Better Know a POTUS: President Millard Fillmore in 1856...The First Trump Campaign

Let's get right to it on the Fillmore Facts, and then we get to the fun stuff...making America GREAT Again...in 1856.  The motorcycling aspects come last...

The Bio on Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States.  

An abridged run-down of Millard's stuff from WhiteHouse.gov is below.  Copyright (2006) is by the White House Historical Association, who does a great job making this stuff digestible for the average 3rd grader.  

Hopefully the Two-Wheeled Historian (TWH) can do a little better.  It is worth noting, that there is some straight-up editorializing in the facts, so don't think the White House historians are taking shots at ol' Millard---that's the job of the TWH.

• 13th President, Whig party (1850-1853) and the last President not affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. 
• Born in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York in 1800, worked on his father's farm, attended the usual one-room schools of rural American life, and fell in love with, and then married his teacher, Abigail Powers.

• Admitted to the NY bar in 1823; moved his law practice to Buffalo,NY in 1830.
• Held state office, then US Congress for eight years.
• Preyed that into Comptroller of New York state and was in that office when he was elected Vice President as a Whig under Zachary Taylor in 1848 (yes, we do elect a VP separate from the president).
• Fillmore presided over the Senate during the intense debates on the Compromise of 1850 but became president in July 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor.
• The Whig Party anchored itself on the Compromise of 1850 and as it dissolved, so did the Whig Party.  Many of the Whigs leaned toward the Republican Party but Fillmore refused to join the Republicans.  
• In 1856---when it was clear his successor Franklin Pierce wouldn't get re-nominated---he re-entered the presidential fray and in 1856 accepted the nomination for President of the Know Nothings, or American Party.
• Throughout the Civil War he opposed President Lincoln and during Reconstruction supported President Johnson.
• Died in 1874 and is generally listed as one of the worst presidents in US History.

My 2012 Victory Vision on my tour of 15 presidential gives across 7 days in Summer of 2013, parked right in front of Millard Fillmore's grave in Forest Lawn Cemetery

Me.

A Lesson in Party Evolution

So why is Millard Fillmore's campaign so much like the presidential election campaign of 2016?  Because the modern Trump campaign and message is very similar to the American Party or the Know Nothing Party which drafted Millard Fillmore as their candidate for the 1856 Election.

So, let's dive into the Know Nothings.  But first, we have to dive into the parties themselves.

• Democrats--were an anti-Federalist offshoot that emerged under Thomas Jefferson, King Jerk of the Washington administration who was a "take my toys and go home where I will then deploy them against you because I didn't get my way" type of leader.  Jefferson is revered as thinker, but he was an arrogant ass.  Which makes him equally likable and hateable.  Cool stuff.
• Federalists basically dissolved under the Democratic Virginia Dynasty--24 years of Virginia Democratic Presidents (2 terms each for Jefferson, Madison & Monroe)
• Democrats then put up John Quincy Adams & Andrew Jackson for the presidency in 1824 which JQA won--but at a price.  Jackson won the popular vote but with no true majority so it went to the House, who ended up supporting JQA (that'll be the Henry Clay TWH post later on).
• Jackson ran AGAIN against the now-incumbent JQA and won in 1828.  The Democratic Party soon split into to factions--the pro-Jacksonian & anti-Jacksonian groups.

• Whigs--the anti-Jacksonian faction organized in opposition to the frontier populist under the name the Whigs.  They had to coalesce under some name because the "I Hate Jackson Too Party" didn't fit as well on a horse-drawn carriage bumper sticker.

• The Whigs picked up steam when anti-Jackson leaders like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun (he'll get his own post too) rallied against Jackson.  And Jackson name it easy by killing of the Bank of the US, as it promulgated anti-Jacksonian support at the state level.
• By the time Martin Van Buren gets in office, he's saddled with Jackson's legacy of contrarian decisions but is also gifted the Panic of 1837 (the kick-ass old-timer name for a recession).  By 1840 MVB is presidential toast, which opens the doors for the Whigs to take the election with war hero William Henry Harrison.

• Republicans haven't formed by the time Fillmore is in office, but he's a big reason they end up as a party.  The Republicans become the "The Damn Whigs Keep Dying" party...not really, but yeah, really.  There's more to it, but if their strong leaders could have fulfilled a few terms, the Whigs really would have taken on a very Populist mantra and MAYBe been able to hold things together long enough to survive.
• William Henry Harrison, the 1st Whig President died and we got John Tyler.  Tyler's story is pretty cool but that's later.  

• Zachary Taylor, the 2nd elected Whig president died too...and we got Millard Fillmore.  Neither administration was a success so belief in the Whig Party leadership was a struggle.
• The real reason the Whig Party collapsed was the Compromise of 1850.  The compromise was trying to balance the slave vs. non-slave state questions and boils down to this (stolen from History.com because they make it easy to follow and the compromise is not the purpose of the story, so efficiency matters...)

• "Divisions over slavery in territory gained in the Mexican-American (1846-48) War were resolved in the Compromise of 1850. It consisted of laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery in each to be determined by popular sovereignty, settling a Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute in the former’s favor, ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and making it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves.
• "At first, Clay introduced an omnibus bill covering these measures. Calhoun attacked the plan and demanded that the North cease its attempts to limit slavery. By backing Clay in a speech delivered on March 7, Webster antagonized his onetime abolitionist supporters. Senator William H. Seward of New York opposed compromise and earned an undeserved reputation for radicalism by claiming that a “higher law” than the Constitution required the checking of slavery. President Zachary Taylor opposed the compromise, but his death on July 9 made procompromise vice president Millard Fillmore of New York president. Nevertheless, the Senate defeated the omnibus bill.
• "Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois then split the omnibus proposal into individual bills so that congressmen could abstain or vote on each, depending on their interests. They all passed, and Fillmore signed them. The compromise enabled Congress to avoid sectional and slavery issues for several years."  
• BUT THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 FAILED...WHY?
• The Missouri Compromise was repealed--that had also been part of the balancing act--and free state anger boiled over.  A new party, the Republican Party, pledged to exclude slavery from all federal territories and simply refused to allow compromise to be the way of the world because compromises were obviously temporary.
  
• “Bleeding Kansas,” a violent micro-war between pro- and anti-slavery settlers in the Kansas Territory was supported by North and South factions.  The whole concept of the Whigs as an alternate party to manage the slavery question just failed.
• 
• But the real problem was the US Supreme Court, which was loaded with southerners and pro-southern Democrats and took aim at slavery with the Dred Scott case:
• First, the USSC stated a slaveholder could carry human property into free territories and states and maintain their property without giving up their claim to the slave.  This destroyed the argument that if a slave traveled into a free state, even with a slave-owner, they were considered free.  As such, there really was't anything called a "free state" any more.
• Second, they ruled that Congress nor territorial governments could outlaw slavery in any federal territory, as the Constitution did not allow it.  So there goes the concept of popular sovereignty and the ability to allow states to make up their own minds.

• Sooooooooooo...the midwestern Republican Party became the new anti-slavery party, which was pretty much everyone but the agrarian Southern states.  Everyone thinks Lincoln was the First Republican candidate for President, but it was actually John C. Fremont--who is in the top 10 of "Coolest Americans Ever".  He ran against James Buchanan, the Pennsylvania Democrat who is only slightly worse than Millard Fillmore in terms of bad presidents, and Millard Fillmore.

Wait...wut...Democrats put up Buchanan, not Fillmore?  Fremont is the new Republican candidate and the Whigs are dead.  How does Fillmore fit in?  

Fillmore shows up because:

1. the faction of angry, white, nativist assholes that felt the Democrats were too weak and had no ability to really beat back the slavery or immigration problem (problem is a relative statement, and I'm trying to speak like a nut job here) 
2. the lily-livered Republicans were trying to sell America down the river.  What America needed was a party for reeeeeaaaaaaallllll Americans.  Like the American Party.  

Awesome--make fun of the drunk Irish & drunk Germans...

The American Party (aka, the Know Nothing Party) wasn't the first 3rd Party to try a hand as an organized political party---the anti-Masonic party gave it whirl too and did OK (a later post, because all this stuff intertwines).    

In 1856 the American party wasn't new...they originated in the late 1840s and peaked at the 1856 election.  It started out as a Protestant-based group in 1849 with a strongly anti-immigration and anti-Catholic stance---pretty much just focused on hating the Irish and Italians but ended up anti-Chinese, anti-German, anti-everybody but themselves, etc.  

They feared that Roman Catholics would be so focused on doing what the European Pope wanted, that allowing them into the country would turn the Protestant US into a Catholic caliphate.  The ultra-radical American Party members focused on stopping Catholics and immigrant influence by: 

1. keeping them out of the country
2. keeping them from getting jobs (only hire reeeeeeaaaaaalllllll Americans)
3. keeping them out of elected office.  

