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Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. His father Benjamin had served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War before moving to Hillsborough. Franklin Pierce was the fifth of eight children born to Benjamin and his second wife, Anna Kendrick (his first wife Elizabeth Andrews died in giving birth to Benjamin's first child, a daughter). Benjamin was a prominent Democratic-Republican state legislator. He was also a farmer, and a tavern-keeper, so alcohol was not unknown to the Pierce family. Two of his older brothers fought in the War of 1812.
Pierce attended school at Hillsborough and Hancock, a town 12 miles from home. According to one anecdote, Franklin Pierce disliked school and on Sunday he walked home and asked his father if he could quite school. His father fed him dinner and drove him halfway back to school, and ordered him to walk the rest of the way, while a thunderstorm was taking place. Later that year Pierce transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy to prepare for college. In fall 1820, Pierce entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. It was there that he met author Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he formed lifelong friendship. In 1824 graduated from Bowdoin, placing fifth in a graduating class of fourteen. That same year, Pierce organized an unofficial militia company, the Bowdoin Cadets. During his final year at Bowdoin, Pierce spent several months teaching at a school in rural Hebron, Maine.
Pierce briefly read law with former New Hampshire Governor Levi Woodbury, a friend of Benjamin Pierce, in Portsmouth. This was followed by a semester at Northampton Law School in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then further study under Judge Edmund Parker in Amherst, New Hampshire. Pierce was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in late 1827 and began to practice in Hillsborough. Pierce established a reputation as a capable lawyer.
In March 1827, Benjamin Pierce was elected governor of New Hampshire, but he was defeated in his bid for re-election the following year. Although his father was defeated in 1828, Franklin Pierce won his first election as Hillsborough town moderator, a position to which he would be elected for six consecutive years. Pierce campaigned in his district on behalf of Andrew Jackson, who carried the district in the November 1828 election, even though he lost the state. New Hampshire. Pierce won his first legislative seat in 1829, representing Hillsborough in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Pierce's father was elected again as governor, retiring after that term. By 1831 the Democrats held a legislative majority, and Franklin Pierce was elected Speaker of the House.
Pierce was a member of the state militia, and was appointed aide de camp to Governor Samuel Dinsmoor in 1831. He remained in the militia until 1847, and attained the rank of colonel before becoming a brigadier general in the Army during the Mexican–American War. He worked with the president of Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, to increase recruiting efforts and he served as a Norwich University trustee from 1841 to 1859.
In late 1832, Pierce was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. His term began in March 1833, but he would not be sworn in until Congress met in December. That year Franklin and Benjamin Pierce welcomed President Jackson on his visit to the state.
On November 19, 1834, Pierce married Jane Means Appleton, the daughter of Jesse Appleton, a Congregational minister and former president of Bowdoin College, and Elizabeth Means. The Appletons were prominent Whigs, in contrast with the Pierces, who were Democrats. Jane was devoutly religious, and pro-temperance. She encouraged her husband to abstain from alcohol. The couple moved to the state capital of Concord, New Hampshire. They had three sons, all of whom died in childhood. Franklin, Jr. (February 2–5, 1836) died in infancy, while Frank Robert (August 27, 1839 – November 14, 1843) died at the age of four from epidemic typhus. Their youngest son, Benjamin, was born on April 13, 1841. He died at the age of 11 in a train accident.
While serving in Congress in Washington, Pierce supported Jackson on the issue of the expiration of the charter of the Bank of the United States. Unlike Jackson, Pierce opposed Democratic bills to fund internal improvements with federal money. He was easily re-elected in March 1835. Pierce opposed abolitionists and saw federal action against slavery as an infringement on southern states' rights, although he professed to being morally opposed to slavery itself. He said: "I consider slavery a social and political evil and most sincerely wish that it had no existence upon the face of the earth." But in December 1835, he wrote "One thing must be perfectly apparent to every intelligent man. This abolition movement must be crushed or there is an end to the Union." Pierce supported what came to be known as the gag rule, which allowed for petitions to be received, but not read or considered in the House. At home his opponents labelled him as a "doughface", meaning that he was a northerner with southern sympathies.
In December 1836, Pierce was elected to the United States Senate in March 1837. At age 32 he became one of the youngest member in Senate history to that point. At the time his wife, father, sister, and brother were all battling health issues. Pierce voted the party line on most issues and he supported newly elected Democratic president Martin Van Buren and his plan to create an independent treasury, a proposal which split the Democratic Party. Debate over slavery continued in Congress, and abolitionists proposed its end in the District of Columbia, where Congress had jurisdiction. Pierce opposed this proposal.
The military was always an important issue for Pierce. As a senator he challenged a bill to expand the ranks of the Army's staff officers in Washington without any apparent benefit to line officers. He was also concerned about fraud within the military pension system, and was named chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Pensions from 1839 to 1841. He urged the modernization and expansion of the Army.
Pierce campaigned vigorously throughout his home state for Van Buren's re-election in the 1840 presidential election. Van Buren carried New Hampshire but lost the national vote to William Henry Harrison. When Harrison died after a month in office, Vice President John Tyler succeeded him. In December 1841 Pierce resigned from Congress, something he had been planning for some time in order to devote his time to his family and law practice, while also recognizing his party's declining influence.
