Description:

Millard Fillmore
"Washington City", April 27, 1852
Millard Fillmore As Pres. Lengthy 1852 ALS Re: "slavery question…is of more importance to the perpetuity of our institutions and the future prosperity of the country, than every other"
ALS

A 7pp autograph letter signed by sitting 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) as "Millard Fillmore" near the top of the seventh page. April 27, 1852. "Washington City." Inscribed on watermarked bifold paper. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds, with isolated minor splits along some folds. Else near fine and mostly clean and bright. 7.875" x 9.875."

President Fillmore wrote this letter to Dr. Thomas Moses Foote (1809-1858), a physician and newspaper editor with ties to Fillmore's adoptive home town of Buffalo, New York. In 1849, Foote had been appointed chargé d'affaires of Bogota, Colombia under the Taylor administration, and in 1850, Fillmore himself had sent Foote as a U.S. envoy to Vienna. Later, Foote and his editorial colleague Ivory Chamberlain would co-author the "Biography of Millard Fillmore" (Buffalo, New York: Thomas & Lathrops, Publishers, 1856.)

In this lengthy and confidential letter, President Fillmore identifies the slavery question - and unease about the Compromise of 1850 - as critically important and divisive national issues. He predicts that the slavery question specifically will threaten the foundations of the U.S. government as well as the stability of American society. Fillmore mentions colonization as a viable option to close the slavery issue.

Fillmore wrote: "… you may rest assured that I shall lend no influence, either to the nomination or election, of a sectional candidate, or of any man who is not prepared to stand by the settlement of this slavery question as a finality. I deem this of more importance to the perpetuity of our institutions and the future prosperity of the country, than every other question involved. All others are temporary but this, if the agitation continue, will destroy this government. What means can be devised to rid us of the evil of slavery I am not prepared to say. One thing is certain, that the evil can never be cured by legislation and agitation in the free states. It must be done chiefly through the instrumentality of the slave states themselves, and I am inclined to think that colonization, either in Africa, or the West Indies, or both, offers the most reasonable prospect of ridding the country of this terrible evil, which, I fear, in spite of every effort, is to overwhelm this government and bury it in ruins…" p. 6

President Fillmore describes his uncertain political position. He is ambivalent about running in the 1852 presidential election, now just a few months in advance of the Whig National Convention (which would take place in Baltimore, Maryland from June 16-21, 1852.) According to Fillmore, he is not inclined to participate, but his friends - as well as public opinion - may dictate that he take action to remain in the White House. Fillmore expounds at length about the duties of a public servant outweighing personal preferences.

Fillmore wrote: "I … am greatly obliged for the very frank manner in which you have expressed yourself in reference to the Presidential question. I cannot say that I regret having yielded so much to the solicitation of my friends, as to suffer my name to remain before the public as a possible candidate for nomination by the Whig Convention, [Fillmore would actually lose the Whig Convention presidential nomination to fellow Whig Winfield Scott] but I should regret it, were no other interest involved in the question except my own…" p. 1

Fillmore mentions no fewer than six political parties or special interest groups that paint a picture of deep sectarian division in antebellum America. He refers to his own party, the Whigs, as well as to the Conservative Whigs, Conservative Democrats, the Georgia Union Party, the South Carolina Cooperationists, the Secessionists, and the Abolitionists. Fillmore opines about the political chances of possible Democratic presidential candidates, including James Buchanan (1791-1868), the former Secretary of State and future 15th U.S. President; Stephen Douglas (1813-1861), a U.S. Senator from Illinois; Linn Boyd (1800-1859), a Kentucky Congressman then serving as 20th Speaker of the House; Lewis Cass (1782-1866), a U.S. Senator from Michigan; and Daniel S. Dickinson (1800-1866), a former U.S. Senator from New York. [Ultimately, another Democratic candidate, Franklin Pierce, would secure his party's nomination, and indeed, the presidency.]

Fillmore wrote: "My own impression was, and still is, that it was unwise to have introduced a resolution into that Caucus approving of the Compromise. The Whig members having done that at the commencement of the Session it was unnecessary to repeat it, and those who favored the Compromise were in danger, by introducing it into this Caucus, of having it evaded, or having it voted down indirectly on points of order… But this question is really of such vital importance to the South, and indeed, I may say, to the North also, that it is impossible to blink or evade it…

You may have noticed that in the Congressional proceedings most measures are carried by an union of the conservative Whigs and the conservative Democrats, while the Secessionists of the South and the Abolitionists of the North vote together. It is not possible that this state of things should continue with its natural consequence of sectional parties and this Union endure…

They [the Democrats] are divided on principle, and contending fiercely about candidates, and nothing but the habit of association, and the mere name of Democracy, constitutes them a party… Cass is probably the strongest man, but he cannot get 2/3rds of the votes, and those who oppose him will never yield to his nomination. Buchanan is opposed with less ferocity and supported with less zeal, but I think there is no chance for him under the two-thirds rule; and the same may be said of Douglass [sic]…" p. 2-4

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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