Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)/biography

Franklin Pierce (, –, ) was an  and the fourteenth , serving from 1853 to 1857. He is to date the only president from and was the first president born in the nineteenth century.

Pierce was a and a "" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the  and. Later, Pierce took part in the and became a. His private law practice in his home state,, was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down. Later, he was nominated for president as a candidate on the 49th ballot at the. In the, Pierce and his running mate won in a landslide, defeating  and  by a 50 to 44% margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the.

His good looks and inoffensive personality caused him to make many friends, but he suffered tragedy in his personal life and as president subsequently made decisions which were widely criticized and divisive in their effects, thus giving him the reputation as one of the. Pierce's popularity in the declined sharply after he came out in favor of the, repealing the  and reopening the question of the expansion of  in the. Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the. Historian David Potter concludes that the Ostend Manifesto and the were "the two great calamities of the Franklin Pierce administration.... Both brought down an avalanche of public criticism." More important says Potter, they permanently discredited and.

Abandoned by his party, Pierce was not renominated at the and was replaced by, which is to date the only instance of an incumbent President not to win his party's nomination for a second term (with the exception of the 36th President of the United States, , who did not seek reelection in 1968 despite his eligibility). After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with as his marriage to  fell apart. His reputation was further damaged when he declared support for the and died in 1869 from.

Philip B. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt reflected the views of many historians when they wrote in The American President that Pierce was "a good man who didn't understand his own shortcomings. He was genuinely religious, loved his wife and reshaped himself so that he could adapt to her ways and show her true affection. He was one of the most popular men in New Hampshire, polite and thoughtful, easy and good at the political game, charming and fine and handsome. However, he has been criticized as timid and unable to cope with a changing America."

Early life
Franklin Pierce was born in a near,. The site of his birth is now under. Pierce's father was, a frontier farmer who became a soldier, a state militia general, and a two-time  and tavern owner. Pierce's father was a leading New Hampshire politician. His mother was Anna Kendrick. He was the seventh of eight children; he had four brothers and three sisters. Pierce attended school at and moved to the Hancock Academy in  at the age of 11; he was transferred to Francestown Academy in the spring of 1820. Later that year he was transferred to to prepare for college. In fall 1820, he entered in, where he participated in literary, political, and debating clubs.

There he met writer, with whom he formed a lasting friendship, and. He also met, , and his future political rival,.

In his second year of college, his grades were the lowest in his class but he worked to improve them, and graduated in 1824, third in his class. After graduation, in 1826, he entered a in, , studying under Governor , and later Judges  and Edmund Parker, in.

He was admitted to the and began a law practice in  in 1827.

Early political career
After graduating college Pierce entered local politics and rose to a central position in the Democratic party of New Hampshire and became a member of the Concord Regency leadership group. Pierce began his political career in 1828, when he was elected to the of the, the. He served in the State House from 1829 to 1833, and as from 1832 to 1833. Pierce served in the state legislature of New Hampshire while his father was governor.

In 1832, Pierce was elected as a to the  and  (,  –, ). He was only 27 years old, the youngest at the time.

In 1836, he was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the, serving from , , to , , when he resigned. He was chairman of the during the.

After his service in the Senate, Pierce resumed the practice of law in with his partner. He was district attorney for New Hampshire and declined the nomination of  and the appointment as  tendered by.

Family
On, , Pierce married , the daughter of a former president of Bowdoin College. Appleton, who was born in 1806 and died in 1863, was Pierce's opposite. She came from an aristocratic family and was extremely shy, deeply religious, often ill, and pro-. Jane could be described as shy and tubercular and she was never happy with the fact that her husband was in the political world. His personal life imposed a great deal of pain on him and Pierce was known to many as being a heavy drinker.

Mrs. Pierce hated life in, and encouraged Pierce to resign his Senate seat and return to , which he did in 1841. They had three children who all died in childhood. Two of their children died to early deaths and the last one survived until the age of 11 and was killed in a train wreck. None of them lived to see their father become president. This made her believe God was displeased with her husband's political ambitions. After the deaths of her children, Mrs. Pierce was overcome with and disdained herself during her husband's presidency.

Franklin Pierce, Jr. (, –, ) died three days after birth.

Frank Robert Pierce (, –, ) died at the age of four from.

Benjamin "Bennie" Pierce (, –, ) died at the age of 11 in a tragic railway accident in  which his parents witnessed, 1 month before the inauguration of his father.

Mexican War
He enlisted in the volunteer services during the and was soon made a colonel. In March 1847, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and took command of a brigade of reinforcements for 's army marching on. His brigade was designated the 1st Brigade in the newly created 3rd Division and joined Scott's army in time for the. During the battle he was seriously wounded in the leg when he fell from his horse.

