On July 8, 1850, Fillmore was presiding over the Senate when a message was handed to him. President Taylor, who had been stricken by a stomach disorder, was dying in the White House. It was approaching midnight on July 9 when there came the dreaded knocking at Fillmore's door at Willard's Hotel. A note from the cabinet told him "Zachary Taylor is no more.""I have no language to express the emotions of my heart," Fillmore responded. "The shock is so sudden and unexpected, I am overwhelmed."The following morning Fillmore wrote out his first official contact with Congress as president-to-be. "I have to perform the melancholy duty of announcing to you that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor. . . . I propose this day at twelve o'clock . . . in the presence of both Houses of Congress, to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution."

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