U.S. Presidents & First Ladies

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce, born in 1804 in New Hampshire, was a lawyer and politician who held state and federal office before serving in the Mexican-American War. He became the 14th president in 1853 as a Northerner with Southern sympathies. His presidency was overshadowed by personal tragedy, losing his last son just before his inauguration. Pierce enforced the Compromise of 1850 and supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which deepened national conflict over slavery. Denied renomination, Pierce left office in 1857 and later became a vocal critic of Abraham Lincoln, a sentiment hinted at in this 1861 letter. Pierce passed in 1869.