He returned to his command the following day, but during the, the pain in his leg became so great that he passed out and was carried from the field. His political opponents used this against him, claiming that he left the field because of cowardice instead of injury. He again returned to command and led his brigade throughout the rest of the campaign culminating in the. Although he was a political appointee, he proved to have some skill as a military commander. He returned home and was a member of the New Hampshire State in 1850 and served as its president.

Election of 1852
Pierce drew support because of his long career as Democrat activist and also because he fully supported the party's policy commitments. The Democratic Party nominated Pierce as a "" candidate during the Democratic National Convention of 1852. Pierce was considered a darkhorse candidate because he had no credentials as a major political figure or as a statesman. He was also not a military hero, and his tenure in legislative offices was pretty brief. The convention assembled on in, with four competing contenders&mdash;, ,  and  &mdash; for the nomination. Most of those who had left the party with to form the  had returned. Prior to the vote to determine the nominee, a was adopted, opposing any further "agitation" over the slavery issue and supporting the  in an effort to unite the various Democratic factions.

When the balloting for president began, the four candidates deadlocked, with no candidate reaching even a simple majority, much less the required of two-thirds. On the 35th ballot, Pierce was put forth as a compromise candidate. He had never fully articulated his views on slavery, which allowed him to be acceptable to all factions. He also had served in the Mexican-American War, which allowed the party to portray him as a. Pierce was nominated unanimously on the 49th ballot on. Alabama Senator was chosen as the nominee for. 

Pierce's opponent was the candidate,   of, whom Pierce served under during the Mexican-American War, and his running mate, Senator,  and   of. Pierce easily prevailed as Scott &mdash; nicknamed Old Fuss and Feathers &mdash; ran a blundering campaign. Two other opponents were Senator of, a political foe of Pierce's, and Senator  of  who at the time was serving as  (However, Webster died before election day).

The Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, reducing the campaign to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates and helping to drive down the in the election to their lowest level since. Pierce's likable personality, plus his helpful obscurity and lack of strongly held positions, helped him prevail over Scott, whose anti-slavery views hurt him in the South. Scott's advantage as a known war hero was countered by Pierce's service in the same war.

Pierce was also helped by support of the Democratic Party and their disdain for the Whig Party.

The Democrats' slogan was "We Polked you in 1844; we shall Pierce you in 1852!" (a reference to the victory of in the ). This proved to be true, as Scott only won the states of, , , and. The total popular vote was 1,601,274 to 1,386,580, or 50.9% to 44.1%. Pierce won 27 of the 31 states, including Scott's home state of Virginia. , who like Pierce was from New Hampshire, was the nominee of the remnants of the Free Soil Party, garnering 155,825 votes (5% of the total).

The election of 1852 would be the last presidential contest in which the Whigs would field a candidate. In 1854, the divided the Whigs, with the Northern Whigs deeply opposed, resulting in a split between former Whigs, some of whom joined the , others the , and still others the newly formed.

At his inauguration, Pierce was the youngest President ever, age 48, a record he would keep until 46 year old was inaugurated president in 1869.

Results of the election: Pierce/King: 254 electoral votes, 1.6 million popular votes Scott/Graham: 42 electoral votes, 1.3 million popular votes Hale/Julian: 0 electoral votes, 155,000 popular votes.

Beginnings


Franklin Pierce assumed presidency at a time of tranquility and peace. The Compromise of 1850 seemed to have weathered the storm around the issue of slavery, and things seemed to be a little calmer. This problem suddenly appeared during his administration, and Pierce did little to deal with it and his policies showed how the Union was so disrupted. Pierce was then forced into handling an administration that was dealing with great national tension. Pierce was nicknamed "Young Hickory of the Granite Hills". He was able to follow in the footsteps of previous party presidents because he was committed to the same causes they were and because other party members saw the virtues of the qualities he possessed. Pierce served as U.S. President from, , to ,. Two months before he took office on, , shortly after boarding a train in , president-elect Pierce and his family were trapped in a car when it rolled over an  near. Pierce and his wife survived and were merely shaken up, but they watched as their 11-year-old son Benjamin ("Bennie") was crushed to death in the. Grief-stricken, Pierce entered the presidency nervously exhausted.



The family had already lost two children to typhus, and Jane Pierce believed the train accident was divine punishment for her husband's acceptance of the high office of the presidency. Other events deepened the somber mood of the new administration, former 's death in March and that of  's in April. As a result, Pierce chose to "" his Oath of Office on a law book rather than the Bible, becoming the first president, and, currently,the only president to have affirmed his oath. He is also among a small number of Presidents who did not take the presidential oath on a Bible. (As an example, did not place his hand on anything at all). In his, he proclaimed an era of peace and prosperity at home and vigor in relations with other nations, saying that the United States might have to acquire additional possessions for the sake of its own security and would not be deterred by "any timid forebodings of evil."

