Millard Fillmore was deservedly forgotten, but his politics sound familiar

[flyingfysh]

This was in the Boston Globe, and can be found at https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2017/02/19/millard-fillmore-was-deservedly-forgotten-but-his-politics-sound-familiar/GVaVlSTgOc4wtSYe5DV5KN/story.html?s_campaign=bdc:globewell:trending&s_campaign=bdc:globewell:trending

Remarkably, this was written by a right-wing columnist, Jeff Jacoby.

Some excerpts:

But of all the components of the compromise, the worst was the Fugitive Slave Act.
Rarely has there been a more repugnant law. For the first time in US history, the Fugitive Slave Act created a national system of law enforcement. Its purpose: hunting escaped slaves and returning them to bondage. Federal commissioners were appointed nationwide, and empowered not only to adjudicate fugitive slave claims, but to assemble local posses to capture slaves on the run. The law imposed harsh penalties on anyone caught aiding a fugitive slave. And even free blacks were at risk of being seized and charged as runaways, since the law, with grotesque disregard for due process, forbade accused fugitives from testifying in their own behalf.
Fillmore enforced the law with determination, and dispatched federal troops to prevent opponents from interfering. He denounced Northern communities that vowed to resist the law — “sanctuary cities” aren’t a 21st-century innovation — and piously proclaimed that “without law there can be no real practical liberty.” Scores of fugitives were captured and returned to the South during Fillmore’s presidency. When antislavery activists in Boston rescued a captured slave from the US marshals holding him, Fillmore repeatedly ordered that the rescuers be prosecuted. In a Pennsylvania case, the administration went further, charging 41 Americans with treason for refusing to join a slave-catching posse.
Fillmore denounced Northern communities that vowed to resist the Fugitive Slave Law. ‘Sanctuary cities’ aren’t a 21st-century innovation.
By the end of Fillmore’s term, the Whig Party was fractured beyond repair. Democrats won the 1852 election in a landslide. The Whigs vanished from US politics, supplanted by a new, unequivocally antislavery Republican Party.

Fillmore, however, turned elsewhere. He migrated to the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic “Know-Nothing” Party, running as its presidential nominee in 1856. His slogan was “Americans Must Rule America.” Five years later, Americans were ripping America apart in a ghastly Civil War that Fillmore had helped make inevitable. As Abraham Lincoln labored to preserve the union and emancipate the slaves, Fillmore watched from the sidelines, harshly criticizing.
Today, the 13th president is lost in obscurity. Fate has been kinder to him than he deserved.

[Stargleamer]

1. Mallard Fillmore continued the tradition of hatred and resentment n/t

[MarvinGardens]

2. I was just reading about him.

Was recently clicking through the Wikipedia articles on the 3 or so presidents before Lincoln, because what is going on now seems similar to those times, unfortunately. Seems like all made futile attempts to try to unify the country, and in some cases ended up fanning the flames, like with Fillmore and the Fugitive Slave Act.

[Scruffy1]

3. In my opinion it was three in a row.

First the reprehensible Fillmore, followed by the alcoholic Pierce and capped by Buchanan. This is what happens when you have a country divided with poor leadership. I don't think the Civil War was inevitable, but when you keep appeasing the beast it just grows.