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.

Political career

Pierce began his political career in 1828, when he was elected to the lower house of the New Hampshire General Court, the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He served in the House from 1829 to 1833, and as Speaker from 1832 to 1833. Pierce was elected as a Democrat to the 23rd and 24th Congresses(March 4, 1833–March 3, 1837). At the time he was only 27 years old, the youngest representative at the time.

Related Topics:
1828 - Lower house - New Hampshire General Court - New Hampshire House of Representatives - 1829 - 1833 - Speaker - 1832 - 23rd - March 4 - March 3 - 1837

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He was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the United States Senate, serving from March 4, 1837, to February 28, 1842, when he resigned. He was chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Pensions during the 26th Congress.

Related Topics:
March 4 - 1837 - February 28 - 1842 - U.S. Senate Committee on Pensions - 26th Congress

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After his service in the Senate, Pierce resumed the practice of law in Concord. He was district attorney for New Hampshire, and declined the appointment as Attorney General of the United States tendered by President James Polk. He served in the Mexican-American War as a colonel and brigadier general. He was a member of the New Hampshire State constitutional convention in 1850 and served as its president.

Related Topics:
Concord - Attorney General of the United States - James Polk - Mexican-American War - Constitutional convention - 1850

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On November 19, 1834, Pierce married Jane Means Appleton, the daughter of a former president of Bowdoin College. Appleton, who was born in 1806 and died in 1863, was Pierce's opposite. She came from a aristocratic Whig family, and was extremely shy, deeply religious, often ill, and pro-temperance. Mrs. Pierce hated life in Washington, D.C., and encouraged Pierce to resign his Senate seat and return to New Hampshire, which he did in 1841. They had three children. Two died in childhood—Franklin Pierce, Jr. (1836) in infancy and Frank Robert Pierce (1839–1843) at the age of four from epidemic typhus. Benjamin "Bennie" Pierce (1841–1853) died in a tragic railway accident at the age of 12.

Related Topics:
November 19 - 1834 - 1806 - 1863 - Whig - Temperance - Washington, D.C. - 1841 - 1836 - 1839 - 1843 - Epidemic typhus - 1853

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