FRANKLIN PIERCE
Biography
When Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President of the United States in 1853, he was 48 years old. Young Hickory of the Granite Hills, as he was called (Andrew Jackson was called Old Hickory), had been a general in the Mexican War, a successful lawyer, a congressman, and a senator. As president he was faced with a crisis over slavery that brought on a war in Kansas and gave the territory the name “bleeding Kansas.”
Early Years
In 1820 Pierce entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. There he began a lifelong friendship with one of his classmates, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was later to become a famous author. Pierce's carefree and irresponsible attitude toward his studies soon carried him to the bottom of his class, though he became a favorite among the students. However, after applying himself to his studies, he graduated fifth from the top of his class in 1824. He then studied law and in 1827 was admitted to the bar.
That same year his father became governor of New Hampshire. Pierce now began to take an active part in state politics as a member of the Jacksonian (later the Democratic) Party. He entered the state legislature in 1829. In 1833 he was elected to Congress. He remained in Congress for 4 years, loyally supporting President Andrew Jackson's political program. In 1837 New Hampshire sent Pierce to the United States Senate. At the age of 33 he was the youngest member of the Senate.
On November 19, 1834, Pierce married Jane Means Appleton (1806-63), daughter of a former president of Bowdoin College. The Appletons, an aristocratic New England family, did not approve of Jane's match with the young Democrat from the backcountry. Mrs. Pierce found life in Washington, D.C., so distasteful that her husband agreed to abandon his political career. He resigned his Senate seat in 1842 and returned to Concord to practice law.
The Mexican War
When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, Pierce enlisted as a private in the Concord Light Infantry. He was soon appointed a colonel and then a brigadier general of volunteers. In June, 1847, he arrived in Mexico and led his 2,500 men inland. At the battle of Churubusco, Pierce suffered a painful leg injury when his horse reared and fell. The next day, while again advancing into battle, he wrenched the injured leg so sharply that he fainted from the pain and was unable to take an active part in the fighting. In later years his political enemies twisted this incident into a charge that he had been cowardly under fire. Pierce remained in the field until the capture of Mexico City in September, 1847. Then he returned to his law practice at Concord.
Presidential Candidate
In the years that followed, Pierce's friendliness, kindness, and concern for people gained him increasing political popularity. His growing law practice brought him wealth. And his military career, though rather frustrating to him because of his accident on the Churubusco battlefield, had made him a local hero
Thus, in 1851 many New England Democrats turned to Pierce as a presidential prospect. Few expected that he could be nominated. But some thought that he might have a chance if the Democratic convention came to a deadlock between the more prominent leaders—Lewis Cass, William L. Marcy, Stephen A. Douglas, and James Buchanan. When such a deadlock did arise, Pierce's friends introduced his name, and the tired delegates nominated him on the 49th ballot. William R. D. King (1786-1853) of Alabama became Pierce's running mate. Mrs. Pierce, horrified that she might have to return to Washington, fainted upon hearing the news. Pierce's son, Benjamin, now 11 years old, said: “I hope he won't be elected.”
In the campaign of 1852 Pierce ran against his former army commander, General Winfield Scott, the Whig Party candidate. Pierce promised, if elected, to respect the rights of the states and to conduct a vigorous foreign policy. His friendliness, simplicity, and ease in meeting people gained him many votes. He had the knack of remembering the name and face of nearly everyone he met. But his desire to please led him to make promises he could not always fulfill.
President
Pierce won the election, carrying all but four states. He received 1,601,117 popular votes to 1,385,453 for Scott and 254 Electoral votes to Scott's 42.
But a personal tragedy soon dimmed Pierce's joy over his victory. On January 6, 1853, during a family trip, the Pierces were in a train wreck. President-elect and Mrs. Pierce were uninjured, but Benjamin was killed. It was a terrible blow to the parents. Mrs. Pierce, completely overcome, lived in seclusion at the White House. She came to believe that her son's life had been the price of her husband's victory. Pierce had to bear his wife's bitter accusations, as well as his own grief, at the very moment when he most needed strength and confidence.
Pierce invited into his cabinet well-meaning men without much experience. The only prominent Democrats to serve were William L. Marcy (1786-1857), as secretary of state, and Jefferson Davis, as secretary of war. These men held different political views, and people predicted that the Cabinet would soon break up. But Pierce's Cabinet proved to be the first in U.S. history to remain unchanged throughout an entire 4-year term.
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill
Pierce's term was marked by bitter debate over the expansion of slavery. His hopes to quiet this debate received a setback when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was introduced in January, 1854. The bill proposed to create two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and to allow settlers there to decide whether or not to allow slavery. Pierce was not enthusiastic. But he promised to support the bill in return for Senate support of his political appointments and foreign policy. The bill brought on a violent debate about slavery. The prospect of slavery in Kansas split the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern wings and gave birth to the Republican Party. The bill became law later in 1854, and supporters and opponents of slavery rushed to Kansas. They fought for control of the territory throughout Pierce's administration.
Foreign Affairs
In 1853, Pierce acquired from Mexico the region known as the Gadsden Purchase. This included parts of present-day Arizona and New Mexico. This following year he signed a treaty with Britain by which the United States gave trade privileges to Canada in exchange for certain fishing rights.
Pierce hoped that the United States would acquire Cuba from Spain. He told the U.S. ministers in Europe to draft a plan for obtaining the island. Their proposal was called the Ostend Manifesto, after the city in Belgium where they met. The ministers recommended purchasing Cuba but hinted that if Spain refused to sell, the United States might be justified in seizing the island.
The premature publication of the manifesto caused an uproar. Northerners objected strongly to adding any new slave territory. And Spain was insulted and refused to sell the island. Pierce later tried to acquire Hawaii and Alaska, also without success.
The most far-reaching diplomatic event of Pierce's term was the opening of Japan to Western trade. In 1853 a U.S. naval squadron under Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan. The Treaty of Kanagawa, signed in 1854, opened two Japanese ports to U.S. ships. Treaties between Japan and other Western nations soon followed.
Pierce hoped for renomination in 1856. But largely because of the difficulties in Kansas, the Democrats instead chose James Buchanan. After leaving the White House, the Pierces toured Europe. Franklin Pierce died in Concord on October 8, 1869. He is buried there.
Philip S. Klein
Author, President James Buchanan, A Biography