The last Whig elected President, Millard Fillmore was born on January 7, 1800, in Cayuga County, NY. Despite lacking much formal education, he studied law and was admitted to the New York bar at the age of 23. His first elective office was to the New York state assembly. Later, he served in the United States House of Representatives. He opposed the entry of Texas into the union. Nominated and elected Vice-President in 1848 on the Whig ticket headed by Zachary Taylor, he became President on Taylor's death in 1850. He favored the Compromise of 1850 and signed the Fugitive Slave Law. His policies did not endear him to any group, and he was not renominated in 1852. In 1856, he ran as the American (Know-Nothing) candidate but was defeated. He died in Buffalo on March 8, 1874.
