Beschreibung:

FILLMORE, Millard. Letter signed ("Millard Fillmore"), as President, to A. A. Mayer Washington City, 23 July 1852. 1 page, 4to, marked "Private," FINE. A REJECTED FILLMORE QUOTES HENRY CLAY'S FAMOUS QUIP: "I'D RATHER BE RIGHT THAN PRESIDENT" A FINE PRESIDENTIAL LETTER FROM FILLMORE, written shortly after his failure to win the Whig Party nomination for President, and one-month after the death of Henry Clay: "I have your letter of the 13th inst. expressing your regret that I was not nominated at the Baltimore Convention, in which sentiment you are so kind as to say that thousands of others concur. My only regret is that my friends were disappointed, but, in the language of the lamented Clay, 'I would rather be right than President.'" Fillmore's succession to the Presidency after the death of Zachary Taylor in July 1850 proved decisive for the success of Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850. President Taylor had opposed the omnibus bill, pressing instead to have California admitted as a free state, with the rest of Clay's conciliating package jettisoned. When Fillmore took over, he felt a stronger obligation to the legacy of the great Whig leader Clay than to his departed running mate. The partnership between Taylor and Fillmore had been an odd one: hoisted onto the Whig ticket in 1848 by the Clay faction, Fillmore did not even meet Taylor until after their election victory. And the President wanted nothing to do with him once they assumed power, refusing even to consult Fillmore about patronage matters in the Vice-president's native state of New York. Not surprisingly then, Fillmore told Taylor he would use his powers as President of the Senate to cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of the bill. With Taylor's death, President Fillmore rallied Whig forces behind Clay's bill. It passed in September 1850, and in addition to admitting California as a free state it clarified the Texas-Mexico border; organized the Utah territory; implemented the Fugitive Slave Law, and outlawed the sale (but not the ownership) of slaves in the District of Columbia. Historians agree that while Clay's compromise averted civil war, it nevertheless destroyed the party of Clay, Fillmore -- and Lincoln. The Whigs divided along sectional lines, between a pro-slavery Southern faction and anti-slavery Northerners. Southerners liked Fillmore for his support of the Fugitive Slave Law. Northerners, outraged by the bill, made Winfield Scott their candidate to run (unsuccessfully) against Franklin Pierce in 1852.