Millard Fillmore papers

Collection consists of 2 letters and 2 legal documents dating from 1848-1851. In a letter dated June 8, 1848, Horace Webster writes Comptroller Fillmore on behalf of Geneva College, asking him to reconsider a challenge to the college's draft of an 1847 appropriation from the U.S. Deposit Fund for use of the medical college. In the other letter, dated January 13, 1851, President Fillmore thanks the Rev. John C. Lord for his sermon "Higher Law and Fugitive Slave Bill" (published in 1851 as "'The higher law,' in its application to the Fugitive slave bill") , calling it an "admirable discourse" that "can not fail to do good." Legal documents include a warrant (March 14, 1851) signed by Fillmore, authorizing the remission of a penalty against the owners of the steamer Monumental City; and a land patent (January 10, 1851) signed on behalf of Fillmore, granting 40 acres of land in Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, to John Hamill.

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) was a lawyer, member of the United States House of Representatives (1837-1843), Comptroller of New York (1848-1849), Vice President of the U.S. (1849-1850), and thirteenth President of the U.S. (1850-1853). President Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act into law on September 18, 1850.