Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Who was the thirteenth president of the United States?

The thirteenth president of the United States was Millard Fillmore.  He was president from 1850-1853.  He was a member of the Whig Party.  He took office in 1850 after the death of Zachary Taylor.  During Fillmore's presidency, America opened up trade with Japan under the leadership of Commodore Matthew Perry.  Fillmore was also the president who signed the Compromise of 1850, which was an attempt by Congress to prevent civil war.  The U.S. government did not have a clear plan of what would become of the lands ceded to it by the Mexican government after the Mexican War.  Some wanted the dividing line between free and slave drawn by the Compromise of 1820 extended to the Pacific.  This was put to the test when California voted for immediate statehood in 1850 thanks to the population boom from the gold rush.  Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850, which brought California into the Union, ended the slave trade in Washington D.C., and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law.  Fillmore ran for president again in 1852 but his stance on slavery angered Northern Whigs--this led to the election of Franklin Pierce.  

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Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 is sometimes called the Revolution of 1800. Why could it be described in this way?

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