July of 1850 after eating a bowl of fruit and some milk that was undoubtedly polluted by the putrid water that was in and around Washington, DC. Fillmore became president and set about to fix the biggest problem of the day, slavery.
His solution was to get the Compromise of 1850 passed. Many negative things have been written about this compromise, but if you read the five major points, you will note that there was really only one concession to the slaveholding interests, the Fugitive Slave Law, but that was enough to taint Fillmore's presidential reputation. Here are the five major points of the law:
- California was admitted as a free state.
- The Utah and New Mexico territories were organized with the idea that slavery would be determined by a popular vote (popular sovereignty)
- The boundaries of Texas were set to where they are today. That reduced the size of Texas territory considerably, which also limited the spread of slavery since Texas was already a slave state.
- The slave trade was abolished in Washington, DC, but not slavery itself.
- The Fugitive Slave Law which required the northern state authorities to return captured runaway slaves.
The Fugitive Slave Law was where all of the controversy settled. It was another issue that would divide the country, but when you look at these five provisions of the Compromise of 1850, it might have been all that Millard Fillmore or any other president could have done at the time. One need only recall what happened when Abraham Lincoln was elected president under a platform to end the spread of slavery to new territories, NOT to end it. The result was the almost immediate break-up of the Union.
My position is that Fillmore did as much as he could have with the slavery problem. No one could have gotten an abolitionist law passed without the break-up of the Union.
Millard Fillmore was denied the 1852 Whig presidential nomination because of the controversies over the Fugitive Slave Law. Having had a taste of the White House, he looked to be elected to the presidency, this time as the candidate of American or "Know Nothing" Party. Fillmore probably didn't agree with the Know Nothing positions, but it gave him a vehicle upon which to run for president.
The Know Nothing Party stood against immigrants and emigration. They sought to deny foreigners into The United States, and those who were here had limited rights. They had to reside in The United States for 21 years before they could become citizens, and they could never hold public office. Their nickname stemed from the fact that members were instructed to say, "I know nothing," when they asked about the party.
Preserving the union was the big issue in 1856, and that formed much of basis for Fillmore presidential run. He had hoped to attract the votes of former Whigs whose party had dissolved and disafftected Democrats, but when the votes were counted, he carried only one state, Maryland. Here is another Fillmore piece that explained his pro-Union position. It has the same obverse as the first piece I posted.
Comments
Bill - Thanks for the great write-up and photos! (Insert "thumbs up" or "applause" emoji here)
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
Bill:
The ability to make history come alive is one of the things I most enjoy about numismatics. Your posts truly exemplify this ability; thank you so much!
Nice history lesson. We need more posts like this on the forum. Enjoyed seeing this and your Lincoln medals at the show.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
The legislature of the Territory of Utah established the first territorial capital at Fillmore (City), and located it in the county of Millard. This was done to honor President Fillmore, and was an attempt to solicit his support for statehood. The capital was later moved to Salt Lake City when it became clear that there was going to be a struggle to get the Utah Territory admitted to the Union as a state (largely a result of the advocacy of polygamy by the LDS Church). Fillmore is a hopping place (right off I-15, a couple of hours south of Salt Lake City). Be careful not to blink while driving by, or you'll miss it.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Terrifi items Bill... Thanks for sharing and the added write up.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Always an interesting post Bill. I believe that history helps us to analyze current events. History has a way of repeating itself.
In third grade we had to do written and oral reports on the presidents. I was absent the day that the students chose their president and when I returned only Millard Fillmore was available...It took a while to get over that...
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Here is an interesting sidelight concerning these pieces. The first piece I posted was struck on thick planchet and does not have a hole. The second piece is on a thinner planchet and is holed.
The second piece was definitely made during and for the 1856 presidential campaign. It is more than likely that the first piece was after the election, probably in the 1860s when collecting pieces like this became popular.
There are a fair number of restrikes that made for collectors after the elections for which the dies were made. These include pieces for Lewis Cass (1848), Franklin Pierce (1852) and Winfield Scott (1852) and probably some others. Some collectors shun the pieces that have holes, but those pieces are probably more historic. There is a reasonable chance that those pieces might have been used during the campaign.
