Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was an American politician and the 14th President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. Pierce was a Democrat and the first president to be born in the 19th century. He was a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Later, Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War, becoming a brigadier general. His private law practice in his home state of New Hampshire was so successful that he turned down several important positions. Later, he was nominated for president as a "dark horse" candidate on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King won in a landslide, beating Winfield Scott by a 50 to 44 percent margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote. He became the youngest president up until that time.

Early life

Pierce was born in 1804 in a log cabin near Hillsborough, New Hampshire, part of the Transcendental Generation. The site of his birth is now under Lake Franklin Pierce. Pierce's father was Benjamin Pierce, a frontier farmer who became a Revolutionary War soldier, state militia general, and two-time governor of New Hampshire. His mother was Anna Kendrick. Pierce had six older and two younger siblings, four brothers and three sisters.

Related Topics:
Log cabin - Hillsborough - New Hampshire - Transcendental Generation - Lake Franklin Pierce - Benjamin Pierce - Revolutionary War - Governor of New Hampshire

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Pierce attended school at Hillsborough Center and moved to the Hancock Academy in Hancock at the age of 11; he was transferred to Francestown Academy in spring 1820. Later that year he was transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy to prepare for college and later that year entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he participated in literary, political, and debating clubs. There he met writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he formed a lasting friendship, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also met Calvin E. Stowe, Sargent S. Prentiss, and his future political rival John P. Hale.

Related Topics:
Hillsborough Center - Hancock - 1820 - Phillips Exeter Academy - Bowdoin College - Brunswick - Maine - Nathaniel Hawthorne - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Calvin E. Stowe - Sargent S. Prentiss - John P. Hale

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In his second year of college, his grades were the lowest in his class; he changed his habits and graduated in 1824 third in his class. After graduation, in 1826 he entered a law school in Northampton, Massachusetts, studying under Governor Levi Woodbury and later Judges Samuel Howe and Edmund Parker in Amherst, New Hampshire.

Related Topics:
1824 - 1826 - Law school - Northampton - Massachusetts - Levi Woodbury - Samuel Howe - Edmund Parker - Amherst

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He was admitted to the bar and began a law practice in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1827.

Related Topics:
Bar - Concord - 1827

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