Happy Birthday Handsome Frank
Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States and the only President from New Hampshire, was born on November 23, 1804 (209 years ago today.) Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies). Prior to becoming president, Pierce served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. He also fought in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army. His private law practice in his home state was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down, because they would have meant a cut in pay.
Pierce was nominated as the party's candidate for president on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. He was a compromise candidate after Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, William Marcy and Stephen Douglas couldn't garner enough support to win the nomination. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King defeated the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50 percent to 44 percent margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.
Pierce suffered tragedy in his personal life. All of his three children died young. His youngest son Benny died in a train derailment as the Pierce family was on its way to Washington for Pierce's inauguration. Pierce's wife Jane was devastated by the incident.
As president, Pierce made many divisive decisions which were widely criticized. His popularity in the Northern states declined sharply after he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which replaced the Missouri Compromise and renewed debate over the expansion of slavery in the American West. This in turn led to a high level of violence in the Kansas territory between the pro and anti-slavery forces. Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto, a proposal that the United States offer to buy Cuba from Spain, and then go to war if the offer was refused.
Despite a reputation as an able politician and a likable man, during Pierce's presidency he failed to moderate the increasingly bitter factions that were driving the nation towards civil war. The Democratic party abandoned him in the 1856 election. His reputation was further injured during the Civil War when he opposed many of the policies of Abraham Lincoln, and when personal correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis was leaked to the press.
In retirement, Pierce began drinking heavily. He died in Concord, New Hampshire, at 4:49 am on October 8, 1869, at 64 years old from cirrhosis of the liver. President Ulysses S. Grant, who later defended Pierce's service in the Mexican War, declared a day of national mourning. He was buried next to his wife and two of his sons, all of whom had predeceased him, in the Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire.
Pierce was nominated as the party's candidate for president on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. He was a compromise candidate after Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, William Marcy and Stephen Douglas couldn't garner enough support to win the nomination. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King defeated the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50 percent to 44 percent margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.
Pierce suffered tragedy in his personal life. All of his three children died young. His youngest son Benny died in a train derailment as the Pierce family was on its way to Washington for Pierce's inauguration. Pierce's wife Jane was devastated by the incident.
As president, Pierce made many divisive decisions which were widely criticized. His popularity in the Northern states declined sharply after he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which replaced the Missouri Compromise and renewed debate over the expansion of slavery in the American West. This in turn led to a high level of violence in the Kansas territory between the pro and anti-slavery forces. Pierce's credibility was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto, a proposal that the United States offer to buy Cuba from Spain, and then go to war if the offer was refused.
Despite a reputation as an able politician and a likable man, during Pierce's presidency he failed to moderate the increasingly bitter factions that were driving the nation towards civil war. The Democratic party abandoned him in the 1856 election. His reputation was further injured during the Civil War when he opposed many of the policies of Abraham Lincoln, and when personal correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis was leaked to the press.
In retirement, Pierce began drinking heavily. He died in Concord, New Hampshire, at 4:49 am on October 8, 1869, at 64 years old from cirrhosis of the liver. President Ulysses S. Grant, who later defended Pierce's service in the Mexican War, declared a day of national mourning. He was buried next to his wife and two of his sons, all of whom had predeceased him, in the Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire.