New Hampshire Individuals of Note

Franklin Pierce, a Democrat, was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857 at a time when slavery was becoming ever more an issue between the Northern industrialized states and the Southern more agricultural ones.  Pierce was a strict interpreter of the Constitution and believed it condoned slavery.  However, he wished to avoid Civil War.  A major event of his presidency was the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 which permitted the residents of those two territories to vote on whether they would be a free or slave state.  The territories were north of the Missouri Compromise line above which there was to be no slavery, but Pierce supported its repeal in order to, as he thought, solve the slavery question.  The result was disastrous for his reputation and his presidency.  Kansans voted to allow slavery and the North then sent in settlers to organize antislavery groups.  The result was "Bleeding Kansas," in which southern and northern supporters (including John Brown) fought for control of the state.  Pierce at the same time lost support of Western Democrats by failing to support a homestead bill.  Pierce was a believer in Manifest Destiny.  He negotiated the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico (1854) which completed the territory of the lower 48 states and recommended the acquisition of Alaska and Hawaii which took place later.  He also sent Admiral Perry to Japan in 1853, thus "opening Japan" to western influence.

Franklin Pierce was nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party Convention in 1852.  He had not actively sought the presidency, but when the convention seemed stalemated, he allowed his name to be presented and he won.  The party’s platform called for support of the Compromise of 1850, which was an attempt to reconcile differences between North and South.  He narrowly defeated the Whig Party candidate, General Winfield Scott, hero of the Mexican War.  This victory maintained Pierce’s record of never losing an election. 

Franklin Pierce knew and was friends with many of the great leaders and writers of the day.  He was a classmate at Bowdoin College and lifelong friend of both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry W. Longfellow.  He served one term in the United States Senate with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun, who are considered the greatest senators of the 19th century.  When the Mexican War began in 1846, he received a commission as Brigadier General of New Hampshire Volunteers and participated in the invasion of Mexico.  In the War he served with Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Winfield Scott.  As president, Pierce corresponded with Tsar Nicholas of Russia and Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Franklin Pierce was the son of Benjamin Pierce, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and later governor of New Hampshire.  Franklin was born in Hillsborough, entered Bowdoin College at fifteen and studied law after graduation in 1824.  He had what today is referred to as charisma, impressing individuals in all walks of life.  He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives before he was 25 and served four terms, being elected Speaker before he was 30 - the youngest in the state’s history.  He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1833 during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.  In 1837 he was elected United States Senator but resigned after five years to practice law in Concord, which he left to serve in the Mexican War. 

In 1834 Pierce married Jane Means Appleton and their lives were haunted by tragedy.  Jane Appleton was shy and frail and suffered from tuberculosis.  The couple’s first two children died young.  Their third child, Benjamin, was killed in a train accident just after Pierce’s election as president.  The family were returning from Boston to Concord when the car derailed.  "Bennie" was crushed to death before their eyes. The couple never recovered from this shock.  The president’s term began with the White House in mourning.  Mrs. Pierce found it difficult to fulfill her duties as First Lady, but she is supposed to have introduced the first decorated Christmas tree to the president’s mansion. 

Because of the loss of support, Pierce did not seek a second term.  The Pierces returned to Concord after some travel abroad.  They lived in a house on Main Street and Pierce practiced law and received visitors. President and Mrs. Pierce attended the South Congregational Church in Concord, but when Mrs. Pierce died in 1865, Franklin Pierce joined St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Pierce died in October 1869 and is buried in Concord.  His grave has recently been cleaned and can be visited as can his first Concord home called the Pierce Manse.  His childhood home in Hillsborough is also a museum seasonally open to the public.

WOK

Sloan, Irving J.  Franklin Pierce - 1804-1869: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids.  Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publishing,1968.

Squires, J. Duane.  Address given at Dedication of the Franklin Pierce Manse.  Concord, NH: Franklin Pierce Manse, 1971.