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{{Infobox_President | name=Franklin Pierce
| nationality=United States
| image=Franklin Pierce.jpg
| order=14th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start=[[March 4]], [[1853]]
| term_end=[[March 4]], [[1857]]
| predecessor=[[Millard Fillmore]]
| successor=[[James Buchanan]]
| order2=[[United States Senator]] <br> from [[New Hampshire]]
| term_start2=[[March 4]], [[1853]]
| term_end2=[[February 28]], [[1857]]
| predecessor2=[[John Page (New Hampshire)|John Page]]
| successor2=[[Leonard Wilcox]]
| birth_date={{birth date|1804|11|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place=[[Hillsborough, New Hampshire]]
| death_date={{death date and age|1869|10|8|1804|11|23}}
| death_place=[[Concord, New Hampshire]]
| spouse=[[Jane Pierce|Jane Appleton Pierce]]
| occupation=[[Lawyer]]
| alma_mater =[[Bowdoin College]]
| party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| vicepresident=[[William R. King]] (1853)<br>None (1853-1857)
| religion=[[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]]
| signature=Franklin Pierce Signature.png
|}}
'''Franklin Pierce''' ([[November 23]], [[1804]] – [[October 8]], [[1869]]) was an [[Politics of the United States|American politician]] and the fourteenth [[President of the United States]], serving from 1853 to 1857. To date, he is the only president from [[New Hampshire]].
Pierce was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and a "[[doughface]]" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate|Senate]]. Later, Pierce took part in the [[Mexican-American War]] and became a [[brigadier general]]. His private law practice in his home state, [[New Hampshire]], was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down. Later, he was nominated for president as a [[dark horse]] candidate on the 49th ballot at the [[1852 Democratic National Convention]]. In the [[U.S. presidential election, 1852|presidential election]], Pierce and his running mate [[William R. King]] won by a landslide, defeating the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] ticket of [[Winfield Scott]] and [[William Alexander Graham|William A. Graham]] by a 50 to 44% margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the [[United States Electoral College|electoral vote]].
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 [[historical rankings of U.S. Presidents|worst presidents in U.S. history]]. Pierce's popularity in the [[U.S. Northern states|North]] declined sharply after he came out in favor of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], repealing the [[Missouri Compromise]] and reopening the question of the expansion of [[History of slavery in the United States|slavery]] in the [[American West|West]]. Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the [[Ostend Manifesto]]. Historian David Potter concludes that the Ostend Manifesto and the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] 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 [[Manifest Destiny]] and [[popular sovereignty]].
Abandoned by his party, Pierce was not renominated at the [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856 presidential election]] and was replaced by [[James Buchanan]]. After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with [[alcoholism]] as his marriage to [[Jane Means Appleton Pierce]] fell apart. His reputation was further damaged when he declared support for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. He died in 1869 from [[cirrhosis]].
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 [[log cabin]] near [[Hillsborough, New Hampshire|Hillsborough]], [[New Hampshire]], the second future U.S. president to be born in the [[Nineteenth century]]. The site of his birth is now under [[Franklin Pierce Lake]]. Pierce's father was [[Benjamin Pierce (governor)|Benjamin Pierce]], a frontier farmer who became a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] soldier, a state militia general, and a two-time [[governor of New Hampshire]]. His mother was Anna Kendrick. He was the sixth of eight children; he had four brothers and three sisters. [[Image:Pierce Birthplace.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Franklin Pierce Homestead]]]] Pierce attended school at [[Hillsborough Center]] and moved to the Hancock Academy in [[Hancock, New Hampshire|Hancock]] at the age of 11; he was transferred to Francestown Academy in the spring of 1820. Friends recalled that just after he entered the school, he became homesick and returned home on foot. His father put him into a wagon, drove him halfway back to the academy, and left him at the roadside, never saying a word. The boy trudged the remaining 7 miles back to school. Later that year he was transferred to [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] to prepare for college. In fall 1820, he entered [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Brunswick, Maine]], where he participated in literary, political, and debating clubs.
There he met writer [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], with whom he formed a lasting friendship, and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]. He also met [[Calvin E. Stowe]], [[Seargent Smith Prentiss|Seargent S. Prentiss]], and his future political rival, [[John P. Hale]], when he joined the Athenian Society[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peucinian_Society], a group of students with progressive political leanings.
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 [[law school]] in [[Northampton, Massachusetts|Northampton]], [[Massachusetts]], studying under Governor [[Levi Woodbury]], and later Judges [[Samuel Howe]] and Edmund Parker, in [[Amherst, New Hampshire]].
[[Image:Jane Appleton Pierce.JPG|thumb|right|230px|[[Jane Appleton Pierce]]]]
He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] and began a law practice in [[Concord, New Hampshire]] in 1827.
==Early political career==
After graduating college, Pierce entered politics and rose to a central position in the Democratic party of New Hampshire and became a member of the Concord Regency leadership group. In 1828 he was elected to the [[lower house]] of the [[New Hampshire General Court]], the [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]]. He served in the State House from 1829 to 1833, and as [[Speaker of the House|Speaker]] 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 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[Twenty-third United States Congress|23rd]] and [[Twenty-third United States Congress|24th Congresses]] ([[March 4]], [[1833]] – [[March 4]], [[1837]]). He was only 27 years old, the youngest [[U.S. Representative]] at the time.
In 1836, he was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the [[United States Senate]], serving from [[March 4]], [[1837]], to [[February 28]], [[1842]], when he resigned. He was chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Pensions]] during the [[Twenty-sixth United States Congress|26th Congress]].
After his service in the Senate, Pierce resumed the practice of law in [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]] with his partner [[Asa Fowler]]. He was United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire from 1845 to 1847. He refused the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nomination for [[Governor of New Hampshire]] and also declined the appointment as [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General of the United States]] tendered by [[President of the United States|President]] [[James K. Polk]].
==Family==
On [[November 19]], [[1834]], Pierce married [[Jane Means Appleton]] (1806-63), the daughter of a former president of Bowdoin College. Appleton was Pierce's opposite. Born into an aristocratic [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] family, she was extremely shy, often ill, deeply religious, and pro-[[Temperance movement|temperance]]. They had three children who all died in childhood. Two of their children died very young 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. <ref>[http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/fpierce.html Franklin Pierce] from the [[Internet Public Library]] </ref>
[[Image:General Franklin Pierce.jpg|thumb|left|260px|[[Brigadier General]] Franklin Pierce]]
Jane was never happy with her husband's involvement in the political world. She hated life in [[Washington, D.C.]], and encouraged Pierce to resign his Senate seat and return to [[New Hampshire]], which he did in 1841. After the death of her last child, shortly before Pierce's inauguration, she was overcome with [[melancholia]] and she distanced herself during her husband's presidency. Pierce's personal life caused him a great deal of pain and he was known to many as being a heavy drinker.
'''Franklin Pierce, Jr.''' ([[February 2]], [[1836]] – [[February 5]], [[1836]]) died three days after birth.
'''Frank Robert Pierce''' ([[August 27]], [[1839]] – [[November 14]], [[1843]]) died at the age of four from [[epidemic typhus]].
'''Benjamin "Bennie" Pierce''' ([[April 13]], [[1841]] – [[January 16]], [[1853]]) died at the age of 11 in a tragic railway accident in [[Andover, Massachusetts]] which his parents witnessed, 1 month before the inauguration of his father.
==Mexican War==
He enlisted in the volunteer services during the [[Mexican-American War]] 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 [[Winfield Scott]]'s army marching on [[Mexico City]]. His brigade was designated the 1st Brigade in the newly created 3rd Division and joined Scott's army in time for the [[Battle of Contreras]]. 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 [[Battle of Churubusco]], 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 [[Battle for Mexico City|capture of Mexico City]]. Although he was a political appointee, he proved to have some skill as a military commander. He returned home and served as president of the New Hampshire State [[Constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]] in 1850.
==Election of 1852==
{{main|United States presidential election, 1852}}
[[Image:Scott vs Pierce campaign.jpg|thumb|right|350px|''The Game-cock & the Goose''<br>A [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] cartoon favoring Pierce's main opponent, [[Winfield Scott]].]]
At the Democratic National Convention of 1852, Pierce was not initially given serious consideration for the presidential nomination. He had no credentials as a major political figure or statesman, he was not a military hero, and had not held elective office for the last ten years. The convention assembled on [[June 12]] in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], with four major contenders—[[Stephen A. Douglas]], [[William L. Marcy]], [[James Buchanan]] and [[Lewis Cass]] — for the nomination. Most of those who had left the party with [[Martin Van Buren]] to form the [[Free Soil Party]] had returned. Prior to the vote to determine the nominee, a [[party platform]] was adopted, opposing any further "agitation" over the slavery issue and supporting the [[Compromise of 1850]] in an effort to unite the various Democratic Party factions.
When the balloting for president began, the four candidates deadlocked, with no candidate reaching even a simple majority, much less the required [[supermajority]] of two-thirds. On the 35th ballot, Pierce was put forth to break the deadlock as a compromise candidate. Pierce was generally popular due to his long career as a party activist and consistent support of Democratic positions. He had never fully articulated his views on slavery, allowing 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 [[war hero]]. Pierce was nominated unanimously on the 49th ballot on [[June 5]]. Alabama Senator [[William R. King]] was chosen as the nominee for [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]. [http://www.historycentral.com/elections/Conventions/1852DEM.html]
Pierce's opponent was the [[United States Whig Party]] candidate, [[General]] [[Winfield Scott]] of [[Virginia]], under whom Pierce served during the Mexican-American War, and his running mate, [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[William Alexander Graham|William A. Graham]]. Pierce easily prevailed as Scott — nicknamed '''Old Fuss and Feathers''' — ran a blundering campaign.
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 [[voter turnout]] in the election to its lowest percentage level since [[U.S. presidential election, 1836|1836]]. Pierce's likable personality and lack of strongly held positions helped him prevail over Scott, whose anti-slavery views hurt him in the South. Scott's strengh as a known war hero was countered by Pierce's service in the same war.
Pierce was also helped by [[Irish American|Irish Catholic]] support of the Democratic Party and disdain for the Whig Party.
[[Image:ElectoralCollege1852-Large.png|thumb|left|370px|Electoral map of the [[United States presidential election, 1852|1852 presidential election]].]]
The Democrats' slogan was "We Polked you in 1844; we shall Pierce you in 1852!" (a reference to the victory of [[James K. Polk]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1844|1844 election]]).<ref>[http://fs6.depauw.edu:50080/~jkochanczyk/president/pierce.html Franklin Pierce<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> This proved to be true, as Scott only won the states of [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Massachusetts]], and [[Vermont]]. 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. [[John P. Hale]], 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 [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] divided the Whigs, with the Northern Whigs deeply opposed. As a result, the Whigs splintered and most of their membership migrated to the [[nativism (politics)|nativist]] [[Know-Nothing movement|American Party Know-Nothings]], the [[Constitutional Union Party (United States)|Constitutional Union Party]], and the newly formed [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]].
At his inauguration, Pierce was the youngest President ever, age 48, a record he would keep until 46-year-old [[Ulysses S. Grant]] 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.