I have couple of pieces that have attempted holes. Collectors might really want to shun those, but when you think about, why would you try to put a hole in a piece if you weren't going to wear it? The crudest way to make a hole was to drive a nail though the piece with a hammer. The results might not be pretty, but they certainly are "rustic."
Here is an 1866 Andrew Johnson piece with an attempted hole, probably tried with a hammer and a nail. This piece was issued during Johnson's "swing around the circle" where he traveled and spoke at various states on behalf of congressional candidates who supported his positions. He got his "political head handed to him" in those elections as most of those candidates lost their races and faced impeachment after that.
Note the slogan, "The must be trusted with their own government." As an advocate of freedom and democracy, that sounds like good piece of common sense to me.
It could have been worse ... You could have ended up with William Henry Harrision who died after a month in office.
At least your essay would have short. "Harrison takes the oath of office ... Harrison dies."
James Garfield was not much better. The terrible medical care he got after he was shot killed him. He was in office only from March 4 until he died in September. He was shot in early July.
A great example of coins and medals as "portals into history." Thanks for the history lesson.
Bill Jones says, "Some people like to make jokes about Millard Fillmore....etc." Well I'm one of those people. In fact, I've got a really good Millard Fillmore joke. I really do. Problem is it's kind of racy. A "shaggy dog" joke as they used to say. I'm trying to figure out how to tell it here without being banned for life. Here goes.
You see, since I was a little bitty baby rancher and up until now I've spent a considerable amount of time in Millard County, Utah. So I know all the ends and outs around those parts. Now the county seat of Millard County is a town by the name of Fillmore. So..... we're getting there. Millard, County. City of Fillmore. MILLARD FILLMORE. Now it's time to go deep.
The neighboring county to Millard County is Beaver County. Beaver County got it's name because, you guessed it, there's a whole lot of beavers in the area. So........here's the joke. The locals refer to that part of Utah as the "Fillmore Beaver Area." That's the joke. Hope I'm still here tomorrow. If not, God speed and good luck.
A Fillmore, Utah sunset:
One could actually spend most of a day exploring Fillmore and its environs. The building the original capital was housed in still stands and one can take tours of it and a number of museum quality exhibits located there. Some of the best deep fried mushrooms in the country can be ordered at the drive in on the main drag. I believe there is a major mushroom growing and packing plant in the vicinity. Within a half hour or so drive are hot springs that are big enough to swim in. There is another nearby site where volcano made features akin to what one would find in Hawaii are existant. Deer run rampant in the downtown park. Four wheeling is a big draw in the hills just outside of town.
Now for a numismatic twist, Fillmore is located (as the crow flies) 30 miles from Utah's Gunnison Correctional Facility and 67 miles distant by car. Now housed there is the infamous coin counterfeiter Mark Hoffman who was jailed after killing with mailbox bombs two individuals tied to some yet to be forged documents he had promised to sell to them or members of their families.
He counterfeited his first coin at the age of 14 and claimed credit for creating the "spectacular so-called 'transitional error' of a 1959-D United States cent with a (1909-1958) wheat back reverse" which actually went to auction in Beverly Hills after the auction was temporarily halted by the Secret Service. The story of that "mule" is more fully set forth in the book titled "Numismatic Forgery" as authored by his former prison guard Charles M. Larson. (Of note, as described in the book, the past President of the American Numismatic Association, Bob Campbell opinioned the coin was a fake even though it was allowed to go to auction.)
Thank You for another great history lesson.
And, they usually have a beautiful coin or medal in them.
Great history lesson Bill.... always appreciate your threads on historic medals. Although I have not been a collector of such, I have found myself scanning the displays in antique shops for some of the ones you have shown. Cheers, RickO
Fun thread.
Hard to be into numismatics without being a lover of history.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Agreed.
Bill,
I always look forward to any of you're posts with a cup of morning coffee.
Thank You Sir.
Steve
thanks for the additional pics and info, Northcoin. and Larson's book is well worth reading.