Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PIERCE, FRANKLIN (1804—1869)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 590 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PIERCE, See also:FRANKLIN (1804—1869) , fourteenth See also:president of the See also:United States, was See also:born at Hillsborough, New See also:Hampshire, on the 23rd of See also:November 1804. His See also:father, See also:Benjamin Pierce (1957—1839), served in the See also:American See also:army throughout the See also:War of See also:Independence, was a Democratic member of the New Hampshire See also:House of Representatives from 1789 to 1803, and was See also:governor of the See also:state in 1827—1829. The son graduated in 1824 at See also:Bowdoin See also:College, at See also:Brunswick, See also:Maine, where he formed a friendship with Nathaniel See also:Hawthorne. Pierce then studied See also:law, and in 1827 was admitted to the See also:bar and began", to practise at Hillsborough. He at once took a lively See also:interest in politics, and from 1829 to 1833 served in the state House of Representatives, for the last two years as See also:Speaker. In 1833 he entered the See also:national House of Representatives, and although he achieved no distinction in debate he was a hard worker, and a loyal sup-See also:porter of the policies of President See also:Jackson. After four years in the House he entered the See also:Senate, being its youngest member. In 1842, before the expiration of his See also:term, he resigned his seat, and at See also:Concord, New Hampshire, began his career at the bar in See also:earnest, though still retaining an interest in politics. In 1845 he declined the Democratic nomination for governor, and also an See also:appointment to the seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the resignation of See also:Judge See also:Levi See also:Woodbury. He accepted, however, an appointment as Federal See also:District See also:Attorney for New Hampshire, as the duties of this See also:office, which he held in 1845—1847, were closely related to those of his profession. In 1846 he again declined public honours, when President See also:Polk invited him to enter the See also:cabinet as attorney-See also:general. Soon after the outbreak of the war with See also:Mexico, in 1846, Pierce enlisted as a private at Concord, but soon (in See also:February 1847) became See also:colonel of the Ninth See also:Regiment (which joined General See also:Winfield See also:Scott at See also:Pueblo on the 6th of See also:August 1847), and later (See also:March, 1847) became a brigadier-general of See also:volunteers.

At the See also:

battle of Contreras, on the 19th of August 1847, he was thrown from his See also:horse and received severe injuries. At the end of the war he resigned his See also:commission and returned to Concord. In 185o Pierce became president of a See also:convention assembled at Concord to revise the constitution of his state, and used his See also:influence to secure the removal of those provisions of the constitution of 1792 which declared that only Protestants should be eligible for higher state offices. This See also:amendment passed the convention in See also:April 1852, but was rejected by the electorate of the state; a similar amendment was adopted by popular See also:vote in 1877. In See also:January 1852 the legislature of New Hampshire proposed him as a See also:candidate for the See also:presidency, and when the Democratic national convention met at See also:Baltimore in the following See also:June the See also:Virginia delegation brought forward his name on the See also:thirty-fifth See also:ballot. Although both parties had declared the See also:Compromise of 185o a finality, the Democrats alone were thoroughly united in support of this See also:declaration, and therefore seemed to offer the greater prospect of See also:peace. This fact, com- bined with the colourless See also:record of their candidate, enabled them to sweep the See also:country at the November See also:election. Pierce received 254 electoral votes, and General Winfield Scott, his Whig opponent, only 42. The Democrats carried every state except See also:Massachusetts, See also:Vermont, See also:Kentucky and See also:Tennessee. No president since See also:James See also:Monroe had received such a vote. Pierce was the youngest See also:man who had as yet been elevated to the presidency. For his cabinet he See also:chose See also:William L.

