He failed to win the Whig nomination for president in 1852, but he gained the endorsement of the nativist Know Nothing Party four years later, finishing third in the 1856 presidential election. As vice president, Fillmore was largely ignored by Taylor, even in the dispensing of patronage in New York, on which Taylor consulted Weed and Seward. Fillmore had stated previously that a convention had the right to draft anyone for political service, and Weed got the convention to choose Fillmore, who had broad support, despite his reluctance.
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