President Millard Fillmore

On July 8, 1850, Fillmore was presiding over the Senate when a message was handed to him. President Taylor, who had been stricken by a stomach disorder, was dying in the White House. It was approaching midnight on July 9 when there came the dreaded knocking at Fillmore's door at Willard's Hotel. A note from the cabinet told him "Zachary Taylor is no more."

"I have no language to express the emotions of my heart," Fillmore responded. "The shock is so sudden and unexpected, I am overwhelmed."

The following morning Fillmore wrote out his first official contact with Congress as president-to-be. "I have to perform the melancholy duty of announcing to you that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor. . . . I propose this day at twelve o'clock . . . in the presence of both Houses of Congress, to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution."
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May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not.--Millard Fillmore

"God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we
must endure it, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world."--Millard Fillmore

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