Fillmore Administration - Post-presidential Years
Post-presidential Years
After Fillmore failed to win renomination in 1852, he retired. His support of the Fugitive Slave Bill significantly hurt his chances of renomination. After traveling extensively both in the United States and in Europe, Fillmore accepted the presidential nomination of the American Party, better known as the Know-Nothing Party, for the 1856 election. According to Elbert B. Smith who wrote The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, Fillmore supported the American Party because he was convinced that the Republican Party, which had evolved from the Whig Party, was a sectional party, which would divide the country. In the 1856 election Fillmore garnered 21 percent of the popular vote but only carried Maryland in electoral votes.
After losing the election, Fillmore returned to Buffalo, New York; he married Caroline McIntosh in 1858. In his retirement Fillmore was active in Buffalo's civic...
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