Great, indeed, are the possibilities of our country. The subject of this
narrative, thirteenth president of the United States, was born in Summer
Hill, Cayuga county, New York, January 7th, 1800. The nearest house to
that of Fillmore was four miles distant. Cayuga county was then a
wilderness with few settlers, consequently young Fillmore's education
was limited to instruction in reading, writing, spelling and the
simplest branches of arithmetic. At fourteen he was bound out to learn
the fuller's trade.
Think of it boys, what splendid opportunities most of you have; yes, all
of you have, compared to that of Fillmore, for he had not the advantage
of our glorious and complete school system, and at that was bound out
when a mere lad. Yet at the age of nineteen he presumed to aspire to
become a lawyer! He had two more years to serve in his apprenticeship,
but "Where there's a will there's a way." "To think a thing impossible
is to make it so," and he accordingly set to work contriving to gain for
himself an education.
Contracting with his employer to pay him $30 for his release, that
obstacle was overcome. He next made an arrangement with a retired
lawyer, by which he received his board for services, and studied nights.
This continued for two years, when he set out on foot for Buffalo where
he arrived with just $4 in his pocket. Ah! methinks people who saw that
boy must have felt that he was destined to be somebody in the world.
"Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
How often are we so deeply impressed by reading the biographies of great
men that it really does in a great measure rest with ourselves whether
we amount to something, or worse than nothing, in the world. We have
followed this man from childhood and have seen him overcome all
obstacles thus far; will we then be surprised when we read that no
sooner did he arrive in Buffalo than he succeeded in making arrangements
with a resident lawyer, obtaining permission to study in his office and
supported himself by severe drudgery, teaching and assisting the post
master.
By the spring of 1823 he had so far gained the confidence of the bar
that by the intercession of several of its leading members he was
admitted as an attorney by the Court of Common Pleas of Erie county,
although he had not completed the period of study usually required, and
commenced practice at Aurora where his father resided.
In the course of a few years he acquired not only a large practice but a
thorough mastery of the principles of the common law, and he rose to a
place among the first lawyers of his State. In 1827 he was admitted as
counselor of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1830 he moved to Buffalo
where he continued in the practice of law until 1847, when he was
elected Comptroller of the great Empire State.
He had previously been in the State legislature and in the national
congress. In congress he rose gradually to the first rank for integrity,
industry and practical ability. As a State legislator he particularly
distinguished himself by his advocacy of the act to abolish imprisonment
for debt, which was drafted by him, and which passed in 1831. In
congress he supported John Quincy Adams in his assertion of the right of
petition on the subject of slavery. He opposed the annexation of Texas,
because it extended slave domain and advocated the immediate abolition
of the inter-state slave trade.
At the death of President Taylor, Mr. Fillmore, according to the
provisions of the Constitution in such cases, became President of the
United States, and the poor boy who had entered Buffalo on foot now
entered the National Capitol as the ruler of a mighty nation. During his
administration a treaty with Japan, securing for the United States
valuable commercial privileges, was consummated. His administration, as
a whole, was a successful one, and had he not signed the fugitive slave
law, he would, undoubtedly, have been the nominee of his party at the
convention in 1852.
In 1854 he made an extensive tour in the Southern and Western States,
and in the Spring of 1855, after an excursion through New England, he
sailed for Europe. While in Rome he received information that he had
been nominated by the Native American party in his native country for
the office of President. He accepted, but Maryland alone gave him her
electoral vote; however, he received a large popular vote. In 1874,
March the 8th, he died in Buffalo, where he had resided many years in
private life.