==Presidency 1853-1857==
[[Image:Frank-Pierce.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Franklin Pierce]]
[[Image:King the Vice President.jpg|thumb|Pierce's Vice President [[William R. King]] died a little over one month after his inauguration--as a result, Pierce had no Vice President during most of his term]]
===Beginnings===
Franklin Pierce assumed presidency at a time of relative tranquility and peace. The Compromise of 1850 seemed to have calmed the storm around the issue of slavery. When the issue suddenly resurfaced during his administration, however, Pierce did little to deal with it and the sectional fissures reopened.<ref>www.franklinpierce.org/</ref> 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 member saw the virtues of the qualities he possessed. Pierce served as U.S. President from [[March 4]], [[1853]], to [[March 4]], [[1857]]. Two months before he took office on [[January 6]], [[1853]], shortly after boarding a train in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], president-elect Pierce and his family were trapped in a [[Derailment|derailed]] car when it rolled over an [[Embankment (transportation)|embankment]] near [[Andover, Massachusetts]]. 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. 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 [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Abigail Fillmore]]'s death in March and that of [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[William R. King]]'s in April. As a result, Pierce chose to "[[Affirmation|affirm]]" his Oath of Office on a law book rather than the Bible. He is among a small number of Presidents who did not take the presidential oath on a Bible. (As an example,[[Theodore Roosevelt]] did not place his hand on anything at all). In his [[Inauguration Day|inaugural address]], Pierce 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 [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] 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 2008, 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.<ref>Brinkley, A. and Dyer, D. ''The American Presidency''.2004. Houghhton Mifflin Company.</ref>
Pierce aroused sectional apprehension when he pressured the [[United Kingdom]] to relinquish its special interests along part of the [[Central America]]n coast, and when he tried to persuade [[Spain]] to sell [[Cuba]] for $100 million (USD) because of the expansive sugar crop in Cuba.
The release of the [[Ostend Manifesto]], 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.
[[Image:Forcing Slavery Freesoilers Throats.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler''<br>An 1856 cartoon depicts a giant [[Free Soil Party|free soiler]] being held down by [[James Buchanan]] and [[Lewis Cass]] standing on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] platform marked "[[Kansas]]", "[[Cuba]]" and "[[Central America]]". President Pierce also holds down the giant's beard as [[Stephen A. Douglas]] shoves a black man down his throat.]]
But the most controversial event of Pierce's presidency was the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], which repealed the [[Missouri Compromise]] and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, the handiwork of Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]], allegedly grew out of his desire to promote a railroad from [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]] to [[California]] through [[Nebraska]]. 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 with measures like the Compromise of 1850.
Secretary of War [[Jefferson Davis]], advocate of a southern transcontinental route, had persuaded Pierce to send [[James Gadsden]] to Mexico to buy land for a southern railroad. He purchased the area now comprising southern [[Arizona]] and part of southern New Mexico for $10 million (USD), commonly known as the [[Gadsden Purchase]]. 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 [[Jefferson Davis]] of his cabinet.
The passage of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] brought about a sequence of events that developed into [[Bleeding Kansas]]. Pro-slavery [[Border Ruffians]], mostly from [[Missouri]], illegally voted in a government that Pierce recognized, and Pierce called the [[Topeka Constitution]], a [[shadow government]] set up by [[Free-Staters]] 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 [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]].
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 [[Abraham Lincoln]] 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 2008, 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 ''[[Kansas-Nebraska Act]]''.
[[Image:FrankP-mounted.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Portrait of Franklin Pierce as a [[General]] mounted on a horse.]]
===Administration and Cabinet===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Pierce
|President=Franklin Pierce
|President start=1853
|President end=1857
|Vice President=[[William R. King]]
|Vice President date=1853
|Vice President 2=''None''
|Vice President start 2=1853
|Vice President end 2=1857
|State=[[William L. Marcy]]
|State start=1853
|State end=1857
|War=[[Jefferson Davis]]
|War start=1853
|War end=1857
|Treasury=[[James Guthrie (American politician)|James Guthrie]]
|Treasury start=1853
|Treasury end=1857
|Justice=[[Caleb Cushing]]
|Justice start=1853
|Justice end=1857
|Post=[[James Campbell (Postmaster General)|James Campbell]]
|Post start=1853
|Post end=1857
|Navy=[[James C. Dobbin]]
|Navy start=1853
|Navy end=1857
|Interior=[[Robert McClelland (American politician)|Robert McClelland]]
|Interior start=1853
|Interior end=1857
}}
===Supreme Court appointments===
Pierce appointed the following Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
*'''[[John Archibald Campbell]]''' – 1853
===States admitted to the Union===
'''''none'''''
[[Image:franklin pierce stamp.JPG|thumb|right|Pierce postage stamp]]
==Later life==
After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce reportedly quipped "there's nothing left to do but get drunk" (quoted also as "after the [[White House]] 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, [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], although the former president had fallen so low that he was not asked to stand as a pallbearer at Hawthorne's funeral.
In 1863 during the aftermath of [[Battle of Vicksburg|Vicksburg]], Union Soldiers under General [[Hugh Ewing]]'s command captured Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]]' Fleetwood Plantation, and Ewing turned over Davis' personal correspondence to his brother-in-law [[William T. Sherman]].<ref name="Allen"> {{cite book
| last = Allen
| first = Felicity
| title = Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=56R_N48VhnkC&pg=PA359&dq=%22hugh+boyle+ewing%22&sig=t8eqwnpln_1odN8o7ByBzMonxG8#PPA360
| accessdate = 2007-11-23
| year = 1999
| publisher = University of Missouri Press
| isbn = 0826212190
| pages = 359-360
}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Allen" />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."<ref name="Allen" /> His reputation was destroyed. Even author [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] referred to him as "the archtraitor."<ref name="Allen" />
Franklin Pierce died in [[Concord, New Hampshire]] at 4:49 a.m. on [[October 8]], [[1869]] at 64 years old, from [[cirrhosis]] of the liver, stemming from his heavy drinking problem that he carried throughout his life, and was interred in the '''Minot Enclosure''' in the Old North Cemetery of Concord. Historically he is known as one of America's worst and most unproductive presidents.
