He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833, before being elected to the Senate where he served from March 1837 until his resignation in 1842. His private law practice was a success, and he was appointed New Hampshire's U.S. Attorney in 1845. He took part in the Mexican–American War as a brigadier general in the Army.
 · Born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce was the son of Benjamin Pierce, a hero of the American Revolution who was twice elected governor of New Hampshire. The...
The son of a governor of New Hampshire, Benjamin Pierce, and the former Anna Kendrick, Franklin Pierce attended Bowdoin College in Maine, studied law in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He married Jane Means Appleton, whose father was president of Bowdoin, in 1834. Pierce entered political life in
 · Franklin Pierce was elected to the United States Senate in 1837. After resigning in 1842, Pierce joined the temperance movement and worked as an attorney, before going off to fight under General...
Franklin Pierce was born at Hillsboro, N.H., on Nov. 23, 1804. A Bowdoin graduate, lawyer, and Jacksonian Democrat, he won rapid political advancement in the party, in part because of the prestige of his father, Gov. Benjamin Pierce. By 1831 he was Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives; from 1833 to 1837, he served in the ...
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Franklin Pierce became 14th President of the United States at a time of apparent tranquility (1853-1857). By pursuing the recommendations of southern advisers, Pierce — a New Englander — hoped to ease the divisions that led eventually to Civil War. Franklin Pierce became President at a time of apparent tranquility.
Top 10 Facts About Franklin Pierceof 10. Son of a Politician. ... of 10. State and Federal Legislator. ... of 10. Fought in the Mexican-American War. ... of 10. Was an Alcoholic President. ... of 10. Defeated His Old Commander During the Election of 1852. ... of 10. Criticized for the Ostend Manifesto. ... of 10. ... of 10.More items...•
An attempt to buy Cuba from Spain failed and the Ostend Manifesto (1854), drawn up by three of Pierce's diplomatic ministers (including James Buchanan), suggested taking the island by force.
Pierce claimed to abhor slavery, yet he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Southerners' position as to their constitutional right to expand slavery into the territories.
It became law on May 30, 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway the vote.
United States Mint Launches Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 Coin in Honor of New Hampshire's Favorite Son | U.S. Mint.
The youngest to become president by election was John F. Kennedy, who was inaugurated at age 43. The oldest person to assume the presidency was Joe Biden, who took the presidential oath of office 61 days after turning 78. Assassinated at age 46, John F.
More of our country's presidents come from Ohio than from any other state. Eight of 44 American presidents were elected from the Buckeye State, earning Ohio the nickname "the Mother of Presidents."
The U.S. simply wanted to ensure that control did not pass to a stronger power such as Britain or France. Cuba was of special importance to Southern Democrats, who believed their economic and political interests would be best served by the admission of another slave state to the Union.
Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the land that would become the Kansas and Nebraska Territories had to be "free states" where slavery would not be permitted.
The United States watched with interest as Cuba struggled for independence. The United States had millions of dollars invested in businesses in Cuba and there were many U.S. citizens in residence there. The U.S. also traded goods with Cuba.
The Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, was chartered in 1962. The University of New Hampshire School of Law was founded in 1973 as the Franklin Pierce Law Center. When the school was renamed in 2010, a Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property was established.
The Franklin Pierce Homestead in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, where Pierce grew up, is now a National Historic Landmark. He was born in a nearby log cabin as the homestead was being completed.
Several institutions and places have been named after Pierce, many in New Hampshire: 1 The Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, was chartered in 1962. 2 The University of New Hampshire School of Law was founded in 1973 as the Franklin Pierce Law Center. When the school was renamed in 2010, a Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property was established. 3 There is a Mt. Pierce in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire's White Mountains, renamed from Mt. Clinton in 1913. 4 The small town of Pierceton, Indiana, was founded in the 1850s and honors President Pierce. 5 Pierce County, Washington, the second most populous county in the state, is named in honor of President Pierce. 6 Pierce County, Georgia, established in 1857 is also named in honor of President Pierce.
