Origins
Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, the sixth of eight children in a family deeply rooted in New England political life. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had served as a Revolutionary War soldier and twice as governor of New Hampshire, providing young Franklin with early exposure to Democratic-Republican politics and public service. Pierce attended Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 1824, where he formed lasting friendships with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Following graduation, he studied law and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1827, establishing a practice that would serve as his professional foundation throughout his career.
Pierce’s political ascent proved remarkably swift. Elected to the New Hampshire legislature at twenty-four, he became its speaker by 1831. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837 and in the Senate from 1837 to 1842, becoming the youngest senator at the time of his election. Pierce resigned from the Senate, partly due to his wife Jane Appleton Pierce’s discomfort with Washington society and his own struggles with alcohol. He served as a brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, though his military record drew mixed assessments. The 1852 Democratic National Convention, deadlocked between prominent candidates, turned to Pierce as a compromise “dark horse” nominee on the forty-ninth ballot. His victory over Whig candidate Winfield Scott marked the beginning of Whig Party disintegration.
Presidency
Pierce’s domestic agenda centered on territorial expansion and attempting to maintain sectional harmony, though his policies ultimately exacerbated national divisions. His support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and established popular sovereignty in the territories, proved catastrophically divisive. The legislation sparked violent conflict in Kansas between pro-slavery and free-soil settlers, a period known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Pierce’s administration recognized the fraudulently elected pro-slavery government at Lecompte, alienating northern Democrats and contributing to the formation of the Republican Party. His enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act and federal intervention in the Anthony Burns case further inflamed sectional tensions. Economic matters received less attention, though the administration completed the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, acquiring territory from Mexico for a potential southern transcontinental railroad route.
In foreign affairs, Pierce pursued aggressive expansionism consistent with Manifest Destiny ideology. His administration attempted to acquire Cuba from Spain, culminating in the Ostend Manifesto of 1854, a diplomatic dispatch suggesting the United States might seize Cuba if Spain refused to sell. When the document became public, international outcry forced Pierce to repudiate it, embarrassing his administration. More successfully, Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to Japan, initiated under Fillmore, concluded with the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854, opening Japanese ports to American trade. Pierce also negotiated the Canadian Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, facilitating trade with British North America, and his administration resolved the Black Warrior affair with Spain without military conflict.
Historical Significance
Pierce left office in March 1857 with the nation more divided than when he entered. His Kansas policies had transformed territorial governance into armed conflict, and his party refused him renomination—making him the only elected president denied his party’s nomination for a second term. His successor, James Buchanan, inherited an increasingly ungovernable situation that would culminate in secession four years later. Pierce continued supporting Democratic causes and criticizing Republican policies, including Lincoln’s conduct of the Civil War, which further damaged his reputation in the North.
Historical assessments of Pierce have been consistently unfavorable. Scholars generally rank him among the least effective presidents, citing his inability to manage sectional conflict and his policies that accelerated the path toward Civil War. Some historians argue Pierce faced impossible circumstances, noting that no president could have reconciled slavery’s expansion with northern free-soil sentiment. However, most contend that his active support for pro-slavery positions, rather than neutral administration of the law, worsened divisions unnecessarily. His presidency illustrates the limitations of “doughface” politicians—northern men with southern sympathies—in addressing the fundamental question of slavery’s future in American society.
Key Developments
- November 23, 1804: Born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire
- November 19, 1834: Married Jane Means Appleton in Amherst, New Hampshire
- March 4, 1837: Began service in the United States Senate
- 1847-1848: Served as brigadier general during the Mexican-American War
- June 5, 1852: Nominated for president at Democratic National Convention
- January 6, 1853: Son Benjamin killed in train accident, witnessed by both parents
- March 4, 1853: Inaugurated as fourteenth president
- December 30, 1853: Gadsden Purchase treaty signed with Mexico
- May 30, 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act signed into law
- March 31, 1854: Treaty of Kanagawa concluded with Japan
- October 18, 1854: Ostend Manifesto drafted by American diplomats
- March 4, 1857: Left office, succeeded by James Buchanan
- October 8, 1869: Died in Concord, New Hampshire