==Legacy==
[[Image:Old north cemetery pierce.jpg|thumb|Pierce's tomb at the Old North Cemetery, Concord, NH]]Places named after President Pierce:
* [[Franklin Pierce University]] in [[Rindge, New Hampshire]].
* [[Franklin Pierce School District]], and [[Franklin Pierce High School|namesake high school]] in [[Parkland, Washington|Parkland]], [[Washington]]
* [[Pierce Elementary School]] in [[Flint, Michigan]].
* Franklin Pierce High School in the South Central Los Angeles
* Pierce County in [[Pierce County, Washington|Washington]], [[Pierce County, Nebraska|Nebraska]], [[Pierce County, Georgia|Georgia]], and [[Pierce County, Wisconsin|Wisconsin]] (But not in [[Pierce County, North Dakota|North Dakota]])
* [[Franklin Pierce Law Center]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]]
* Mt. Pierce in the [[Presidential Range]] of the [[White Mountains (New Hampshire)|White Mountains]], [[New Hampshire]]
*Pierce Street in downtown [[Amarillo, Texas]]
===In fiction===
*[[Hawkeye Pierce|Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce]] from ''[[M*A*S*H]]'' is named after [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[President of the United States|President]] Franklin Pierce. In one episode of the [[M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'' television series]], his tentmate, [[B. J. Hunnicutt|B.J.]], 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 West Wing]]'', [[Ryan Pierce]], the nephew of a powerful Senator and Great-Great Grandson to Franklin Pierce, was a White House intern assigned to [[Josh Lyman]]. Franklin Pierce, however, never had any children live into adulthood. Additionally, the show's fictional President [[Josiah Bartlet]] is also from New Hampshire, though he does not share Pierce's affinity to the south, he is a fictional descendant of the real-life [[Josiah Bartlett]], who signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].
===Preserved home===
* [[Franklin Pierce Homestead]] now a New Hampshire [[state park]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Allen, Felicity. ''Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart.'' St. Louis, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. 1999. ISBN 0826212190.
*Brinkley, A. and Dyer, D. ''The American Presidency''.2004. Houghhton Mifflin Company.
* Gara, Larry, ''The Presidency of Franklin Pierce'' (1991), standard history of his administration
* Nichols; Roy Franklin. ''Franklin Pierce, Young Hickory of the Granite Hills'' (1931), standard biography
* Nichols; Roy Franklin.''The Democratic Machine, 1850-1854.'' Columbia University Press, 1923. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1112776 online version]
* Potter, David M, ''The Impending Crisis, 1848 - 1861''. New York, New York: Harper & Row, 1976. ISBN 0-06-013403-8.
* Taylor; Michael J.C. "Governing the Devil in Hell: 'Bleeding Kansas' and the Destruction of the Franklin Pierce Presidency (1854-1856)" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 1, 2001, pp 185-205
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/pierce Extensive essay on Franklin Pierce and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Franklin+Pierce | name=Franklin Pierce}}
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fp14.html White House biography]
*[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/pierce.htm Inaugural Address]
*[http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/fppf.html The Life of Franklin Pierce By Nathaniel Hawthorne]
*[http://www.piercemanse.org/ Pierce Manse]
*State of the Union: [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-1.html 1853], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-2.html 1854], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-3.html 1855], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-4.html 1856]
*[http://www.failuremag.com/arch_history_franklin_pierce.html Franklin Pierce - 2004 article on the centennial of his birth ]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/pierce/mexico.html Franklin Pierce and His Services in the Valley of Mexico]
*[http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g14.htm The Health and Medical History of President: Franklin Pierce]
*[http://www.archive.org/details/lifegenfrank00bartrich ''The life of Gen. Frank. Pierce, of New Hampshire, the Democratic candidate for president of the United States '' by D.W. Barlett]
{{CongBio|P000333}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Brodhead (New Hampshire)|John Brodhead]]<br />[[Thomas Chandler (New Hampshire politician)|Thomas Chandler]]<br />[[Joseph Hammons]]<br />[[Joseph M. Harper]]<br />[[Henry Hubbard]]<br />[[John W. Weeks (New Hampshire)|John W. Weeks]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New Hampshire's At-large congressional district|New Hampshire's<br />At-large congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837|alongside=[[Benning M. Bean]],<br />[[Robert Burns (representative)|Robert Burns]], [[Joseph M. Harper]], [[Henry Hubbard]],<br />[[Samuel Cushman]], [[Joseph Weeks]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Charles G. Atherton]]<br />[[Samuel Cushman]]<br />[[James Farrington]]<br />[[Joseph Weeks]]<br />[[Jared W. Williams]]}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Page (New Hampshire)|John Page]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Senators from New Hampshire|Senator from New Hampshire (Class 3)]]|years=March 4, 1837 – February 28, 1842|alongside=[[Henry Hubbard]], [[Levi Woodbury]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leonard Wilcox]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Millard Fillmore]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the United States]]|years=March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Buchanan]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lewis Cass]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|Democratic Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1852|1852]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Buchanan]]}}
{{end}}
{{USpresidents}}
{{USDemPresNominees}}
{{USSenNH}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Pierce, Franklin
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=14th [[President of the United States]]
|DATE OF BIRTH={{birth date|1804|11|23|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Hillsborough, New Hampshire]]
|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1869|10|8|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Concord, New Hampshire]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Franklin}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1852]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:United States Senators from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:United States Army generals]]
[[Category:People of the Mexican-American War]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]]
[[Category:People from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from cirrhosis]]
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| nationality=United States
| image=Franklin Pierce.jpg
| order=14th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start=[[March 4]], [[1853]]
| term_end=[[March 4]], [[1857]]
| predecessor=[[Millard Fillmore]]
| successor=[[James Buchanan]]
| order2=[[United States Senator]] <br> from [[New Hampshire]]
| term_start2=[[March 4]], [[1853]]
| term_end2=[[February 28]], [[1857]]
| predecessor2=[[John Page (New Hampshire)|John Page]]
| successor2=[[Leonard Wilcox]]
| birth_date={{birth date|1804|11|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place=[[Hillsborough, New Hampshire]]
| death_date={{death date and age|1869|10|8|1804|11|23}}
| death_place=[[Concord, New Hampshire]]
| spouse=[[Jane Pierce|Jane Appleton Pierce]]
| occupation=[[Lawyer]]
| alma_mater =[[Bowdoin College]]
| party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| vicepresident=[[William R. King]] (1853)<br>None (1853-1857)
| religion=[[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]]
| signature=Franklin Pierce Signature.png
|}}
'''Franklin Pierce''' ([[November 23]], [[1804]] – [[October 8]], [[1869]]) was an [[Politics of the United States|American politician]] and the fourteenth [[President of the United States]], serving from 1853 to 1857. To date, he is the only president from [[New Hampshire]].
