Franklin pierce president biography

President of the United States from 1853 to 1857

This article is about the president of the United States. For other people with the same name, see Franklin Pierce (disambiguation).

Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity, he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Conflict between North and South continued after Pierce's presidency, and, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the Southern states seceded, resulting in the Amer

Born on November 23, 1804, Franklin Pierce, though by no means wealthy, had more advantages than most young boys in rural New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had led the local militia to victories in the American Revolution, and as a result, he enjoyed a status in the area of Hillsborough that gave him influence in local politics. Both he and his wife Anna Kendrick's families had been in America since the early Puritan settlements of the 1620s. Like other ambitious parents, Benjamin and Anna wanted their eight children to have a better education than their own.

Franklin attended local schools until age twelve when he was sent to private academies. At fifteen, he entered Bowdoin College in Maine where he made many friends, including a budding young writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne. At first, young Franklin enjoyed the social life at Bowdoin so much that his schoolwork took second priority. Soon he was last in his class. He gradually began to apply himself to his studies and by graduation in 1824, he ranked fifth in his class.

Rapid Rise to National Politics

While at Bowdoin, Pierce had honed his public speaking, which made him a natural for the legal profession. In 1829, he was elected to the state legislature, two years after his father won election to the governorship. Attractive and well-connected, the popular Pierce was chosen Speaker of the House in 1831. Both Franklin Pierce and his father were fervent supporters of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, whose modest origins and country manners inspired great affection from farmers and the working class. Both men rejoiced when "Old Hickory" was elected President in 1828. Jacksonian Democrats were the rising party and in 1832, in the same election that gave Old Hickory his second term, Franklin Pierce—still not thirty years old—was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he voted the Democratic Party line on nearly all issue

Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher once remarked that “nice guys finish last.” Although he was referring to the dating scene and not politics, Franklin Pierce would have agreed with that statement to the extent it was applied to the presidency rather than courtship.

And although Franklin Pierce is not considered the very worst president this country has seen, he is uncomfortably close to the bottom of the pile. Even as he lived out his final years, Pierce knew history was not treating his legacy well. And he was, by nearly all accounts, a very nice guy.

From what I can tell, Pierce was a big fish in a small pond – or really a small fish in a tiny pond (New Hampshire). Shortly after being elected his town’s “moderator” at the age of twenty-four he was elected to the state legislature. Aided in his political ascension by his father’s reputation (a bigger fish who served as governor of the state) he later won election to the U.S. House of Representatives and, thereafter, the U.S. Senate. Pierce was no intellectual firecracker, but he did find success as a “people person.”

After leaving the Senate in the early 1840s Pierce became New Hampshire’s “party boss” for the Democrats. Here he ensured allegiance to party doctrine and worked to expel those who decided to swim against the tide. Incredibly, by 1852 he found himself the dark horse Democratic nominee for president running against obscure Whig nominee General Winfield Scott.

Pierce’s four years in the White House were disappointing, to say the least. But despite the wisdom of numerous historians who have eviscerated Pierce for supporting the Kansas-Nebraska Act (and, by implication, slavery), he appears to me to have simply waded into waters far deeper than he could handle. His natural instinct was to avoid unnecessary conflict. He wanted to be liked, to be a crowd-pleaser.

(1804-1869)

Who Was Franklin Pierce?

Franklin Pierce was elected to the United States Senate in 1837. After resigning in 1842, Pierce joined the temperance movement and worked as an attorney, before going off to fight under General Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War. In 1852, Pierce was elected president for one term. As president, he signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas' slavery status.

Early Life and Political Career

Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President, was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin, was an American Revolutionary War hero who held some political prowess in the family's rural town. His mother, Anna Kendrick Pierce, had eight children, whose education she made her top priority.

At the age of 12, Pierce left the public school system to attend private academies. When he turned 15, he enrolled at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he excelled at public speaking. In 1824, Pierce graduated fifth in his class.

In 1829, when Pierce was 24 years old, he was elected to the New Hampshire State Legislature. Within two years, he was selected as its Speaker of the House, with the aid of his father, who had by then been elected governor.

In the 1830s, Pierce was sent to Washington, D.C. as a state representative. Despite his rapid ascent in the world of politics, Pierce soon found his life in Washington both tedious and lonesome. After developing a dependency on alcohol, he decided it was time to settle down. In 1834, he married a shy religious woman named Jane Means Appleton, who supported the temperance movement. Jane disliked the Washington lifestyle even more than her husband did. Nevertheless, a year after the couple's first of three sons were born, Pierce accepted his election to the U.S. Senate.

In 1841, under his wife's persistent urging, Pierce finally agreed to resign from the Senate. Afterward, he joined the temperance movement and started wo