| Franklin Pierce was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire on November 23, 1804. He was born second out of the eight children of Anna Kendrick Pierce and Benjamin Pierce. His father was a military general and a veteran of the American Revolution. His ancestors settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts, during the great Puritan migration from England in the 1630’s. Pierce was educated at Hillsborough Center until he was twelve. Then he attended Hancock Academy in New Hampshire. Then at the age of 15, his father sent him to a new school, Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Maine. At Bowdoin College he made friends quickly because he was sociable and friendly. One of his friends was, future American novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was his fried for life. In 1824, he graduated after advancing from last place to fifth place from the top of his class. In 1825, he entered the law office of Levi Woodbury in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1826, he transferred to a law school in Northampton, Massachusetts. He completed his studies with Judge Edmund Parker at Amherst, New Hampshire. In 1827, Pierces’ father became governor of New Hampshire. Also, in 1827 Franklin was admitted to the practice of law, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar. In 1818, he was elected moderator of the Hillsborough convention, which he served for six years. In 1829, when his father was reelected for governor, Pierce was elected to the New Hampshire legislature. He was reelected twice and in 1831, Governor Samuel Dinsmour named him his military aide with the rank of colonel. Also in 1831, he was a speaker of the house. In 1833, he was elected to the House of Representatives. On November 19, 1834, Pierce married Jane Mears Appleton. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. He father was the former president of Bowdoin College. She was deeply religious, shy, and reserved. She had chronic poor health that she suffered with for many years. Since she was so sick, she stayed at concord, New Hampshire most of the time, while Pierce needed her in Washington, D.C. Pierce had a tendency toward alcoholism, which his wife could not help him control. After his term as up at the House of Representatives, Pierce returned to the Hillsborough to establish a successful law practice. He hired Albert Baker, as his young apprentice and took a personal interest in his younger sister, Mary. She was a sickly girl who could not attend school because of her chronic bad health. Later, she became world famous as the founder of a new religion called Christian Science. In 1835 and 1836, there was a petition to end slavery in Washington, D.C., was brought before the House. Pierce was extremely against ending slavery so he prevented the petition from being debated on the floor of the House. He was against the West, so he voted against two bills, the National Road bill and rivers and harbors bill, both were designed to promote the expansion of the West. In 1836, Pierce met a Mississippi planter, Jefferson Davis. He became his closest political friend and was a major influence when Pierce was President. In 1837, Pierce was elected t the U.S. Senate, at 33. He was the Senate’s youngest member. Pierce had two sons, during his years in the Senate. They were Franklin and Benjamin Pierce. He moved his family to Concord, New Hampshire, where he formed a successful law partnership. In February of 1842, he resigned his seat in the Senate and devoted himself to his family and law practice. In 1843, when a typhus epidemic swept Concord, both his sons got sick. Franklin, the older son, died. With the Mexican War in 1846, he enlisted as a private. But in 1847, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. After the war, he became New Hampshire’s elder statesman. Also, in 1847 he became head of the Concord Clique, which is a group of lawyer-politicians that controlled the state’s Democratic Party. In 1848, the slavery issue split the party’s ranks. In 1852, Pierce’s views were known to the Democratic leaders, and the party was hopelessly split into fractions. Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, and Stephen A. Douglas were the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination. For the first 35 ballots, Cass, Buchanan, and Douglas vied for the lead. For the next 10 ballots, William L. Marcy made his bid. On the 49th ballot, Pierce was nominated. William R. King was Pierce’s running mate. In November 1852, Pierce had 1,609,038 votes and Scott had 1,368,629. Pierce won and was elected the 14th president of the United States. William R. King was nominated for vice president. On January 6, 1853, two months before his inauguration, Pierce and his family were taking a train ride, and their car was derailed, and toppled over an embankment. He and his wife were uninjured but their youngest son, Benjamin, was crushed to death right before their eyes. The parents never recovered. Pierce was the first president to recite his inaugural address from memory. He delivered his inaugural address during a chilling March snowstorm. In it he said that he would abide strictly by the compromise of 1850, protect the constitutional rights of the states, and develop and adventurous foreign policy. On March 4, 1853, Pierce became president and moved into the White House. Mrs. Pierce’s friend and distant relative, Abigail Kent Means lived at the White House to provide companionship for Mrs. Pierce. She also acted as a hostess for the president at public functions Mrs. Pierce rarely appeared at official dinners, declined duties of First Lady. To reunite the fractions of his party and country, Pierce choose William L. Marcy a Northerner, as Secretary of State and Jefferson Davis a Southerner, as Secretary of War. In May 1853, James Gadsden was instructed by Pierce to make a treaty to settle boundary disputes and securing additional territory. Arizona and part of New Mexico were purchased by the treaty that Gadsden presented to the Senate. The treaty was proclaimed in 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was introduced by Senator Douglas. The bill proposed the creation of the Kansas and Nebraska territories between the Missouri River and the Continental Divide. This bill was an exception to the Missouri Compromise of 1820 because both territories lay north of parallel 36 degrees 30’ that was the north line which barred the creation of new slavery states. For each territory they could vote whether or not to have slaves. Douglas told Congress that the construction of a transcontinental railroad depended on the organization of these territories. The Kansas-Nebraska bill became law in May 1854. To make sure that Kansas would vote for slavery, people from Missouri, a slavery state, came pouring into Kansas to pack the ballot boxes. Proslavery won, but the New England Emigrant Aide Company, helped Kansas to organize an antislavery government. In 1856, the Democrats did not nominate Pierce, but instead nominated James Buchanan. So, the Pierces returned to New Hampshire. The Pierces left for Madeira in the winter of 1857, and then continued onto Europe, where they remained for over tow years. Then returned to Concord in 1860. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Pierce was completely against Lincoln, and showed it in 1863 in a diatribe against Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. He audience had just been swept by the news of the great Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Pierce lost the last of his public esteem.In December 1863 Pierce’s wife died. Only Hawthorne consoled Pierce in his bereavement. In 1864, Hawthorne died and left Pierce all alone. Pierce died of intense alcoholism on October 4, 1869 at his home in Concord. President Ulysses S. Grant declared a period of national mourning for his death. President Kennedy proposed a civil rights law but could not carry it out because he was assassinate in November 1963, so Lyndon Johnson, pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress as a tribute to Kennedy’s memory. It prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. In 1961 SNCC and CORE organized voter registration campaigns in heavily black, rural counties of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. They tought them the necessary skills, reading and writing, and the correct answers to the voter registration application. By the end of the summer, the project helped thousands of blacks attempt to register, and 1000 became registered voters. In 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated. He was supporting striking garbage workers when he was shot. Most activists think this is when the civil rights movement ended, others say it was over after the Selma march. But, some mostly blacks argue that the movement is not yet over because the goal of full equality has not yet been achieved. |
| Franklin Pierce |
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