Milliard Fillmore is often ranked as one of the worst and most forgettable presidents, although some say history has judged him too harshly.
He was never elected president. He became president only because Zachary Taylor died in office. His own party wouldn't even renominate him in the following presidential election, and he ran, therefore, as the candidate on the Know Nothing party ticket of 1852, carrying just one state.
Beyond his lackluster political performance as a presidential candidate, Taylor has long been condemned for his weak and inconsistent position on slavery while he was president. He has been criticized for his attempts at compromise; he signed the Fugitive Slave Act into law, a piece of legislation that criminalized giving aid to escaping slaves and thus inflamed abolitionist sentiments. After his term as president ended, the Whigs (the party he represented) faded away.
Fillmore is considered a president who did little to show leadership or take control during a polarizing and contentious period of US history, as tensions rose higher and higher over slavery. Running as the candidate of the Know Nothing Party—a party that opposed immigration—did little to enhance his reputation.
Those who defend him say that he was conscientious and obeyed the laws of the land. Unfortunately, however, he did not take a firm stance against laws that history has condemned as immoral, which condemns him as amoral by association.
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