excluding slavery from territories newly acquired by treaty. A local Watertown newspaper, Northern State Journal, reported his yeah vote in the House of Representatives in favor of the Proviso. Yet Hungerford still yearned for political power. In 1846, the amended New York Constitution allowed the New York State Comptroller, who was responsible for auditing the state books, to be elected by the citizenry as opposed to being appointed by the legislature. Hungerford saw this office as a stepping stone to either the governorship or the U.S. Senate before seeking even higher office. In October 1847, the bitterly divided delegates known as Barnburners and Hunkers gathered at the Democratic State Convention in Syracuse and nominated Orville as the "Hunker" candidate for the state office of comptroller. His defeated barnburner opponent was Azariah C. Flagg, the current New York State Comptroller. The split in the Democratic party resulted in such bitterness that the barnburners resorted to calling the victor "Awful Hunkerford." Such factionalism tremendously weakened the Democrats. At the next general election in 1847, Millard Fillmore received 174,756 votes for the office of N.Y. Comptroller while Orville Hungerford obtained 136,027 and Lewis Tappan 10,408. Ironically, Millard Fillmore used to work for Orville's first cousin Benjamin Hungerford. Benjamin had a wool-carding and cloth-dressing mill in West Sparta, New York and had convinced Millard's father to have the fifteen-year-old boy learn the trade under his tutelage as an apprentice. According to Millard, Benjamin had him chop wood for a coal pit instead of working in the shop. The two got into an argument about job duties. Benjamin approached the boy, asking if he felt abused because he had to chop wood. Millard, who was standing on a log with an ax raised, uttered: "If you approach me I will split you down." Benjamin Hungerford relented and let Millard work in the shop for the agreed-upon three-month term before walking home alone. The bitter experience of working for Benjamin Hungerford made Fillmore's victory over Orville for comptroller thirty-four years later extra sweet. In 1850, Millard Fillmore became the 13th President of the United States. After the comptroller election defeat, Hungerford grew tired of the partisanship in Washington, D.C. and the stress from being away from his family and business interests. He decided to return to Watertown, New York to complete his railroad project, which he started in 1832. Hungerford, drawn to the challenge of expanding