- 14th United States President, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator. Franklin Pierce served as the United States President for one term, from 1853 to 1857. He was born the son of Anna Kendrick and Benjamin Pierce, former governor of New Hampshire. He attended a small-town school in Hillsborough, which was a 12-mile walk one way. Later, he transferred to Philip Exeter Academy in preparation to attend Bowdoin College in Maine. His social activities often overrode his interest in his educational pursuits, but he did graduate 5th in his class. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1827. In 1834, he married Jane Means Appleton, whose father was president of Bowdoin College. Like his father, he had an interest in politics. In 1829, he was a supporter of Andrew Jackson for United States President. His political career started with him being a candidate for town moderate, an office that for six straight years, he held. As a Democrat, his career continued, serving in the state legislature as the Speaker of the House from 1829 to 1833; the United States House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837; and United States Senate from 1837 to 1842. For personal reasons, he resigned from his Senate seat, returning to his law practice and serving as a judge. Being overshadowed by older, more experienced politicians, his early career was without any notice. During the American-Mexican War from 1846 to 1848, he served as a Brigadier General over two thousand men, yet his service is considered mundane. Pierce had no military experience prior to the war, the commission was given to him by President James Polk, and saw it as an opportunity to advance himself politically. In 1852 at the Democratic Party convention, the nomination of candidacy for the office of United States President was at a deadlock, but on the 49th ballot, Franklin Pierce was nominated as a candidate for the office. His wife, who was not supportive with his political endeavors, fainted upon hearing of his candidacy. One of the main subjects that was to be address during Pierce's presidency was slavery. Senator Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850 gave a balance between free and slave states and to satisfy both proslavery and antislavery force. Although he believed slavery was morally wrong, Pierce feared the Southern slave states would leave the Union if slavery was abolished. With 254 votes to 42 in the electoral college, he defeated with a landslide victory the Whig Party Candidate, American-Mexican War General Winfield Scott. He and his wife had three sons, but two had died early, one shortly after birth and the second at age of four. His youngest son, "Bennie" was killed at the age of eleven in a horrifying train accident on January 6, 1853. He and his wife, who were on the train, witnessed their son's death. Grief-stricken, Pierce entered the Presidency physically and emotionally exhausted. For affirming the oath of office on March 4, 1853, he chose to use a law book instead of the traditional swearing on a Bible. He was the first president to recite from memory his inaugural address. With his household still in mourning, there was no inaugural ball and his wife joined him at the White House a month later. Tribulations continued to come to the White House with the deaths of former President Millard Fillmore's wife and after serving only 45 days in office, Vice President William Rufus King at the age of 42 from tuberculosis. At the time of his election, he is among the youngest at the age of 47 to hold the office of president. His cabinet was diverse with members from the antislavery North as well as members from the slave-holding South, including Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. Slavery was the main subject of Pierce's administration as well as building a transcontinental railroad. In 1854, Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, created two new territories, reopened the question of slavery in the West, and allowed for popular sovereignty. This was legislature written to make peace, yet it eventually caused violence for several years in Kansas between slave owners and antislavery supporters or the "Bleeding of Kansas". This became his downfall. The railroad would be directed north through Nebraska, upsetting his Southern colleagues, thus the government purchased land for a southern route. He spoke at the first World's Fair in the United States. An accomplishment of his administration was sending former U.S. President Millard Fillmore and Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan in 1853 to ensure United States ships would have a limited access to Japanese ports with the Treaty of Kanagawa. Other foreign affairs were not as successful. There was an attempt to purchase Cuba from Spain, but this failed. In 1856, the Pierce administration recognized the notorious American explorer William Walker's government in Nicaragua. At the end of his 4-year term, Pierce, who sought renomination, was rejected by the Democrats, and he remains the only president to be rejected for renomination by his party. After leaving the White House, he and his sickly wife had a tour of the warm climate of the West Indies as a remedy before retiring to his Concord cottage. His wife died of tuberculosis in 1863. Politically, he was a long-time critic of President Abraham Lincoln. When he did not make a public statement upon the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, an angry mob gathered outside his house forcing from him a simple statement of sympathy. A heavy drinker of alcohol, he died of cirrhosis of the liver. President Ulysses S. Grant declared a day of mourning upon his death. Pierce County, Georgia, Pierce County, Washington (home of Tacoma) and Pierce County, Wisconsin is named after him along with several institutions and places within the United States.
Bio by: Linda Davis [3]
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The Duttons of New England
1804 - 1869 (64 years)
Has 6 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.
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