Sound familiar?

The American Party members met in secrecy with a closely guarded platform---when asked what they were focused on accomplishing they were instructed to reply with "I Know Nothing" and soon the slang-term for the Know Nothing Party took hold.

OK: Pop Quiz--which of the following is from the Know Nothing Party and which of the following is from the Trump Campaign platform supporters:

• The majority came from middle- and working-class backgrounds. 
• These people feared competition for jobs from immigrants coming to the United States. 
• The majority were opposed to non-Protestant religions and sought to ban immigration based on religious belief.

Well, irony is that selecting the Trump OR Know Nothing position is correct, which is why I am writing this piece to begin with!!

The American Party became official about 1854 and really took hold in Massachusetts where a VERY large contingent of Irish had settled.  Soon the American Party controlled the Massachusetts state legislature and rode the anti-immigration groundswell into the 1856 election.  

The American Party selected Millard Fillmore as its candidate for the 1856 Presidential election.  They finished last but with a shockingly large vote count: about 900K/4M votes (nearly 1 in 4).  

Beyond immigration, the Know Nothings were concerned with slavery as well, but were divided on the actual concern: 

• a significant faction supported slavery (white Protestants supported the subjugation of blacks and continuance of slavery)
• a significant faction found no benefit to slavery (especially northerners) and deemed it contrary to their religious principles

The Know Nothings decided to "kick the can down the road" in terms of the slavery question.  In the next four years that became the single most pressing issue facing the nation.  

By the time 1860 rolled around, the Know Nothing Party was dead:

1. Their anti-slavery members bolted to the newly formed Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln
2. Their their moderate and pro-slavery factions ended up tracking with the rest of the national an dividing loyalties between:
• Stephen Douglas: moderate and rational, trying to avoid the slavery mess
• John C. Breckenridge: Buchanan's Southern VP who would fight to keep slavery.
• NOTE: This spit the ticket and the Abe Lincoln became the new President of the United States despite drawing no southern votes.

So, what parallels can we draw?  

• A protestant white population met in secret and refused any outside influence.  Now, we can't do that with the modern media, however, the Trump followers have refused  to allow outsiders to participate in activities and have threatened to physically harm anti-platform protesters.  Trump himself has encouraged violence toward his detractors...
• Both are built on a platform of fear of losing the "classic" identify of what makes a true American.  White.  Protestant.  Etc.
• A candidate who was pretty damn ineffective in his last push for office; a candidate who has no actual experience in any level of elected office and is sinking by the day.
• Candidate and voter anchoring on mythological or impractical belief systems they do not understand (Muslim vs Islam; religion vs national identity)
• Major factions within the party are split and will likely bolt for a different party or any other viable electoral choice.  Those casting votes for a candidate are performing "negative voting" where the vote is cast in opposition to a candidate as opposed to actual support for another.
• Any gains by the party in the prior elections will be fully or partially undone by the time the election is over
• Subjugation of Constitutional rights (native born citizenship, freedom to practice religion, etc.)
• Subjugate of civil rights (equal employment, rights of an independent court, access to political office, etc.)
• Alec Baldwin could portray Donald Trump and Millard Fillmore flawlessly.

I also want to point out that there are some major differences:

• The Know-Nothings were not a major party; the 2016 Republicans are.  At least for now.  I suspect they'll be fine when this is all over--it will take a few years to fix the schisms, but as the Trumpeters die off (and quickly based on census projections), the party will have to return to some variation of conservatism to sustain itself.
• The Republicans, if not careful, will end up like the old democrats from 1860 - 1916: a party in name only.

• Trump is really an echo-chamber of pent-up resentment and criticism of people who really don't know what is happening in American politics.  And that's OK--our democratic republic relies on wholesale voter ignorance--that's why we have parties.  But Trump says the nutty stuff that angry people want to say so it sounds very real.  We assume that we need to build a wall, and that walls keep out problems, etc.  It seeeeeeeeeems logical.
• Trump has claims not seen since....since...uh....really.  I'm struggling.  He says HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FIX AMERICA.  Not his party, not Congress, not the American people.  Fillmore was generally seen an unassuming guy but he liked to oppose a good conspiracy (was anti-Masonic) or become part of one (Hello!!  Know Nothings!!).  Fillmore knew that you had to play the game--he knew how a bill became a law; how the committee process worked; he knew how to play the political party game.

