Pierce, Franklin

Pierce, Franklin (1804–1869), fourteenth president (1853–1857) of the United States.Pierce was born and reared in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin, a Revolutionary War general and later governor of New Hampshire, influenced his son toward a career in Democratic party politics. After graduating from Bowdoin College, Pierce read law with several jurists and joined the bar in 1827. He first entered politics as a representative in the state legislature, then in 1833 became one of the youngest members of the U.S. House of Representatives. A fervent supporter of Andrew Jackson, Pierce fully embraced the Democratic creed of small government and states' rights. In 1837 he won election to the U.S. Senate. His unexpected nomination as the presidential candidate of a divided Democratic party in 1852, coming on the forty‐ninth ballot, made him the first “dark‐horse candidate” in American history. He defeated the Whig party candidate, General Winfield Scott (1786–1866).

Pierce's presidential significance lies primarily in his failure to achieve the sectional harmony he hoped for. He supported the 1854 Kansas‐Nebraska Act, believing that southerners should be allowed to take their slaves wherever they wished, and hoping that leaving the slavery issue to local decision‐making would end sectional friction. In fact, most of his presidency was preoccupied with the fierce and sometimes violent conflict between proslavery and antislavery settlers in Kansas. Criticizing the newly formed Republican party as disruptive and sectionalist, Pierce struck most northerners as a “doughface”: a northerner who favored southern interests. An expansionist, he tried without success to buy Cuba from Spain, but by means of the Gadsden Purchase (1853) he did acquire a sliver of land from Mexico for a southern railroad line. Overall, Franklin Pierce represents that group of northern Democrats sympathetic to southern positions but whose efforts at sectional compromise proved unsuccessful. As president, he exemplified passive, mid‐nineteenth‐century chief executives during a time of congressional domination.
See also Antebellum Era; Buchanan, James; Civil War: Causes; Douglas, Stephen A.; Expansionism; Federal Government, Executive Branch: The Presidency; Railroads.

Bibliography

Roy Nichols , Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills, 1931.
Larry Gara , The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. 1991.

Jean Harvey Baker