Millard Fillmore's tenure (term of office) as the thirteenth president of the United States was brief but significant. Taking over the presidency upon the death of Zachary Taylor (1784-1850; see entry in volume 2) in July of 1850, Fillmore signed into law the series of five bills known as the Compromise of 1850—legislation meant to resolve issues dividing the free and slave states. While himself a Northerner who opposed slavery, Fillmore was dedicated to preserving the Union. He was willing to accept measures that many abolitionists (people against slavery) found repulsive in order to calm the Southern states. As a result, he narrowly held off a sectional crisis—between the Northern and the Southern sections of the country—and delayed the Civil War (1861-65) for another ten years.

At the time of Fillmore's presidency, the nation was expanding. New railroads were needed to move settlers...