Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), served as President during a period of increasing bitterness between North and South that later led to the Civil War. He won the Democratic nomination for President in 1852 after the four strongest candidates had fought to a stalemate. Pierce gained support because he strongly favored the Compromise of 1850, which sought to settle the slavery dispute. "If the compromise measures are not ... firmly maintained," he said, "the Constitution will be trampled in the dust." At 48, Pierce became the youngest President up to that time.

The personal good looks of Pierce and his brilliant speaking manner impressed all who met him. People in New Hampshire respected his service as a U.S. Representative and Senator, and as a brigadier general in the Mexican War. But few persons outside his home state had heard of Pierce until he ran for President.

As President, Pierce faced two difficult problems: (1) growing Northern opposition to any expansion of slavery, and (2) rising prejudice against immigrants. He angered Northerners by supporting the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which made slavery possible in a large area in the West. This act provided the issue that created the Republican party. Pierce stirred up further opposition when he protected the rights of immigrants. Those opposed to granting rights to immigrants also formed a new party, called the Know-Nothing, or American, party. By the time Pierce's term ended, the Democratic party had lost much of its strength. Few Democrats favored Pierce for re-election.

The years of Pierce's administration marked one of the most prosperous periods in American history. The California gold rush still attracted men westward. Federal grants of land spurred railroads to extend their lines westward. And the Gadsden Purchase added land from Mexico to the territory of New Mexico. The literary world discussed such works as Thoreau's Walden, Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, and Whitman's Leaves of Grass. People hummed Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night." At Christmas-time in 1855, carolers sang "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" for the first time.