The Life of Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) served his country during one of the most tumultuous periods of American history. Born in Hillsborough in 1804, he was the son of Benjamin Pierce and Anna Kendrick. During Franklin Pierce's formative years the Homestead served as a gathering place for the great philosophers, politicians, and writers of the era. At his father's knee he learned of the great war for American Independence, and what the nation's liberty had cost. Young Franklin's childhood surroundings formed the man who would become the only U.S. President from New Hampshire.
Pierce studied at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he established a life-long friendship with writer Nathaniel Hawthorn. After graduating 3rd in his class in 1824, Pierce followed his father into public service. He was first elected to the State Legislature in 1828. Two years later, Pierce was sent to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served five terms before being elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of 37. Four years later, he retired to Concord to practice law. As an attorney Pierce gained fame and it was said that it would have been fair to have 12 lawyers oppose a man of such talent.
In 1834 he married Jane Means Appleton of Amherst, N.H. Their first child, Franklin Jr. born in 1836, lived only 3 days. Their second son, Franky, born three years later, would die in 1843 of typhus.
Bennie, the Pierce's third son was born in 1841. In 1846 Pierce turned down both a nomination for Governor, and a cabinet position from President Polk. Only the Mexican War stirred him to leave his private life. After enlisting in the army as a private, he was promoted to Colonel, and then to General.
He was again called to serve his country in 1852, during a deadlock on the floor of the Democratic Convention. None of the four candidates, including James Buchanan and Stephen A. Douglas, were able to win enough votes to gain the presidential nomination. After 34 ballots, delegates from Virginia introduced Franklin Pierce's name in hopes of breaking the deadlock. The Convention quickly embraced the nomination, which Pierce quietly accepted. The election of 1852 focused on few issues, for it was believed that the Compromise of 1850 had settled the question of slavery. While Pierce favored the Compromise, it was his support of the Fugitive Slave Law that won him the South's votes, and an impressive electoral victory.
At age 48 he was the youngest President yet elected. As Pierce traveled to Washington with his family, young Bennie was killed before his parents' eyes in a train accident. So grieved was Jane Pierce that she was not seen in public for the next two years and refused to attend her husband's inauguration. She became known as the "Shadow of the White House." Bennie's death indeed cast a shadow over Pierce himself, as he went on to face the problems that divided his nation.
In the South, fears were high that the western territories would enter the Union as "free" states, giving the North a political advantage. In the North, hatred against European immigrants flared as Pierce defended their rights under the Constitution. But it was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers to choose whether or not to allow slavery, that would shatter the nation's stability. Pierce stood by his party and supported the bill, believing it to be in the spirit of the Constitution. The result was a rush of both sides to Kansas, where armed conflict soon erupted. Coming off his enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, Pierce was again blamed for the bloodshed. He saw that he could not for a second term, and left for several years in Europe shortly after his term ended.
His tenure had seen economic growth and expansion, including the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 and the ratification of the first commercial treaty with Japan. Yet, Pierce had been unable to reconcile the social rift that would end in civil war. He had left New Hampshire a hero in 1853. He returned in silence. Franklin Pierce died on October 8, 1869, five years after his wife, Jane. In an early speech Pierce made it clear that in the face of turmoil, he would not abandon his fervent belief in the Constitution, and his desire to preserve the Union, despite the consequences. "Some men are so constituted that they do not incline to bend before a storm." |