Marcyof New See also:

York, secretary of state; See also:Jefferson See also:Davis of See also:Mississippi, secretary of war; James See also:Guthrie (1792—1869) of Kentucky, secretary of the See also:treasury; James C. Dobbin (1814—1857) of See also:North Carolina, secretary of the See also:navy; See also:Robert McClelland (1807—1880) of See also:Michigan, secretary of the interior; James See also:Campbell (1813—1893) of See also:Pennsylvania, postmaster-general; and See also:Caleb See also:Cushing of Massachusetts, attorney-general. This was an able See also:body of men, and is the only cabinet in American See also:history that has continued unbroken throughout an entire See also:administration. Although Pierce during his term in the Senate had severely criticized the Whigs for their removals of Democrats from office, he himself now adopted the policy of replacing Whigs by Democrats, and the country acquiesced. Pierce had no scruples against See also:slavery, and opposed See also:anti-slavery agitation as tending to disrupt the See also:Union. The conduct of See also:foreign relations was on the whole the most creditable See also:part of his administration. The Koszta Affair (1853) gave the See also:government an opportunity vigorously to assert the See also:protection it would afford those in the See also:process of becoming its naturalized citizens. When the See also:British government refused to prevent recruiting for the See also:Crimean War by their representatives in See also:America, their See also:minister, See also:John F. Crampton, received his passports, and the exequaturs of the British consuls at New York, See also:Philadelphia and See also:Cincinnati were revoked. A commercial treaty was negotiated with See also:Japan in 1854 after See also:Perry's expedition in the previous See also:year. As an avowed expansionist, Pierce sympathized with the See also:filibuster government set up in See also:Nicaragua by William See also:Walker, and finally accorded it recognition. It was during this term also that the See also:Gadsden See also:Purchase was consummated, by which 45,535 sq. m. of territory were acquired from Mexico, and that three routes were surveyed for See also:railways from the Mississippi See also:river to the Pacific See also:coast.

When the Democratic national convention met at Cincinnati in June 1856, Pierce was an avowed candidate for renomination, but as his attitude on the slavery question, and especially his subserviency to the See also:

South in supporting the See also:pro-slavery party in the Territory of See also:Kansas, had lost him the support of the See also:Northern wing of his party, the nomination went to James See also:Buchanan. After retiring from the presidency Pierce returned to Concord, and soon afterwards went abroad for a three years' tour in See also:Europe. Many See also:Southern leaders desired his renomination by the Democratic party in 186o, but he received such suggestions with disfavour. After his return to America he remained in retirement at Concord until the See also:day of his See also:death, the 8th of See also:October 1869. Pierce was not a See also:great statesman, and his fame has been overshadowed by that of See also:Benton, See also:Calhoun, See also:Clay and See also:Webster. But he was an able lawyer, an orator of no mean reputation, and a brave soldier. He was a man of See also:fine See also:appearance and courtly See also:manners, and he possessed See also:personal See also:magnetism and the ability to make See also:friends, two qualities that contributed in great measure to his success. A portion of Pierce's See also:correspondence has been published in the American See also:Historical See also:Review, x. 110-127, 350—370. D. W. See also:Bartlett's Franklin Pierce (See also:Auburn, New York, 1852), and Nathaniel Hawthorne's Franklin Pierce (See also:Boston, 1852), are two " See also:campaign " See also:biographies, and are very eulogistic.

J. R. Irelan's History of the See also:

Life, Administration and Times of Franklin Pierce (See also:Chicago, 1888), being vol. xiv. of his See also:Republic, is a more See also:critical See also:work, but inaccurate as to details. T. E. Cooley's Review of the Administration of General Pierce (New York, 1854) and See also:Anna E. See also:Carroll's Review of Pierce's Administration (Boston, 1856) are hostile anti-administration tracts. The best accounts of Pierce's administration are to be found in James See also:Schouler's History of the United States, vol. v. (new ed., New York, 1894) ; J. F. See also:Rhodes's History of the United States, vols. i. and ii. (New York, 1893–1894) ; and J.

W. See also:

Burgess's See also:Middle See also:Period (New York, 1900).

End of Article: PIERCE, FRANKLIN (1804—1869)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PIER (older forms per or Pere, from Med. Lat. pera;... 		[next]
PIERO (1443—1496)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries