Fillmore Takes Oath: Presidency After Taylor's Death
Millard Fillmore took the presidential oath on July 10, 1850, hours after Zachary Taylor's sudden death, inheriting a nation tearing itself apart over slavery's expansion into new territories. Where Taylor had opposed the Compromise of 1850, Fillmore signed all five bills within weeks, including the Fugitive Slave Act that required Northern states to return escaped slaves. The compromise temporarily averted secession but enraged abolitionists, who saw the fugitive law as a moral abomination. Harriet Beecher Stowe later cited the law as her motivation for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin. Fillmore's presidency lasted just 32 months, and his own party declined to renominate him.
July 10, 1850
176 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 10
Julius Caesar narrowly escaped total annihilation at Dyrrhachium after Pompey’s forces breached his lines, forcing a desperate retreat into Thessaly. This tacti…
He'd spent three years trying to die. Hadrian, Rome's wall-building emperor, suffered heart failure at his seaside villa in Baiae on July 10, 138 AD—but only af…
Liu Yu seizes the throne from Emperor Gong of Jin to establish the Liu Song dynasty in 420 AD. This coup ends the Eastern Jin era and fractures China into the N…
Prince Naka-no-Ōe watched Soga no Iruka read tribute reports from Korea for twelve minutes before drawing his sword. The date was June 14, 645. Iruka controlled…
A Viking warlord knelt to an Irish king and founded a city by accident. Glun Iarainn—"Iron Knee"—ruled Dublin's Norse settlement when Máel Sechnaill II's armies…
The fire started in Southwark, jumped the Thames, and trapped Londoners on London Bridge itself—packed with timber houses on both sides. Three thousand people d…
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.