July 12, 1850
A notice of the death of Pres. Taylor, includes this comment: “Whether he died an unrepentant slaveholder remains to be seen. We have no room for further particulars. His death at this peculiar crisis in the affairs of the nation will create a profound sensation. The Vice President, Millard Fillmore, is of course his successor. We fear that he is not the man for the present emergency.”
February 28, 1851
A letter from Francis Bishop, dated Dec 28, 1850, in Liverpool, gives assurance that the Crafts have arrived safely on board the Cambria…..”they are now beyond the reach of their pursuers.” “Can it be true, as the papers report, that President Fillmore has written to Dr. Collins, the husband of the person who impiously calls herself the owner of Mrs. Craft, stating that, if necessary, the whole force of the Union shall be put in operation to bring back the fugitives? If so, what a spectacle for the world! The Chief Magistrate of a great country threatening to use all of its resources to kidnap a poor, defenceless woman, and carry her off to slavery! O could degradation further go?”
March 11, 1853
“Shouts of thanksgiving at the termination of the administration of Millard Fillmore”, are accompanied by “loudest lamentations at the induction into the Presidential office of Franklin Pierce, whose boast is that he has never had a pulsation of his heart which did not beat in unison with the Slave Power…..”
June 27, 1856
A three-line entry in the paper: “That good-for-nothing Know-Nothing, Millard Fillmore, arrived at New York from Europe on Monday last, and received an ovation from his partisans.”
May 10, 1861
A letter to Garrison is signed “M”. The author decries the information that Millard Fillmore has accepted an invitation to preside at the Unitarian’s Annual Festival, to be held in Boston. “And is this the man to be brought to Boston, and set in a high position of religious confidence and honor? He is an enemy of Freedom and of the free North. Instead of being drawn into a post of honor, he should be consigned to oblivion, or the pitying scorn of every friend of liberty…”