What led Millard Fillmore to run for president?

Answer 1

Fillmore ran for President in 1856 for the American(aka Know-Party) and won 21.6 % of the popular vote. He was touring Europe when he was nominated and I don't think he knew that he was under consideration for the nomination. When he was notified that he had been nominated, he accepted. He was no doubt flattered that he was still remembered and the nomination was a kind of vindication from his slight by the Whigs in 1848 when they refused to run him for a second term.

Answer 2

Pierce was drafted by his party to run after they could not agree on any of the four front-runners for the nomination. He was a loyal party man and felt it was his duty to serve, but probably did not dream that he would be nominated when he allowed his name to be put into for consideration.

Answer 3

Because the Whigs' northern and southern factions were hopelessly divided after the Compromise of 1850, and the strategy of using war heroes from the Mexican-American War (used in the previous election failed. With the Whigs divided, many did not go to the polls, The Democrats led by Pierce stayed unified and Pierce won handily.

Answer 4

After the Whig President, Taylor died and vice-president Fillmore took of office, they was a power vacuum in the Whig party. Fillmore had no strong following the party which was on the verge of splitting over slavery issues. Consequently, the Democrats felt they had an excellent chance to take back the White House in 1852. Two New Hampshire state party leaders , Charles Peaslee and John George began to lay the groundwork for the candidacy of Levi Woodbury , former NH Senator and governor who was now on the US Supreme Court. When Woodbury died suddenly in 1851, they turned to Pierce and made plans to present him as a candidate if the right occasion came up. Pierce was reluctant but finally agreed to let them put his name in. A NH newspaper editor , Edmund Burke also prevailed on Pierce .Gideon Pillow and Caleb Cushing , both Mexican War generals with Pierce and incluential in the party, became Pierce backers. Pillow wanted the nomination himself and Cushing was happy with either Pillow or Pierce.

When the Convention opened in Baltimore, there were four front-runners , but none of them could nail down the nomination. On the 35th ballot the Virginia delegation put Pierce's name in the pot and he gained strength with each vote until he got the majority on the 49th ballot,

Pierce was attractive because he was a fresh face , did not carry any political baggage , was a war hero and was young and good-looking. Moreover, he had experience in both houses of the US Congress .

Answer 5

He wasn't running. His name was put into nomination as a compromise candidate at the Democratic Convention in 1852. The people who were trying for the nomination (James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, and Stephen Douglas) couldn't get the nomination because of the sectionalism that was taking place prior to the Civil War. Pierce was nominated because he was from the north (New Hampshire) yet he agreed with the South on the rights of slavery.

Answer 6

He did not really want to be president. He wife and son were against the idea. He hated to say "no" to people and he probably did not think he would be nominated when he finally agreed to let them put his name into the hat. Of course , like any politician, he knew that there are rewards for being president.

Answer 7

Franklin Pierce was elected in 1852. He was a Jackson Democrat. The Whigs had won in 1848 with 47% of the vote because the third party Free Soil (anti-slavery) candidate and Jackson VP got 10% of the vote and split the Democrat vote.

The Whig president ,Zachary Taylor, died in office making New Yorker Millard Fillmore the president. On the verge of splitting over the slavery issue, the Whigs dumped Fillmore and ran war-hero General Winfield Scott. Taylor was a slave owner and had run well in the South. Scott was from free New Jersey and was not in favor of slavery but promised to support the Compromise of 1850 with its troublesome fugitive-slave law, which Whig Fillmore had helped get passed. Therefore, Scott did not please slave owners and he did not please the anti-slave people.

General Pierce, although not as distinguished in service as Scott , was known in the Northeast as a war hero and was young and good-looking. He had served in the US Congress and the US Senate. He was a long-time Jackson ssupporter and even though he was from the North, he was more favorably viewed in the South. He had retired from national politics and was a compromise candidate when none of the four front-runners could nail down the nomination and carried little political baggage. So, he received undivided support from the Democrats and got considerable cross-over vote from the northern Whigs .

Final Totalspopular vote

Pierce (Dem) 1,607,510 (50.8%) Scott (Whig) 1,386,942 (43.9%)

electoral vote

Pierce 254 Scott 42

states carried

Pierce 27 Scott 4 (TN, KY,VT, NH)