Their last surviving son was killed in a train accident while the family was traveling, shortly before Pierce's inauguration. A heavy drinker for much of his life, Pierce died in 1869 of cirrhosis of the liver. Historians and scholars generally rank Pierce as one of the worst and least memorable U.S. presidents .
presidents to resolve the issue, but this suggestion was not acted on. "I will never justify, sustain or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless, unnecessary war, " Pierce wrote to his wife. Pierce publicly opposed President Lincoln's order suspending the writ of habeas corpus, arguing that even in a time of war, the country should not abandon its protection of civil liberties. This stand won him admirers with the emerging Northern Peace Democrats, but others saw the stand as further evidence of Pierce's southern bias.
Several institutions and places have been named after Pierce, many in New Hampshire: The Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, was chartered in 1962.
Pierce County, Washington, the second most populous county in the state, is named in honor of President Pierce. Pierce County, Georgia, established in 1857 is also named in honor of President Pierce.
The son of a governor of New Hampshire, Benjamin Pierce, and the former Anna Kendrick, Franklin Pierce attended Bow doin College in Maine, studied law in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He married Jane Means Appleton, whose father was president of Bowdoin, in 1834.
Pierce entered political life in New Hampshire as a Democrat, serving in the state legislature (1829–33), the U.S. House of Representatives (1833–37), and the Senate (1837–42). Handsome, affable, charming, and possessed of a certain superficial brilliance, Pierce made many friends in Congress, but his career there was otherwise undistinguished.
Representing the Eastern element of the Democratic Party, which was inclined for the sake of harmony and business prosperity to oppose antislavery agitation and generally to placate Southern opinion, Pierce tried to promote sectional unity by filling his cabinet with extremists from both sides of the slavery debate. He also attempted to sidestep the fierce sectional antagonisms of the domestic scene by ambitiously and aggressively promoting the extension of U.S. territorial and commercial interests abroad. In an effort to buy the island of Cuba from Spain, he ordered the U.S. minister to Spain, Pierre Soulé, to try to secure the influence of European financiers on the Spanish government. The resulting diplomatic statement, the Ostend Manifesto (October 1854), was interpreted by the American public as a call to wrest Cuba from Spain by force if necessary. The ensuing controversy forced the administration to disclaim responsibility for the document and to recall Soulé. In 1855 an American adventurer, William Walker, conducted a notorious expedition into Central America with the hope of establishing a proslavery government under the control of the United States. In Nicaragua he established himself as military dictator and then as president, and his dubious regime was recognized by the Pierce administration. A more lasting diplomatic achievement came from the expedition that Pres. Millard Fillmore had sent to Japan in 1853 under Commodore Matthew C. Perry. In 1854 Pierce received Perry’s report that his expedition had been successful and that U.S. ships would have limited access to Japanese ports. The Pierce administration also reorganized the diplomatic and consular service and created the United States Court of Claims.
See all videos for this article. Franklin Pierce, byname Young Hickory, (born November 23, 1804, Hillsboro, New Hampshire, U.S.—died October 8, 1869, Concord, New Hampshire), 14th president of the United States (1853–57). He failed to deal effectively with the corroding sectional controversy over slavery in the decade preceding ...
The resulting diplomatic statement, the Ostend Manifesto (October 1854), was interpreted by the American public as a call to wrest Cuba from Spain by force if necessary. The ensuing controversy forced the administration to disclaim responsibility for the document and to recall Soulé.
This measure, which opened two new territories for settlement, included repe al of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (by which slavery in the territories was prohibited north of latitude 36° 30′) and provided that the status of the territories as “free” or “slave” would be decided by popular sovereignty.
Jefferson Davis: Early life and career. Franklin Pierce made him secretary of war in 1853. Davis enlarged the army, strengthened coastal defenses, and directed three surveys for railroads to the Pacific. He was also a forceful advocate for what became the Gadsden Purchase.….
