Quick Facts
- NAME: Franklin Pierce
- OCCUPATION: Military Leader, U.S. President, U.S. Representative
- BIRTH DATE: November 23, 1804
- DEATH DATE: October 08, 1869
- EDUCATION: Bowdoin College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Hillsboro, New Hampshire
- PLACE OF DEATH: Concord, Massachusetts
- Nickname: "Young Hickory of the Granite Hills"
- AKA: Franklin Pierce
- Nickname: "Fainting Frank"
Best Known For
Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas' slavery status.
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Jefferson Davis - The End (2:01)
Franklin Pierce - Unstable Presidency
Watch a short video about America's 14th President Franklin Pierce and his unstable term as president.
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The hero who won the Civil War easily became the President of the United States, but quickly discovered the world of politics is a far cry from the military world.
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Play NowFranklin Pierce. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:32, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391.
Franklin Pierce. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Franklin Pierce." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 02:32 http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391.
"Franklin Pierce," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Franklin Pierce," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Franklin Pierce [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391.
Franklin Pierce, http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Franklin Pierce. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-pierce-9440391. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Based on that agenda, Pierce made the ideal candidate, even if it meant that he had to run against his former commander, General Winfield Scott of the Whig Party. After a deadlock, Pierce was elected president, but the joy of his victory was soon eclipsed by the death of one of his sons, caused by a train accident.
Once in office, Pierce faced the question of Kansas' and Nebraska's slavery status. When he agreed to sign the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854,
Contents
it turned Kansas into a battleground for the country's conflict over slavery. Pierce's handling of the affair caused his democratic supporters to abandon him during the 1856 presidential election, in favor of his successor, James Buchanan.
Later Life and Death
Following his term as president, Pierce retired to Concord, Massachusetts. During the Civil War, he was once again vocal about his point-of-view as a Northerner, with a more typically Southern view of slavery. He was also outspoken in his opposition to the nation's new president, Abraham Lincoln. Pierce's unpopular view garnered him several enemies among his fellow Northerners.
Nearing the end of his life and fading quickly into obscurity, Pierce took up drinking again. He died on October 8, 1869, in Concord, Massachusetts. He was buried there, in the Old North Cemetery.
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