Pierce was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and a "[[doughface]]" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate|Senate]]. Later, Pierce took part in the [[Mexican-American War]] and became a [[brigadier general]]. His private law practice in his home state, [[New Hampshire]], was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down. Later, he was nominated for president as a [[dark horse]] candidate on the 49th ballot at the [[1852 Democratic National Convention]]. In the [[U.S. presidential election, 1852|presidential election]], Pierce and his running mate [[William R. King]] won by a landslide, defeating the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] ticket of [[Winfield Scott]] and [[William Alexander Graham|William A. Graham]] by a 50 to 44% margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the [[United States Electoral College|electoral vote]].
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 [[historical rankings of U.S. Presidents|worst presidents in U.S. history]]. Pierce's popularity in the [[U.S. Northern states|North]] declined sharply after he came out in favor of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], repealing the [[Missouri Compromise]] and reopening the question of the expansion of [[History of slavery in the United States|slavery]] in the [[American West|West]]. Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the [[Ostend Manifesto]]. Historian David Potter concludes that the Ostend Manifesto and the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] 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 [[Manifest Destiny]] and [[popular sovereignty]].
Abandoned by his party, Pierce was not renominated at the [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856 presidential election]] and was replaced by [[James Buchanan]]. After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continued his lifelong struggle with [[alcoholism]] as his marriage to [[Jane Means Appleton Pierce]] fell apart. His reputation was further damaged when he declared support for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. He died in 1869 from [[cirrhosis]].
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 [[log cabin]] near [[Hillsborough, New Hampshire|Hillsborough]], [[New Hampshire]], the second future U.S. president to be born in the [[Nineteenth century]]. The site of his birth is now under [[Franklin Pierce Lake]]. Pierce's father was [[Benjamin Pierce (governor)|Benjamin Pierce]], a frontier farmer who became a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] soldier, a state militia general, and a two-time [[governor of New Hampshire]]. His mother was Anna Kendrick. He was the sixth of eight children; he had four brothers and three sisters. [[Image:Pierce Birthplace.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Franklin Pierce Homestead]]]] Pierce attended school at [[Hillsborough Center]] and moved to the Hancock Academy in [[Hancock, New Hampshire|Hancock]] at the age of 11; he was transferred to Francestown Academy in the spring of 1820. Friends recalled that just after he entered the school, he became homesick and returned home on foot. His father put him into a wagon, drove him halfway back to the academy, and left him at the roadside, never saying a word. The boy trudged the remaining 7 miles back to school. Later that year he was transferred to [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] to prepare for college. In fall 1820, he entered [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Brunswick, Maine]], where he participated in literary, political, and debating clubs.
There he met writer [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], with whom he formed a lasting friendship, and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]. He also met [[Calvin E. Stowe]], [[Seargent Smith Prentiss|Seargent S. Prentiss]], and his future political rival, [[John P. Hale]], when he joined the Athenian Society[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peucinian_Society], a group of students with progressive political leanings.
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 [[law school]] in [[Northampton, Massachusetts|Northampton]], [[Massachusetts]], studying under Governor [[Levi Woodbury]], and later Judges [[Samuel Howe]] and Edmund Parker, in [[Amherst, New Hampshire]].
[[Image:Jane Appleton Pierce.JPG|thumb|right|230px|[[Jane Appleton Pierce]]]]
He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] and began a law practice in [[Concord, New Hampshire]] in 1827.
==Early political career==
After graduating college, Pierce entered politics and rose to a central position in the Democratic party of New Hampshire and became a member of the Concord Regency leadership group. In 1828 he was elected to the [[lower house]] of the [[New Hampshire General Court]], the [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]]. He served in the State House from 1829 to 1833, and as [[Speaker of the House|Speaker]] 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 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[Twenty-third United States Congress|23rd]] and [[Twenty-third United States Congress|24th Congresses]] ([[March 4]], [[1833]] – [[March 4]], [[1837]]). He was only 27 years old, the youngest [[U.S. Representative]] at the time.
In 1836, he was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the [[United States Senate]], serving from [[March 4]], [[1837]], to [[February 28]], [[1842]], when he resigned. He was chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Pensions]] during the [[Twenty-sixth United States Congress|26th Congress]].
