1800: Born in New York

1814: Begins attending school at age fourteen

1818: Begins studying law

1823: Passes New York bar

1828-31: Member of New York State Assembly

1833-35: Serves in U.S. House of Representatives as member of the Anti-Masonite Party

1836-42: Serves in U.S. House of Representatives as member of the Whig Party

1844: Fails in bid to be elected governor of New York

1849-50: Serves as vice president under Zachary Taylor

1850: Taylor dies; Fillmore becomes thirteenth president on July 10; signs Compromise of 1850

1852: Fillmore loses Whig nomination to General Winfield Scott, an antislavery advocate; Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published

1862: Named the first chancellor of the University of Buffalo (now State University of New York at Buffalo )

1874: Dies in New York