"Buck" taking the pot. - Public domain broadside, Library of Congress

Millard Fillmore, a member of the Whig party, was the 13th President of the United States (1850-1853) and the last President not to be affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century. Four Presidents belonged to the Party while in office. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s. It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829–37) and his Democratic Party. The Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of moderniza​tion, banking, and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress."

James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States (1857-1861), served immediately prior to the American Civil War. He remains the only President to remain a lifelong bachelor. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, then served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He was named Secretary of State under President James K. Polk. President Franklin Pierce appointed him Ambassador to the United Kingdom. "I like the noise of democracy."