Episode 2 of 3
The Atchison Legend Claim
- When
- March 4-5, 1849
- Where
- Washington, D.C.
Associates claimed Atchison was acting president for 24 hours because neither Taylor nor Fillmore had been sworn in on March 4.
Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore followed the vice president in the line of succession. Since Vice President-elect Millard Fillmore and Taylor had not been sworn in on March 4, Atchison's friends claimed he was acting president from March 4 to 5.
Sources
- David Rice Atchison Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
- United States presidential inauguration Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-10
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.