Policies
Pierce selected for his not men of similar beliefs but a broad cross-section of people he personally knew. Many thought that the diverse group would soon break up, but instead it became the only Cabinet, as of 2007, that remained unchanged through a four-year term. In the foreign policy realm, Pierce showed a traditional Democratic assertiveness. When Pierce came into office there was significant tensions with a weak Spain, a reclusive Japan, and a powerful Britain creating problems in Central America. Just like in domestic affairs, Pierce's leadership seemed to be one of the main focuses of people because he seemed to be too overwhelmed by forces he could not control.

Pierce aroused sectional apprehension when he pressured the to relinquish its special interests along part of the n coast, and when he tried to persuade  to sell  for $100 million (USD) because of the expansive sugar crop in Cuba.

The release of the, signed by several of Pierce's cabinet members, caused outrage with its suggestion that the U.S. seize Cuba by force, and permanently discredited the Democratic Party's expansionist policies, which it had so famously ridden to victory in 1844.

But the most controversial event of Pierce's presidency was the, which repealed the and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, the handiwork of Senator, allegedly grew out of his desire to promote a railroad from to  through. This problem came as much of a surprise to Pierce and the rest of his party members since they had spent a great deal of time calming down and fixing the difficult sectional tension. The party leaders thought they had succeeded in doing this because of things like the Compromise of 1850.

Secretary of War, advocate of a southern transcontinental route, had persuaded Pierce to send to Mexico to buy land for a southern railroad. He purchased the area now comprising southern and part of southern New Mexico for $10 million (USD), commonly known as the. This became known as the greatest success of the Pierce presidency.

Douglas, to win Southern support for the organization of Nebraska, placed in his bill a provision declaring the Missouri Compromise null and void. Douglas provided in his bills that the residents of the new territories could decide the slavery question for themselves. Pierce, who had acquired a reputation as untrustworthy and easily manipulated, was persuaded to support Douglas' plan in a closed meeting between Pierce, Douglas, and several southern Senators, with Pierce consulting only of his cabinet.

The passage of the brought about a sequence of events that developed into. Pro-slavery, mostly from , illegally voted in a government that Pierce recognized, and Pierce called the , a set up by  an act of "rebellion." Pierce continued to recognize the pro-slavery legislature even after a congressional investigative committee found its election illegitimate. He furthermore sent in federal troops to break up a meeting of the shadow government in.

The Act also caused widespread outrage in the North and spurred the creation of the Republican Party, a sectional Northern party which was organized as a direct response to the bill. The election of Republican would lead to declarations of secession in 1860 and 1861.

Meanwhile, Pierce lost all credibility he may have had in the North and in the South and as of 2007, was the only elected president (rather than a Vice President who succeeded to the position) to fail to be renominated by his party for a second term. Pierce is ranked among the least effective Presidents as well as an indecisive politician who was easily influenced. He was unable to command as President or to provide the required national leadership.

Major legislation signed

 * Signed .



Supreme Court appointments
Pierce appointed the following Justices to the :
 *  – 1853

States admitted to the Union
none



Later life
After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce reportedly quipped "there's nothing left to do but get drunk" (quoted also as "after the what is there to do but drink?") which he apparently did frequently. He once ran over an elderly woman while driving a carriage. During the Civil War, Pierce further damaged his reputation by declaring support for the Confederacy, headed by his old cabinet member Davis. One of the few friends to stick by Pierce was his college friend and biographer,, although he had fallen so low that he was not asked to stand as a pallbearer at Hawthorne's funeral.

In 1863 during the aftermath of, Union Soldiers under General 's command captured Confederate President ' Fleetwood Plantation, and Ewing turned over Davis' personal correspondence to his brother-in-law. However, Ewing also sent copies of the letters to a few people he had known in Ohio, which, after being published, permanently ruined the reputation of former President Pierce. Their release coincided with that of Pierce's book, Our Old Home. As early as 1860, Pierce had written to Davis about "the madness of northern abolitionism," and other letters uncovered stated that he would "never justify, sustain, or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless unnecessary war", and that "the true purpose of the war was to wipe out the states and destroy property." His reputation was destroyed. Even author referred to him as "the archtraitor."

Franklin Pierce died in at 4:40 a.m. on,  at 64 years old, from  of the liver, which had to do with his heavy drinking problem that he carried throughout his life, and was interred in the Minot Enclosure in the Old North Cemetery of Concord.

Legacy
Places named after President Pierce:
 * in.
 * Franklin Pierce School District in ,
 * in.
 * Franklin Pierce High School in the South Central Los Angeles and in
 * Pierce County in, , , and (But not in )
 * The in
 * Mt. Pierce in the of the ,

In fiction

 * from  is named after  and  Franklin Pierce. In one episode of the, his tentmate, , while drunk, exclaims, "Well, if it isn't Benjamin Franklin Pierce Hawkeye, named for a president, an Indian, and a stove!"


 * Appearing in 9 episodes of Season 5 of ,, the nephew of a powerful Senator and related to Franklin Pierce, was a White House intern assigned to.

Preserved home

 * now a New Hampshire