Jane Pierce had remained in Concord with her children for the latter part of Pierce's Senate term. Pierce, meanwhile, had begun a demanding but lucrative law partnership and when he returned to Concord in early 1842, and his reputation as a lawyer continued to grow. He remained involved in the state Democratic Party. In June 1842 Pierce was named chairman of the State Democratic Committee. The party was divided on several issues, including railroad development and the temperance movement, and Pierce took a peacemaker's role in these disputes.
James K. Polk's surprise victory in the 1844 presidential election was welcome news to Pierce. The two had been friends when Polk was Speaker of the House and Pierce served in Congress. Pierce had campaigned for Polk during the election. Polk had offered Pierce a position in his cabinet but Pierce declined the offer.
When Congress declared war against Mexico in May 1846, Pierce immediately volunteered to serve. No New England regiment existed yet Congress passed a bill authorizing the creation of ten regiments, and Pierce was appointed colonel and commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment in February 1847. On March 3, 1847, Pierce was promoted to brigadier general, and took command of a brigade of reinforcements for General Winfield Scott's army. Pierce reached the port of Vera Cruz in late June, where he prepared a march of 2,500 men accompanying supplies to take to Scott. During the three-week journey inland. Pierce's men fought off several attacks before joining with Scott's army in early August, in time for the Battle of Contreras. During the battle, Pierce's horse was suddenly startled during a charge. The horse then tripped into a crevice and fell, pinning Pierce underneath and leaving him with a debilitating knee injury. The incident led to unfair accusations of cowardice that would surface years later when Pierce opposed Scott in the election of 1852. Pierce returned for the following day's action, but reinjured his knee.
Pierce led his men in the Battle of Churubusco approached, despite orders from Scott to remain in the rear. Pierce was tied to his saddle, but the pain in his leg became so great that he passed out. The Americans won the battle and Pierce helped negotiate an armistice. He then returned to command and led his brigade throughout the rest of the campaign, taking part in the capture of Mexico City in mid-September. Pierce remained in command of his brigade during the three-month occupation of the city. He return home to Concord in late December 1847 to a hero's welcome. His resignation from the Army, which was approved on March 20, 1848. Pierce resumed his law practice and in one notable case he defended the religious liberty of a sect known as the Shakers.
Ulysses S. Grant, who had the opportunity to observe Pierce firsthand during the war, addressed the allegations of cowardice against Pierce in his memoirs, written several years after Pierce's death. Grant wrote: "Whatever General Pierce's qualifications may have been for the Presidency, he was a gentleman and a man of courage. I was not a supporter of him politically, but I knew him more intimately than I did any other of the volunteer generals."
The land acquired in the Mexican War led to political divisions, with many in the North insisting that slavery not be allowed there, while others wanted slavery barred north of the Missouri Compromise line of 36°30′ N. The controversy divided the Democrats. At the 1848 Democratic National Convention, the majority nominated former Michigan senator Lewis Cass for president, while a minority broke off to become the Free Soil Party, backing former president Van Buren. The Whigs chose General Zachary Taylo who was elected president. The Compromise of 1850 was passed and signed into law by President Millard Fillmore (who becam president following Taylor's death earlier in 1850. Pierce strongly supported the compromise, but his party was divided over the issue.
As the 1852 presidential election approached, the Democrats were divided over the issue of slavery and it was widely expected that the 1852 Democratic National Convention would result in deadlock, with no major candidate able to win the necessary two-thirds majority. New Hampshire Democrats, including Pierce, supported Levi Woodbury, who was then an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, but Woodbury's death in September 1851 created an opportunity for New Hampshire Democrats to put forth Pierce as a "Dark Horse" candidate. Pierce he had not held elective office in a decade, and lacked a national reputation. He quietly allowed his supporters to lobby for him.
At the convention in Baltimore, Maryland, the expected deadlock occurred and 35 ballots passed with no one near victory, and no votes for Pierce. After the 48th ballot, North Carolina Congressman James C. Dobbin delivered an unexpected endorsement of Pierce, sparking a wave of support for him. On the 49th ballot, Pierce received all but six of the votes, winning the Democratic nomination for president. Delegates selected Alabama Senator William R. King, a Buchanan supporter, as Pierce's running mate.
When the news reached Pierce, his wife fainted. The Whig candidate was General Winfield Scott, who was Pierce's commanding officer in Mexico. The Whigs were also divided and the Free Soil Party ran Senator John Hale of New Hampshire as their candidate. This drew support from the Whigs. Pierce was aware of the importance of not upsetting his party's delicate balance between northerners and southerners and he did not do any personal campaigning, as was the custom of the day. During the campaign Pierce's opponents accused him of being a coward and alcoholic. One slogan called Pierce "the hero of many a well-fought bottle".
But when the ballots were cast, Scott won only Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Vermont, finishing with 42 electoral votes to Pierce's 254. With 3.2 million votes cast, Pierce won the popular vote with 50.9 to 44.1 percent. The Democrats took large majorities in Congress. Once again, the nation had elected an unlikely dark horse Democrat as President.
Tomorrow: Part II-Pierce's Presidency