Perhaps it’s appropriate for a blogger who likes to mark the birthdays of significant Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists would be a day late in noting the two hundred and eighth anniversary of the birth of Millard Fillmore. Born on the 7th of January, 1800, Millard Fillmore was elected vice-president on the Whig ticket with Zachary Taylor and succeded Taylor upon his death, becoming the thirteenth president of the United States. He served out the last two years of Taylor’s term but was not nominated by his party for a full term. Four years later he would run at the head of the Know-Nothing Party, without success.
He has earned the enmity of history with the words “God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil … and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution.” and the actions which followed, in particular as part of the Compromise of 1850, the notorious Fugitive Slave Law.
As with most things there are several sides to this story. Unitarian Universalist minister John Robinson explores the murky aspects of the Compromise with a characteristic combination of scholarship and insight…
For me Fillmore’s attempts at compromise and the infamy of his name following opens many anxious thoughts as I attempt to thread the needle of contemporary political life. Mixing up my metaphors, I’m a natural believer that half a loaf is better than none & tend not to think highly of those unwilling to find compromise positions.
And, sometimes, it seems, one must take a stand.
The art, of course, is in knowing both for what and when…
Life is a dance. And I like that. I just wish the dance didn’t have so many weird moves…