{"product_id":"millard-fillmore-paul-finkelman-9780805087154","title":"Millard Fillmore: The American Presidents Series: The 13th President, 1850-1853","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe oddly named president whose shortsightedness and stubbornness fractured the nation and sowed the seeds of civil war\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the summer of 1850, America was at a terrible crossroads. Congress was in an uproar over slavery, and it was not clear if a compromise could be found. In the midst of the debate, President Zachary Taylor suddenly took ill and died. The presidency, and the crisis, now fell to the little-known vice president from upstate New York. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this eye-opening biography, the legal scholar and historian Paul Finkelman reveals how Millard Fillmore's response to the crisis he inherited set the country on a dangerous path that led to the Civil War. He shows how Fillmore stubbornly catered to the South, alienating his fellow Northerners and creating a fatal rift in the Whig Party, which would soon disappear from American politics--as would Fillmore himself, after failing to regain the White House under the banner of the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough Fillmore did have an eye toward the future, dispatching Commodore Matthew Perry on the famous voyage that opened Japan to the West and on the central issues of the age--immigration, religious toleration, and most of all slavery--his myopic vision led to the destruction of his presidency, his party, and ultimately, the Union itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul Finkelman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 080508715X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780805087154\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Times Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/10\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.67lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.52h x 5.79w x 0.78d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2011 pg. 19\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/02\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Finkelman\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eDred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSlavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson\u003c\/i\u003e. The author or editor of more than twenty-five books, he is a distinguished professor at Albany Law School and a noted specialist in American legal history, race, and constitutional law. He lives in Slingerlands, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Finkelman","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44047790276863,"sku":"9780805087154","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4fff9727-ed7a-4455-85c4-fca57fc86081.jpg?v=1684992191","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/millard-fillmore-paul-finkelman-9780805087154","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}