Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/199

 MILLARD FILLMORE 155 In 1847 Fillmore was elected comptroller of the state of New York, an office which then included many duties now distributed among other depart ments. In his report of January 1, 1849, he sug gested that a national bank, with the stocks of the United States as the sole basis upon which to issue its currency, might be established and carried on, so as to prove a great convenience to the govern ment, with perfect safety to the people. This idea involves the essential principle of our present sys tem of national banks. In June, 1848, Millard Fillmore was nominated by the Whig national convention for vice-president, with Gen. Taylor, who had recently won military renown in Mexico, as president, and was in the following November elected, making, with the late occupant of the office, seven vice-presidents of the United States from New York, a greater number than has been yet furnished by any other state. In February, 1849, Fillmore resigned the comptroller- ship, and on March 5 he was inaugurated as vice- president. In 1826 Calhoun, of South Carolina, then vice-president, established the rule that that officer had no authority to call senators to order. During the heated controversies in the session of 1849- 50, occasioned by the application of Cali fornia for admission into the Union, the vexed question of slavery in the new territories, and that of the rendition of fugitive slaves, in which the