Former President Millard Fillmore On What Sustains American Democracy: A “patriotic duty to the country that gave them birth, in maintaining in all their purity the free institutions that they have inherited from their ancestors, and which only free men know how to prize.”

Buchanan chose future Confederate Howell Cobb instead of Corning

Erastus Corning & Co. became important in Albany and the surrounding area, as it supplied iron products, nails, stoves, and farming equipment, and most likely supplying the needs of the Erie Canal. To help corner the market, in 1826 he purchased an iron foundry. Around 1831, quite early, Corning perceptively became interested in the railroad industry as his foundry could produce all the metal tracks and nail required for their construction. He was an investor and board member of the in the Utica and Schenectady Railroad as well as the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. Two of his companies, Albany Iron Works and the Rensselaer Iron Works became the largest producer of railroad equipment and other iron in the United States. In additional to his business dealings, Corning was also active in politics as a Democrat. He served one term as Mayor of Albany from 1834-1837, and a State Senator from 1842-1845. In 1851 the ten local railroads of New York began the process of merging, leading to the creation of the New York Central Railroad with Corning as the president in 1854. The New York Central Railroad was affiliated with Corning up until 1865, two years before Cornelius Vanderbilt acquired control of the operation. During his time he was expanding the railroad’s access to Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City. Corning was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1857-1859 and then again from 1861-1863. He was an opponent of President Lincoln’s policies in the Civil War.

In 1857, the incoming president, James Buchanan, had to select a cabinet. Former president Millard Fillmore hoped that Buchanan would select Corning as his Treasury Secretary, and for a time that seemed possible. However, instead Buchanan chose Georgian Howell Cobb. Cobb devoted most of his attention as Treasury Secretary to issues surrounding the Panic of 1857. In 1860, Cobb made a failed attempt at becoming the Democratic nominee for President. Following the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as President, Cobb resigned his cabinet post, returned to Georgia, and led his state to secession. He then served as president of the convention establishing a provisional Confederate government. In 1861, he administered the oath of office to Confederate president Jefferson Davis and vice president Alexander H. Stephens. Cobb then served as a general in the Confederate Army.

Autograph letter signed, three pages, Buffalo, December 5, 1856, to Erastus Corning, urging him to accept the cabinet post if offered. “Your kind favor enclosing a pass on the Central Railroad for 1857 came to hand during my absence in New York, whence I returned last evening, and I hasten to express my thanks for the favor although it is hardly probable I shall have much occasion to use it. Situated as I am, I travel only from necessity. I know it must be a great sacrifice to you to go to Congress, and I perceive by the papers that you may be called upon to make a still greater one by being required to preside over the Treasury Department by the incoming administration. This is a matter upon which in a political point of view I should not feel justified in saying a word, but I trust that our private relations are such that I may, without impropriety, appeal to you personally in the strongest manner to accept the appointment for the sake of our common country should it be tendered, as I sincerely hope it may be. We want your practical knowledge, your industry, and above all your firmness and integrity at this time in that place. Then we shall thus far have ‘the right man in the right place’, and I shall feel that at least one point, and that a very vulnerable one, is made secure against corruption.

“I know you cannot desire it. I know you cannot take it without sacrificing much in a pecuniary point of view, and more in your case and comfort, but if we are to live in this country and maintain this free government, men in your position must make sacrifices and feel they have a compensation in the consciousness in that they have discharged a patriotic duty to the country that gave them birth, in maintaining in all their purity the free institutions that they have inherited from their ancestors, and which only free men know how to prize.

“But I have said more than I intended and I will conclude, but not without repeating the hope that you will accept the Treasury Department if tendered, not for your sake but for the sake of the country.”

This letter gives us a deep understanding of Fillmore’s idea of public service and the personal rewards that flow from it.