Louis Kossuth Comes to American abroad the USS MISSISSIPPI as Congress Seeks to Help Hungarian Revolutionary

Foreign Affairs Under President Fillmore   -Michael Streich

 

America’s thirteenth president and second “accidental” president, Millard Fillmore, is often subjected to scorn and criticism. Serving only three years and unable to secure nomination in his own right, some have argued that he was a weak chief executive with few credits to his name. President Fillmore, however, holds a legacy of achievements affecting Americans positively. Further, he was one of the first self-made men to reach the highest office, coming out of dire poverty as a child.

 

Fillmore’s Early Years

 

Born in a log cabin in Cayuga County, New York, Millard Fillmore was one of nine children. In the absence of formal education, he taught himself to read and eventually apprenticed himself as a cloth maker. With the help of a local judge who saw promise in the young man, he paid off his indenture and studied law.

 

Rising in New York politics and government, Fillmore represented New York in the Congress for four terms. During the Tyler administration, he was instrumental in breaking a tariff impasse by shepherding a new tariff through the House Ways and Means Committee, which he chaired.

 

By the time the Whig Party nominated him as Vice President in 1848 to run with General Zachary Taylor, Fillmore’s resume included the New York State Assembly, a failed run for the governorship, and his years in the National Congress.

 

Millard Fillmore as President

 

Fillmore became President upon the untimely death of Zachary Taylor on July 9, 1850. At the time, he set a precedent by refusing to deliver an inaugural address. The most pressing issue before the Congress was the Compromise of 1850 or “Mr. Clay’s Compromise,” which Fillmore supported but Zachary Taylor opposed. A friend and admirer of Clay, Fillmore would sign the five separate bills passed by the Congress that summer through the efforts of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

 

The 1850 Compromise, according to Fillmore, represented the “final settlement” regarding territorial disputes regarding the expansion of slavery. Everyone involved fervently hoped that the legislation would avert a civil war. Fillmore himself opposed and hated slavery, but believed that the Constitution protected it.

 

1850 was also the year that President Fillmore negotiated the release of Hungarian freedom fighter Louis Kossuth, who had taken refuge in Turkey. Fillmore sent the USS Mississippi to bring Kossuth, his family, and numerous other veterans of the 1848 European revolutions to the United States.

 

During Fillmore’s presidency, a movement to invade Cuba revolved around Narciso Lopez, an ambitious Spaniard who capitalized on Spain’s inept governance of the island. The movement was viewed favorably by Southern leaders like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who was approached about leading the invasion force made up mostly of Southern volunteers. Cuba had always been an inviting acquisition for the Southern slavery advocates.

 

Fillmore, however, rejected these efforts and sent federal officials to Southern ports to turn back would be invaders. Fillmore’s decision was prudent and in keeping with his moderate Whig views. Japan, however, was another matter.

 

Although the Treaty of Kanagawa “opening Japan” is associated with President Franklin Pierce, it was Fillmore who sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan, arriving just weeks ahead of an Imperial Russian delegation. President Fillmore’s message to the Japanese rulers was polite but firm: “We wish that our People may be permitted to trade with your People, but we shall not authorize them to break any law of your Empire.”

 

Fillmore’s Attempt to Win a Second Term

 

When the Whig Party met in 1852 it took them 53 ballots to finally nominate a presidential candidate, General Winfield Scott, “old fuss n’ feathers.” Fillmore, Daniel Webster, and Scott had been the front runners and at one point Fillmore almost clinched the nomination during negotiations with Webster supporters.

 

The protracted fight to nominate Fillmore is a testament to his strength and leadership. Millard Fillmore should be historically rehabilitated as a President whose achievements were noteworthy.

 

 

 

 The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia

Built by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli during the reign of Russia’s Empress Elizabeth, the Winter Palace would come to symbolize Russian Imperial power. Rastrelli’s magnificent palace, referred to by W. Bruce Lincoln [1] as. “one of the last great baroque buildings to take shape anywhere in the world,” was constructed, according to Rastrelli, “solely for the glory of all Russia.” It would be the home of the Imperial family until 1917.

 

The Fourth Winter Palace

 

Facing the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Rastrelli’s masterpiece was completed at enormous costs. Although commissioned by Empress Elizabeth, she never lived to see its completion, dying in 1761. With 1,054 rooms and a quarter of a million square feet, the palace “symbolized the power of empire itself,” according to Bruce Lincoln. According to Suzanne Massie, “It is Rastrelli’s triumph that, massive as it is, the palace turquoise blue…with its reflection shimmering in the waters of the Neva, seems almost to be floating.” [2]

 

After the death of Peter III in 1762, the Winter Palace found in Catherine II its greatest patron. Catherine, who once referred to herself as a “glutton” when it came to collecting works of art, began to fill the palace with some of Western Europe’s greatest masterpieces, buying entire collections at once. Whenever significant collections came on the market, Catherine’s agents snatched them up and shipped them to Russia.

 

The State Hermitage Museum, of which the Winter Palace is a part, today boasts the finest collection in the world with works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, El Greco, and Matisse. Although the Winter Palace was not open to the public until 1852, it was after the fall of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917 that the imperial residence became the vast public museum that it is today.

 

Catherine the Great’s Contributions

 

Enlarging the Winter Palace in 1765, Catherine added a “hermitage,” her “little retreat,” and filled it with paintings, sculpture, and rare antiquities. Subsequent hermitages would be built as the collection grew. A voracious collector, Catherine bought both Voltaire and Denis Diderot’s libraries and placed them in her palace. Walking the palace halls alone at night, she enjoyed her paintings and took inspiration from them.

 

Not a particularly religious women, her collection features many religious works including the “Litta” Madonna by Da Vinci. The Hermitage Theatre allowed Catherine to enjoy private plays and concerts with her inner circle of friends.

 

The Symbol of Imperial Power

 

The palace square is dominated by the Alexander Column, commemorating Russian victory during the struggles with Napoleon. It was from the great balcony facing the square that Tsar Alexander I blessed his troops as they prepared to march against France. The palace square reveals the immensity of the palace. According to Bruce Lincoln, “the palaces of Europe’s kings and queens never conjured up moods and meanings in the way the winter palace did.” [3]

 

It was in the Winter Palace that Russia’s Provisional Government was captured during the Bolshevik Revolution of October, 1917. The room is preserved as is the original clock, stopped at the moment the government fell. Rastrelli’s greatest work became the property of the state and is today one of the greatest repositories of art and historical antiquities.

 

Sources:

 

[1]W. Bruce Lincoln, Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia (New York: Basic Books, 2000) p. 40-41

[2] Suzanne Massie, Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980) p.126.

[3] Lincoln, p.81