PRESIDENT MILLARD FILLMORE - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED 07/20/1829 - HFSID 4652

THE 29-YEAR-OLD STATE ASSEMBLYMAN HAS BEEN PAID FOR PRESIDING OVER A COURT MARTIAL BUT CAPTAIN HITCHCOCK HAS NOT




MILLARD FILLMORE. Manuscript LS: "M. Fillmore", 1p, 7½x11½. Aurora, 1829 July 20. To Philip Phelps, Esq., Deputy Comptroller. In full: "You will probably recollect that a short time before the Legislature adjourned I called at the Compr office to get my pay as Prest of the Court Martial mentioned in the annexed paper and also the pay of Capt Hitchcock and that I recd my pay but you could not pay him in consequence of my not having a written order to receive it - but told me I might leave the Orgl order for the Court Martial and give him my certificate of his attendance and let him authorize you to receive it and you would draw it for him and transmit it by Mail. I therefore at his request transmit you herewith his account my certificate and his order to you to draw the money and wish you to enclose it to him in as few bills as may be convt by Mail. Please direct your letter to Willink Post Office Erie County New York." Fillmore's political career began and ended with the birth and extinction of the Whig party. In 1828, he was elected by Erie County to the state legislature of New York as the Anti-Masonic candidate. The Anti-Masonic Party, which was against candidates who were Masons, was formed in 1827 in western New York. The National Republicans nominated President John Q. Adams for reelection against the Democratic Party's Andrew Jackson, a Mason. The National Republicans gradually began to call themselves Whigs and by 1834 the name was in general use. The Anti-Masonic party disbanded in 1836. Fillmore served in the State Assembly from 1829 to 1831. He was elected as a Whig to Congress and served in the House of Representatives from 1833-1835 and 1837-1843. Fillmore was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for Governor of New York in 1844. Elected Whig State Comptroller in 1847, Fillmore resigned in 1849 when he was sworn in as the Whig Vice President. When President Taylor died in 1850, Fillmore was sworn in as 13th U.S. President. The Taylor-Fillmore ticket was the last successful national Whig ticket. President Fillmore was not nominated in 1852. The Whigs were divided by the issues of slavery and national expansion and lost the 1852 election. In 1854, the Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery Whigs who joined dissidents of the Democratic and Free Soil Parties and the Whig Party ceased to exist. A scarce letter written by 29-year-old Millard Fillmore during his first elective office. Blue stains affect 5 words on front and verso. Lightly soiled. Folds, 1 vertical touches the "r" in Fillmore. Encapsulated. Overall, fine condition.