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Franklin Pierce, born in New Hampshire in 1804, began his political life at the young age of 24. Having just graduated from law school, he was elected to the New Hampshire legislature in 1829 before becoming the state’s Speaker two years later. During the 1930’s Pierce continued his climb up the political ladder, becoming a Representative, then a Senator. It was in 1852, after serving as a general in the Army during the Mexican War, that Pierce was nominated by the Democratic Party to be the 14th President of the United States.
Winning the presidency over General Winfield Scott was a bittersweet moment for Pierce. Having lost two children earlier in life (Franklin at birth and Frank Robert at the age of four), Pierce and his wife, Jane, saw their 11-year-old son, Benjamin, die in a train wreck just two months before Pierce took office. But Pierce drove forward and focused on his presidency, determined to “Bring an era of peace and prosperity to America.”
Unfortunately, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, determined to pass a bill that would run a railroad to the west, from Chicago to California, disturbed the peace that the country was enjoying. While the railroad was not a bad idea, his requirement that the new residents of the western states could decide whether or not they should have slavery, would cause chaos across the country. In a rush to take over the new states, northerners and southerners clashed in Kansas, which led to the start of the Civil War.
While things in Kansas had calmed down by the time Pierce’s term was up, the Democrats did not renominate him, choosing James Buchanan instead. Pierce returned to New Hampshire and retired. Around 10 years later he contracted a stomach illness, and died on October 8, 1869.
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