After his service in the Senate, Pierce resumed the practice of law in [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]] with his partner [[Asa Fowler]]. He was United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire from 1845 to 1847. He refused the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nomination for [[Governor of New Hampshire]] and also declined the appointment as [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General of the United States]] tendered by [[President of the United States|President]] [[James K. Polk]].
==Family==
On [[November 19]], [[1834]], Pierce married [[Jane Means Appleton]] (1806-63), the daughter of a former president of Bowdoin College. Appleton was Pierce's opposite. Born into an aristocratic [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] family, she was extremely shy, often ill, deeply religious, and pro-[[Temperance movement|temperance]]. They had three children who all died in childhood. Two of their children died very young 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. <ref>[http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/fpierce.html Franklin Pierce] from the [[Internet Public Library]] </ref>
[[Image:General Franklin Pierce.jpg|thumb|left|260px|[[Brigadier General]] Franklin Pierce]]
Jane was never happy with her husband's involvement in the political world. She hated life in [[Washington, D.C.]], and encouraged Pierce to resign his Senate seat and return to [[New Hampshire]], which he did in 1841. After the death of her last child, shortly before Pierce's inauguration, she was overcome with [[melancholia]] and she distanced herself during her husband's presidency. Pierce's personal life caused him a great deal of pain and he was known to many as being a heavy drinker.
'''Franklin Pierce, Jr.''' ([[February 2]], [[1836]] – [[February 5]], [[1836]]) died three days after birth.
'''Frank Robert Pierce''' ([[August 27]], [[1839]] – [[November 14]], [[1843]]) died at the age of four from [[epidemic typhus]].
'''Benjamin "Bennie" Pierce''' ([[April 13]], [[1841]] – [[January 16]], [[1853]]) died at the age of 11 in a tragic railway accident in [[Andover, Massachusetts]] which his parents witnessed, 1 month before the inauguration of his father.
==Mexican War==
He enlisted in the volunteer services during the [[Mexican-American War]] 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 [[Winfield Scott]]'s army marching on [[Mexico City]]. His brigade was designated the 1st Brigade in the newly created 3rd Division and joined Scott's army in time for the [[Battle of Contreras]]. 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 [[Battle of Churubusco]], 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 [[Battle for Mexico City|capture of Mexico City]]. Although he was a political appointee, he proved to have some skill as a military commander. He returned home and served as president of the New Hampshire State [[Constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]] in 1850.
==Election of 1852==
{{main|United States presidential election, 1852}}
[[Image:Scott vs Pierce campaign.jpg|thumb|right|350px|''The Game-cock & the Goose''<br>A [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] cartoon favoring Pierce's main opponent, [[Winfield Scott]].]]
At the Democratic National Convention of 1852, Pierce was not initially given serious consideration for the presidential nomination. He had no credentials as a major political figure or statesman, he was not a military hero, and had not held elective office for the last ten years. The convention assembled on [[June 12]] in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], with four major contenders—[[Stephen A. Douglas]], [[William L. Marcy]], [[James Buchanan]] and [[Lewis Cass]] — for the nomination. Most of those who had left the party with [[Martin Van Buren]] to form the [[Free Soil Party]] had returned. Prior to the vote to determine the nominee, a [[party platform]] was adopted, opposing any further "agitation" over the slavery issue and supporting the [[Compromise of 1850]] in an effort to unite the various Democratic Party factions.
When the balloting for president began, the four candidates deadlocked, with no candidate reaching even a simple majority, much less the required [[supermajority]] of two-thirds. On the 35th ballot, Pierce was put forth to break the deadlock as a compromise candidate. Pierce was generally popular due to his long career as a party activist and consistent support of Democratic positions. He had never fully articulated his views on slavery, allowing 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 [[war hero]]. Pierce was nominated unanimously on the 49th ballot on [[June 5]]. Alabama Senator [[William R. King]] was chosen as the nominee for [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]. [http://www.historycentral.com/elections/Conventions/1852DEM.html]
Pierce's opponent was the [[United States Whig Party]] candidate, [[General]] [[Winfield Scott]] of [[Virginia]], under whom Pierce served during the Mexican-American War, and his running mate, [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[William Alexander Graham|William A. Graham]]. Pierce easily prevailed as Scott — nicknamed '''Old Fuss and Feathers''' — ran a blundering campaign.
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 [[voter turnout]] in the election to its lowest percentage level since [[U.S. presidential election, 1836|1836]]. Pierce's likable personality and lack of strongly held positions helped him prevail over Scott, whose anti-slavery views hurt him in the South. Scott's strengh as a known war hero was countered by Pierce's service in the same war.
Pierce was also helped by [[Irish American|Irish Catholic]] support of the Democratic Party and disdain for the Whig Party.
[[Image:ElectoralCollege1852-Large.png|thumb|left|370px|Electoral map of the [[United States presidential election, 1852|1852 presidential election]].]]
The Democrats' slogan was "We Polked you in 1844; we shall Pierce you in 1852!" (a reference to the victory of [[James K. Polk]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1844|1844 election]]).<ref>[http://fs6.depauw.edu:50080/~jkochanczyk/president/pierce.html Franklin Pierce<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> This proved to be true, as Scott only won the states of [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Massachusetts]], and [[Vermont]]. 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. [[John P. Hale]], 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 [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] divided the Whigs, with the Northern Whigs deeply opposed. As a result, the Whigs splintered and most of their membership migrated to the [[nativism (politics)|nativist]] [[Know-Nothing movement|American Party Know-Nothings]], the [[Constitutional Union Party (United States)|Constitutional Union Party]], and the newly formed [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]].
At his inauguration, Pierce was the youngest President ever, age 48, a record he would keep until 46-year-old [[Ulysses S. Grant]] 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.
==Presidency 1853-1857==
[[Image:Frank-Pierce.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Franklin Pierce]]
[[Image:King the Vice President.jpg|thumb|Pierce's Vice President [[William R. King]] died a little over one month after his inauguration--as a result, Pierce had no Vice President during most of his term]]
===Beginnings===
Franklin Pierce assumed presidency at a time of relative tranquility and peace. The Compromise of 1850 seemed to have calmed the storm around the issue of slavery. When the issue suddenly resurfaced during his administration, however, Pierce did little to deal with it and the sectional fissures reopened.<ref>www.franklinpierce.org/</ref> 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 member saw the virtues of the qualities he possessed. Pierce served as U.S. President from [[March 4]], [[1853]], to [[March 4]], [[1857]]. Two months before he took office on [[January 6]], [[1853]], shortly after boarding a train in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], president-elect Pierce and his family were trapped in a [[Derailment|derailed]] car when it rolled over an [[Embankment (transportation)|embankment]] near [[Andover, Massachusetts]]. 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. 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 [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Abigail Fillmore]]'s death in March and that of [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[William R. King]]'s in April. As a result, Pierce chose to "[[Affirmation|affirm]]" his Oath of Office on a law book rather than the Bible. He is among a small number of Presidents who did not take the presidential oath on a Bible. (As an example,[[Theodore Roosevelt]] did not place his hand on anything at all). In his [[Inauguration Day|inaugural address]], Pierce 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 [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] 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 2008, 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.<ref>Brinkley, A. and Dyer, D. ''The American Presidency''.2004. Houghhton Mifflin Company.</ref>
Pierce aroused sectional apprehension when he pressured the [[United Kingdom]] to relinquish its special interests along part of the [[Central America]]n coast, and when he tried to persuade [[Spain]] to sell [[Cuba]] for $100 million (USD) because of the expansive sugar crop in Cuba.
The release of the [[Ostend Manifesto]], 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.
[[Image:Forcing Slavery Freesoilers Throats.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler''<br>An 1856 cartoon depicts a giant [[Free Soil Party|free soiler]] being held down by [[James Buchanan]] and [[Lewis Cass]] standing on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] platform marked "[[Kansas]]", "[[Cuba]]" and "[[Central America]]". President Pierce also holds down the giant's beard as [[Stephen A. Douglas]] shoves a black man down his throat.]]
But the most controversial event of Pierce's presidency was the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], which repealed the [[Missouri Compromise]] and reopened the question of slavery in the West. This measure, the handiwork of Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]], allegedly grew out of his desire to promote a railroad from [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]] to [[California]] through [[Nebraska]]. 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 with measures like the Compromise of 1850.
Secretary of War [[Jefferson Davis]], advocate of a southern transcontinental route, had persuaded Pierce to send [[James Gadsden]] to Mexico to buy land for a southern railroad. He purchased the area now comprising southern [[Arizona]] and part of southern New Mexico for $10 million (USD), commonly known as the [[Gadsden Purchase]]. 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 [[Jefferson Davis]] of his cabinet.
The passage of the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] brought about a sequence of events that developed into [[Bleeding Kansas]]. Pro-slavery [[Border Ruffians]], mostly from [[Missouri]], illegally voted in a government that Pierce recognized, and Pierce called the [[Topeka Constitution]], a [[shadow government]] set up by [[Free-Staters]] 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 [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]].
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 [[Abraham Lincoln]] 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 2008, 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 ''[[Kansas-Nebraska Act]]''.
[[Image:FrankP-mounted.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Portrait of Franklin Pierce as a [[General]] mounted on a horse.]]
===Administration and Cabinet===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Pierce
|President=Franklin Pierce
|President start=1853
|President end=1857
|Vice President=[[William R. King]]
|Vice President date=1853
|Vice President 2=''None''
|Vice President start 2=1853
|Vice President end 2=1857
|State=[[William L. Marcy]]
|State start=1853
|State end=1857
|War=[[Jefferson Davis]]
|War start=1853
|War end=1857
|Treasury=[[James Guthrie (American politician)|James Guthrie]]
|Treasury start=1853
|Treasury end=1857
|Justice=[[Caleb Cushing]]
|Justice start=1853
|Justice end=1857
|Post=[[James Campbell (Postmaster General)|James Campbell]]
|Post start=1853
|Post end=1857
|Navy=[[James C. Dobbin]]
|Navy start=1853
|Navy end=1857
|Interior=[[Robert McClelland (American politician)|Robert McClelland]]
|Interior start=1853
|Interior end=1857
}}
===Supreme Court appointments===
Pierce appointed the following Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
*'''[[John Archibald Campbell]]''' – 1853
===States admitted to the Union===
'''''none'''''
[[Image:franklin pierce stamp.JPG|thumb|right|Pierce postage stamp]]
==Later life==
After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce reportedly quipped "there's nothing left to do but get drunk" (quoted also as "after the [[White House]] 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, [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], although the former president had fallen so low that he was not asked to stand as a pallbearer at Hawthorne's funeral.
In 1863 during the aftermath of [[Battle of Vicksburg|Vicksburg]], Union Soldiers under General [[Hugh Ewing]]'s command captured Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]]' Fleetwood Plantation, and Ewing turned over Davis' personal correspondence to his brother-in-law [[William T. Sherman]].<ref name="Allen"> {{cite book
| last = Allen
| first = Felicity
| title = Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=56R_N48VhnkC&pg=PA359&dq=%22hugh+boyle+ewing%22&sig=t8eqwnpln_1odN8o7ByBzMonxG8#PPA360
| accessdate = 2007-11-23
| year = 1999
| publisher = University of Missouri Press
| isbn = 0826212190
| pages = 359-360
}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Allen" />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."<ref name="Allen" /> His reputation was destroyed. Even author [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] referred to him as "the archtraitor."<ref name="Allen" />
Franklin Pierce died in [[Concord, New Hampshire]] at 4:49 a.m. on [[October 8]], [[1869]] at 64 years old, from [[cirrhosis]] of the liver, stemming from his heavy drinking problem that he carried throughout his life, and was interred in the '''Minot Enclosure''' in the Old North Cemetery of Concord. Historically he is known as one of America's worst and most unproductive presidents.
==Legacy==
[[Image:Old north cemetery pierce.jpg|thumb|Pierce's tomb at the Old North Cemetery, Concord, NH]]Places named after President Pierce:
* [[Franklin Pierce University]] in [[Rindge, New Hampshire]].
* [[Franklin Pierce School District]], and [[Franklin Pierce High School|namesake high school]] in [[Parkland, Washington|Parkland]], [[Washington]]
* [[Pierce Elementary School]] in [[Flint, Michigan]].
* Franklin Pierce High School in the South Central Los Angeles
* Pierce County in [[Pierce County, Washington|Washington]], [[Pierce County, Nebraska|Nebraska]], [[Pierce County, Georgia|Georgia]], and [[Pierce County, Wisconsin|Wisconsin]] (But not in [[Pierce County, North Dakota|North Dakota]])
* [[Franklin Pierce Law Center]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]]
* Mt. Pierce in the [[Presidential Range]] of the [[White Mountains (New Hampshire)|White Mountains]], [[New Hampshire]]
*Pierce Street in downtown [[Amarillo, Texas]]
===In fiction===
*[[Hawkeye Pierce|Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce]] from ''[[M*A*S*H]]'' is named after [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[President of the United States|President]] Franklin Pierce. In one episode of the [[M*A*S*H (TV series)|''M*A*S*H'' television series]], his tentmate, [[B. J. Hunnicutt|B.J.]], 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 West Wing]]'', [[Ryan Pierce]], the nephew of a powerful Senator and Great-Great Grandson to Franklin Pierce, was a White House intern assigned to [[Josh Lyman]]. Franklin Pierce, however, never had any children live into adulthood. Additionally, the show's fictional President [[Josiah Bartlet]] is also from New Hampshire, though he does not share Pierce's affinity to the south, he is a fictional descendant of the real-life [[Josiah Bartlett]], who signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].
===Preserved home===
* [[Franklin Pierce Homestead]] now a New Hampshire [[state park]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Allen, Felicity. ''Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart.'' St. Louis, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. 1999. ISBN 0826212190.
*Brinkley, A. and Dyer, D. ''The American Presidency''.2004. Houghhton Mifflin Company.
* Gara, Larry, ''The Presidency of Franklin Pierce'' (1991), standard history of his administration
* Nichols; Roy Franklin. ''Franklin Pierce, Young Hickory of the Granite Hills'' (1931), standard biography
* Nichols; Roy Franklin.''The Democratic Machine, 1850-1854.'' Columbia University Press, 1923. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1112776 online version]
* Potter, David M, ''The Impending Crisis, 1848 - 1861''. New York, New York: Harper & Row, 1976. ISBN 0-06-013403-8.
* Taylor; Michael J.C. "Governing the Devil in Hell: 'Bleeding Kansas' and the Destruction of the Franklin Pierce Presidency (1854-1856)" ''White House Studies'', Vol. 1, 2001, pp 185-205
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/pierce Extensive essay on Franklin Pierce and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Franklin+Pierce | name=Franklin Pierce}}
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fp14.html White House biography]
*[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/pierce.htm Inaugural Address]
*[http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/fppf.html The Life of Franklin Pierce By Nathaniel Hawthorne]
*[http://www.piercemanse.org/ Pierce Manse]
*State of the Union: [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-1.html 1853], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-2.html 1854], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-3.html 1855], [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/pierce-4.html 1856]
*[http://www.failuremag.com/arch_history_franklin_pierce.html Franklin Pierce - 2004 article on the centennial of his birth ]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/pierce/mexico.html Franklin Pierce and His Services in the Valley of Mexico]
*[http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g14.htm The Health and Medical History of President: Franklin Pierce]
*[http://www.archive.org/details/lifegenfrank00bartrich ''The life of Gen. Frank. Pierce, of New Hampshire, the Democratic candidate for president of the United States '' by D.W. Barlett]
{{CongBio|P000333}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Brodhead (New Hampshire)|John Brodhead]]<br />[[Thomas Chandler (New Hampshire politician)|Thomas Chandler]]<br />[[Joseph Hammons]]<br />[[Joseph M. Harper]]<br />[[Henry Hubbard]]<br />[[John W. Weeks (New Hampshire)|John W. Weeks]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New Hampshire's At-large congressional district|New Hampshire's<br />At-large congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837|alongside=[[Benning M. Bean]],<br />[[Robert Burns (representative)|Robert Burns]], [[Joseph M. Harper]], [[Henry Hubbard]],<br />[[Samuel Cushman]], [[Joseph Weeks]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Senators from New Hampshire|Senator from New Hampshire (Class 3)]]|years=March 4, 1837 – February 28, 1842|alongside=[[Henry Hubbard]], [[Levi Woodbury]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leonard Wilcox]]}}
{{s-off}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the United States]]|years=March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Buchanan]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|Democratic Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1852|1852]]}}
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{{end}}
{{USpresidents}}
{{USDemPresNominees}}
{{USSenNH}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Pierce, Franklin
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=14th [[President of the United States]]
|DATE OF BIRTH={{birth date|1804|11|23|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Hillsborough, New Hampshire]]
|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1869|10|8|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Concord, New Hampshire]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Franklin}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1852]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:United States Senators from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:United States Army generals]]
[[Category:People of the Mexican-American War]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]]
[[Category:People from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from cirrhosis]]
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