Early Life and Political Career. Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President, was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin, was an American Revolutionary War hero who held some political prowess in the family's rural town. His mother, Anna Kendrick Pierce, had eight children, whose education she made her top ...
After developing a dependency on alcohol, he decided it was time to settle down. In 1834, he married a shy religious woman named Jane Means Appleton, who supported the temperance movement.
Nearing the end of his life and fading quickly into obscurity, Pierce took up drinking again. He died on October 8, 1869, in Concord, New Hampshire.
Franklin Pierce. Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas' slavery status.
Back in New Hampshire, Pierce became the leader of the state's Democratic Party. As the presidential election of 1852 approached, the Democratic Party sought a candidate who was a pro-slavery Northerner—to attract voters on both sides of the slavery issue. Based on that agenda, Pierce made the ideal candidate, even if it meant that he had to run against his former commander, General Scott of the Whig Party. After a deadlock, Pierce was elected president, but the joy of his victory was soon eclipsed by the death of one of his sons, caused by a train accident.
In 1847, Pierce, by then a brigadier general, led an expedition to invade the Mexican shores of Veracruz under General Winfield Scott.
Franklin Pierce was born to Benjamin and Anna Kendrick Pierce on November 23, 1804, in New Hampshire. He was the fifth of the eight children born in the family. His father was a revered politician and governor of New Hampshire.
Pierce married his wife Jane Appleton on November 19, 1834. The couple got three children, two died in their infancy. The third died at the age of eleven. Unlike Pierce, Jane was shy, religious and constantly ailing. She kept away from the public.
Born on November 23, 1804, Franklin Pierce, though by no means wealthy, had more advantages than most young boys in rural New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had led the local militia to victories in the American Revolution, and as a result, he enjoyed a status in the area of Hillsborough that gave him influence in local politics.
While at Bowdoin, Pierce had honed his public speaking, which made him a natural for the legal profession. In 1829, he was elected to the state legislature, two years after his father won election to the governorship. Attractive and well-connected, the popular Pierce was chosen Speaker of the House in 1831. Both Franklin Pierce and his father were fervent supporters of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, whose modest origins and country manners inspired great affection from farmers and the working class. Both men rejoiced when "Old Hickory" was elected President in 1828. Jacksonian Democrats were the rising party and in 1832, in the same election that gave Old Hickory his second term, Franklin Pierce—still not thirty years old—was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he voted the Democratic Party line on nearly all issues.
He helped enlist men into the New Hampshire Volunteers and was himself a private. Using his connections, he appealed to President James Polk for a commission. The President repaid Pierce's old campaign favors. By the time the force sailed for the Mexican shores of Veracruz in mid-1847, Pierce was a brigadier general commanding over two thousand men, though he had no military experience whatsoever.
Franklin Pierce was inaugurated as president on March 4 , 1853 despite the tragedy that his family had encountered a few months prior. It was a derailed train accident that occurred in January of the same year which resulted in the death of their son, Benjamin, and the seclusion of his wife, Jane Pierce, from any political involvement.
Franklin Pierce was not nominated again to run for presidency by the Democratic Party thus ending his term by 1857. He left the White House with a lot of criticism and was even regarded by some people as one of the least effective presidents in the history of the United States government.
The inclusion of Franklin Pierce in the list of nominees which was intended to break the ties between the other candidates that made him become the representative of the party for the national elections in 1852.
Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in a log cabin in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He was a sixth-generation descendant of Thomas Pierce, who had moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Norwich, Norfolk, England in about 1634. His father Benjamin was a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War who moved from Chelmsford, Massachusettsto Hillsborough after the war…
In addition to his LL.D. from Norwich University, Pierce received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College (1853) and Dartmouth College (1860).
Two places in New Hampshire have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places specifically because of their association with Pierce. The Franklin Pierce Homestead in Hillsborough is a state park and a National Historic Landmark, open to the public. The Franklin Pi…