As the election of 1852 approached , Fillmore remained undecided whether to run for a full term as president . Secretary Webster had long coveted the presidency and , though past seventy , planned a final attempt to gain the White House . Fillmore , sympathetic to the ambitions of his longtime friend , issued a letter in late 1851 stating that he did not seek a full term , but he was reluctant to rule it out , fearing the party would be captured by the Sewardites . Thus , approaching the national convention in Baltimore , to be held in June 1852 , the major candidates were Fillmore , Webster and General Scott . Weed and Seward backed Scott ; in late May , the Democrats nominated former New Hampshire senator Franklin Pierce , who had been out of national politics for nearly a decade before 1852 , but whose profile had risen as a result of his military service in the Mexican War . The nomination of Pierce , a northerner sympathetic to the southern view on slavery , united the Democrats and meant the Whig candidate would face an uphill battle to gain the presidency
national convention
1852 Whig National Convention
Millard Fillmore