• I am assuming the Republican Party will survive.  It was pretty clear by 1858 that the Know Nothings were dying their last breath because the Republicans stole their alt-politics thunder.  Trump is the politics---he doesn't define the party and is now bashing its leadership and threatening rigged election claims, which will really hurt the GOP if they win states in the US House & Senate and carry legislatures yet Trump can't carry the state for the presidential election.  Fillmore was just the hack the party needed to get people to rally behind their cause--someone with some presidential bona fides to add legitimacy to the platform and party.  At this point Trump has become the exact opposite for the GOP.  Trump is the Know Nothing. 

So...Millard Fillmore and the Know Nothings give us a little more to contemplate this election season.  He's buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery just outside of downtown Buffalo, New York.  It's a relatively short ride from the wonders of Niagara Falls and is motorcycle friendly.  I visited Fillmore on a Dead Presidents tour in 2013 and was able to pull up to the Fillmore grave for pictures and a visit.  Forest Lawn is in a nice part of town with nice asphalt roadways, big beautiful trees and is a great place to stretch your legs if you are riding through town.  Maybe grab a sandwich and a drink and spread out for a picnic on the grounds.  It's really the only way I get to dine with the presidents...

The cemetery is loaded with other historic figures, but due to time I was limited to visiting only one other deceased citizen of Buffalo--Mr. Rick James.

The Anniversary of the Harper's Ferry Raid: October 16-18, 1859

The Anniversary of the Harper's Ferry Raid: October 16-18, 1859

The Two-Wheeled Historian (TWH) and his cousin, Mike The Engineer, made a visit to Harpers Ferry (they dropped the possessive tense over time), an odd little town in West Virginia.

The word odd was selected for a few reasons:

1. Geography: it sits in the armpit of Maryland and Virginia, on the bluffs of the Potomac River.  It was carved from Virginia as a result of the Civil War, almost to prove a point to the damn Virginians about rebellion and take-aways.  It's origins were Virginian but has as much influence from Maryland as any other state.  It sits a short distance from Pennsylvania, so it's a West Virginian city but seems to have its own identify.  In Harpers Ferry the past seems to influence the city more than its present.

2. Architecture: it's the 1850s all the time--unless something burns/falls down.  The majority of buildings are dutifully maintained by the community, which does a fine job of mixing history and tourism (and fudge shops).  [****SIDEBAR: there really should be a portmanteau of History and Tourism--but it doesn't work...Histourism?  That's too close to a gynecological procedure)****]. As such, there is a really ancient vibe as you walk the streets and climb steps--you become immersed in the past, just as you might in Boston, MA, Savannah, GA, or Charleston, SC.  The past is the past...but here it's also the present.  

3. History: Harpers Ferry's history is awesomely odd...and that's why we're here.

Harper's Ferry is named because Harper had a ferry, but he didn't just show up with a boat.  Harper bought out a squatter and the function of moving people across the river.

Squatters were quite common in the early 1700s, as immigrants (everyone that didn't have brown skin was an immigrant) often landed and headed west, settling down wherever they felt no one would really bother them.  That's pretty much how the west was won.  

The joining of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers was a great place to settle because those looking westward would need a river crossing.  Enter Harper.  He bought out the squatter and assumed the land, then known as Shenandoah Falls.

The land was owned by Lord Fairfax, the namesake of Fairfax, Virginia, the suburbs that lie just outside Washington DC.  His estate, Belvoir, became Fort Belvoir but is really best known for his efforts to try and hold onto the colonies during the 1760s and 1770s while revolution arose.  Even his neighbor, a young fella he'd hired as a land surveyor along the Blue Ridge Mountains named George Washington went "all rebellion and stuff" so Lord Fairfax and his family returned to England.  The family included Ms. Sally Fairfax, the married woman with whom GW was deeply in love.  Conspiracies abound that George Washington and Sally had a romantic relationship but there is no evidence at all and instead we just look at their letters that read more like a big sister/little brother relationship, even though only two years separated them.  He had a crush, but one of dignity and respect.  He was engaged and eventually married Martha and there is no evidence of anything other being a gentleman.

