President Franklin Pierce 2025 pg 56 Hourly History
12/8/26
1804 -1869 Franklin Pierce was born in New Hampshire. The family had come from Norwich, England to Massachusetts Bay in 1634 as puritans. Franklins father served as a lieutenant during the American Revolutionary War and later became a general in the New Hampshire militia and governor of the state. His mother was his fathers 2nd wife. His father had bought 50 acres of land after the revolutionary war and added to the original tract over time.
Franklin went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick , Maine. He liked the debate club where his quick wit and charisma made him a formidable opponent. 1827 he passed the New Hampshire bar and established his own practice in Concord.
1833 got a congressional seat in the US House of Representatives.
Slavery was the most contentious issue and the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. There was actually a passage condemning this practice.. The Southerner States would not support a struggle for independence if anyone suggested abolishing slavery and so the words of condemnation were removed.
1834 Franklin and Janet both supported the temperance movement. That was the year they married he was 30 and she was 28. Their children died of typhus including their and the other of a horrible train accident. This left them childless and Franklin was determined to leave a lasting legacy through public service.
1837 he got a seat on the senate aged only 32 years.
1839 appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on Pensions. 1842 He and is wife decided that Washington was no place to live so he resigned from his seat and went back to his legal practice in New Hampshire. When Polk became president he appointed Pierce as district attorney for New Hampshire.
1846 -1848 The Mexican - American War broke out the root cause of this was the the Texas dispute. Then Franklin Peirce was appointed US attorney general. In 1847 he joined the army and landed in Veracruz Mexico. He was wounded in battle.
1848 General Winfield Scott managed to capture Mexico City and force the Mexican government to capitulate at the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico relinquished any claim to Texas. In compensation of $15 million that the US paid gained the new territory of California , Nevada Arizona and New Mexico. Every time a new state was added there was a contention whether is would be slave or free.
1828 the Democratic Party was founded by Andrew Jackson. Franklin Pierce opposed slavery on moral grounds, however he refused to support interference in the rights of slave states to govern. His stance was the most pragmatic , and most likely to win votes. Pierce linked himself to Andrew Jackson. This was when he, his wife and son were in the train crash and she considered this god retribution for Franklins pursuit of politics.
1854 Gadsden Purchase. Gadsden was the US ambassador in Mexico and this was the final piece of land that made the US is currant shape it cost $10 million. In was a piece of land in New Mexico and southern Arizona. This allowed the Southern Pacific Railway to run on a smoother route to California.
Under Pierce New England fishermen were entering Canadian water and this could lead to a conflict with the British Royal Navy. The US gave Canada favorable trade agreement including allowing Nova Scotia coal to enter duty free and the fisherman were allowed to fish. He also made agreements with Mexico avoiding conflicts.
1854Commodor Perry was sent to open up Japan and threatened military action if an agreement wasn't reached. Treaty of Kanagawa. This was the result of American sailors ship wrecked of Japan take captive and never heard again. Japan opened her door.
Zachary Taylor died months after taking office and succeeded by vice President Millar Fillmore who was considered an accidental President. Under him the 1850 Compromise admitted California as a free state while allowing Utah and New Mexico to decide on the slave question. This was one of the reason for the civil war.
The US wanted to take over Cuba which had slaves and northerners objected to this .
1854 Kansas Nebraska Act "Border Ruffians " who supported slavery crossed from Missouri to vote illegibly in the Kansas elections. At this time John Brown and broke into homes of slavery supporter. Pierce showed his sympathies were pro slavery, and sent troops to keep order. Thus his own party decided to abandon him and would not receive the Democratic nomination for 1856 presidential election. James Buchanan a democrat won the election.
Franklin Pierce's one term presidency is often viewed as the beginning of the Union's dissolution, and Buchanan is remembered as one of the worst US presidents who set the stage for the Civil War. He sought to appease the south a every opportunity. Without a strong candidate the Republican Abraham Lincoln won in 1860 as an antislavery Republican and the south believed he would contain slavers rights. Pierces unwillingness to condemn southern secession raised a question about his commitment to preserving the Union.
1864 Lincoln won a second term but the Democrats were looking for a strong leader. However Pierce failed to fly the flag on his residences during the traditional mourning of Lincoln's assassination. He had shown pro Confederacy sympathies during the war, He died in 1869 aged 64 from heavy drinking and cirrhosis of the liver.
His friend Nathaniel Hawthorne described him as possessing the elements of a powerful stateman. Pierce knew how to speak to people and move them with words. His attempt to maintain national unity instead pushed the country closer to a civil war.
1845 -1849 James Polk Democrat
1849-1850 Zachary Taylor Whig
1850 -1853 Milliard Fillmore Whig
1853-1857 Franklin Pierce Democrat
1857 1861 James Buchanan Democrat
1861 - 1865 Abraham Lincoln Republican
1865-1869 Andrew Johnson Republican
1869-1877 Ulysses Grant Republican