But back to Harper and the pre-Revolution era.  Knowing that a little money would chase off the squatter, he still had to contend with Lord Fairfax and wisely purchased the land and rights to what would become Harper's Ferry.  Ten years later, in classic governmental style, the Virginia colonial assembly granted formal rights for Harper's to operate his ferry.  Never mind that a ferry had been operating for decades, or that Harper had been on the property for a decade.  This is a little pessimistic, as they gave him a friendly, but unfair monopoly, but also regulated his business 10 years after he started.  Why keep competition down?  Why not allow more than one way across the river?

By the early 1800s this mountain town had an advantage beyond just being a river crossing for Harper and his ferry.  It had been identified as a strategic location to establish a federal armory and arsenal.  A nice place to stash arms for the western campaigns, as suggested by the very guy who surveyed the original property--George Washington.  

Robert Harper's heirs sold the US government a tract of land in 1796 (helps that George Washington, the original surveyor, was now the US President) and by 1799 the arsenal and armory were under construction.  Harpers Ferry would join the Springfield, MA Armory as the only two federal munitions manufacturing centers in the young republic.  

Harpers Ferry became an industrial center once the armory was established but it's industrial works were destroyed in 1861 to prevent capture and use by the Confederate Army.  The CSA army quickly made it a target of occupation.  The armory was where the Masters of War and the Mothers of Invention stood side-by-side inside this sleepy little town: the first major use of interchangeable parts was pioneered here, as was the M1819 Hall rifle, the first breech-loading weapon adopted by the U.S. Army (signaling the end of the musket).

Now we know why Harpers Ferry is Harpers Ferry and why there was an armory.  We also know why John Brown--probably the most interesting person in the history of these United States--selected the Harpers Ferry Armory and Arsenal for his raid from October 16-18, 1859.  Brown's purpose was capturing the federal implements of war to arm slaves and perform mass murder on slaveholders.  Brown knew the score--kill the slaveowners and that would pretty much solve the slavery questions.  And in defense of the politicians of the time, there were real questions.  Even those who knew slavery had to end were trying to operationalize a solution.  How about financial rights?  What about the suddenly freed men and women?  Do they deserve transport back to Africa or they now Americans?  Are they citizens?  With what rights, if any?  This is tougher than we like to admit...we can't handle modern immigration issues, much less manage the end to the tragedy of forced and brutal servitude.  

Back to John Brown.  On October 16, 1859, Brown led 21 men (5 were black: 3 free men; 1 freed slave; 1 fugitive slave) in the raid.  Of course raiding federal property was a crime, and so was the fact that he went after weapons; but it was still a crime to assist fugitive slaves (Fugitive Slave Act) so Brown was all in on this one...failure would be a death sentence.  The raid was initially successful, as he quickly captured several buildings but the raid had immediate and unexpected tragedy: the first shots fired killed Hayward Shepherd, a free black working as a night porter for the B&O Railroad near the armory.  

That shot alerted Dr. John Starry, a local physician who investigated the gunfire but was confronted by Brown's raiders shortly after 1:00a.  After Starry tended to Shepard and explained there was nothing more he could do, Starry was allowed to leave.  Instead of going home, he set out on horseback to neighboring towns to alert them of the raid.  At Charles Town, the citizen militia was gathered and Brown and his army was soon pinned down, taking refuge in the engine house adjacent to the armory.

The Navy Department was able to quickly respond with a unit of 86 Marines, but they lacked a field commander.  US Army Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee was on leave nearby and was issued orders to put down the insurrection with J.E.B. Stuart as his aide.  The US forces arrived by train on October 18th and attempted to negotiate a peaceful surrender; upon failure to obtain Brown's surrender, the forces stormed the fire house.  Almost all were captured, a few killed, and the US Marine suffered a single casualty.  Brown was tried, convicted and hanged in nearby Charles Town for his treason against the State of VA.

Any motorcyclist will enjoy a visit the area.  In addition to some lovely scenery in VA & MD, West Virginia has some seriously twisty roads that make for some exciting rides, including a few just north of Harper's Ferry.  The area is a stone's throw from Antietam and Manassas, great Civil War battle sites you can enjoy history, scenic views, a little technical riding and even a bit of the Appalachian Trail...

...which also crosses, Newfound Gap on the NC/TN border and subject of a prior TWH post.  

Park your bike at the US National Parks Service Visitor Center and ride the shuttle over.  The old cobblestone and brick roads aren't too motorcycle friendly, nor are the steep roads and limited parking.  It's wholly walkable once you hop off the shuttle.