How old was franklin pierce when he became president
Franklin Pierce
| 14th President of the United States Date of Birth: Country: USA |
Content:
- The Forgotten President: Franklin Pierce
- War and Personal Tragedies
- A Divisive Presidency
- Domestic Affairs
- The Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Foreign Policy
- Tensions with Great Britain
- Central America and Manifest Destiny
- Conclusion
The Forgotten President: Franklin Pierce
Early Life and CareerFranklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States, is regarded as a footnote in American history despite serving amidst the intense social and political turmoil that ultimately led to the Civil War.
Born on November 23, , in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, to Governor and Revolutionary War General Benjamin Pierce, Franklin attended the prestigious Bowdoin College. After pursuing law, he swiftly entered politics, becoming a New Hampshire House Representative at age 25, a U.S. Representative four years later, and a Senator four years after that.
Pierce's rapid political ascent was temporarily halted by his return to New Hampshire from Washington to practice law.
His wife, Jane Means Appleton Pierce, a devout Calvinist minister's daughter, despised the disreputable profession of politics and the notorious life in the nation's capital.
War and Personal Tragedies
When the Mexican-American War erupted in , Pierce volunteered and rose quickly through the ranks from private to brigadier general.
Despite his bravery during the march from Veracruz to Mexico City, Pierce missed out on the capture of the capital that cemented America's victory. A fall from his horse deprived him of the war's grand finale.
Personal setbacks plagued Pierce throughout his life. Jane Pierce suffered from depression and consumption, and Franklin himself battled alcoholism in an era when excessive drinking was common in Washington political circles.
Franklin Pierce: Life Before the Presidency - Miller Center Life in Washington took its toll on Pierce. After the killing of a black boatman by an American captain and the minor wounding of an American lawyer by a Briton, a rapid escalation of violence occurred. Their first son died in infancy, their second at age four from typhoid fever, and their youngest was fatally injured in a train accident just days before Pierce's inauguration on March 4, Franklin Pierce was that man.Their first son died in infancy, their second at age four from typhoid fever, and their youngest was fatally injured in a train accident just days before Pierce's inauguration on March 4, Breaking with the convention of his predecessors, Pierce delivered his inaugural address unscripted, stating, "My own heart is too full for utterance when I am reminded that in the performance of this duty I am rendering myself the instrument of a triumph which was not sought, and which is neither desired nor coveted by me."
A Divisive Presidency
Pierce won the presidential election by a landslide, capturing electoral votes compared to his opponent, Whig candidate Winfield Scott's, The result reflected the Whigs' decline, but less noticeably, it foreshadowed the impending rupture of the Democratic Party and its feeble national majority.
Pierce's presidency faced daunting challenges.
Tensions between the North and South over slavery escalated, demanding a visionary political course. The settlement of recently acquired territories (New Mexico and California) required solutions, as did pressing issues of land distribution, Indian policy, and railroad construction. Moreover, the British presence in Central America threatened American trade and economic interests, fueling nationalist sentiments by various factions.
Domestic Affairs
In contrast to the demands of the office, life in the White House during the midth century was relatively unassuming.
Household staff included a steward, a private secretary (who later received an assistant), a gardener, and domestic servants. During his tenure, Pierce ordered the installation of coal-burning central heating, a feature previously lacking in the home's vast halls. The president showed little concern for personal safety, with the sole known assassination attempt being the throwing of a hard-boiled egg at him by a drunken assailant.
Most of the cabinet members Pierce assembled in had little political experience.
Remarkably, the president never replaced a single member of his cabinet, an unprecedented occurrence in American history. The office of Secretary of War was occupied by his close confidant, Jefferson Davis.
Despite attempts to distance himself from Davis, whose overt sympathy for Southern interests drew disapproval, Pierce frequently convened with him in his home under the cover of darkness. Nevertheless, no other advisor wielded greater influence on Pierce than the future president of the Confederacy.
As Secretary of War, Davis oversaw the federal government's Indian policy.
Though a West Point graduate who had fought in the Black Hawk War, he advocated for the subjugation of Native Americans, seeing it as a prerequisite for the construction of a transcontinental railroad. Even a letter from Chief Seattle, pleading for the preservation of sacred burial grounds and a separate path for his people, failed to alter the Pierce administration's unwavering course.
Instead, Native Americans were increasingly forced into reservations, and resistance was ruthlessly punished.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
No single event during Pierce's presidency shook America's internal balance more than the Kansas-Nebraska Act of The legislation stripped the Missouri Compromise of , which had established a geographic line demarcating the spread of slavery.
Territories of Kansas and Nebraska were granted "popular sovereignty" to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.
Kansas became a battleground of two competing constitutions and rival governments. The resulting confrontations soon descended into what became known as "Bleeding Kansas." The president, sympathetic to the pro-slavery faction in every political maneuver (including replacing the anti-slavery governor of Kansas), lacked the temperament for compromise.
This became evident in the Boston incident, where an escaped slave, Anthony Burns, was arrested on a false charge of robbing a jewelry store. As per the Fugitive Slave Law, Burns was set to be returned to his former owner. An angry mob of abolitionists stormed the courthouse to free him, prompting Pierce to order the use of military and police force.
Burns was taken, but the president had achieved a Pyrrhic victory. Northern sentiment turned increasingly against pro-slavery interests.
Foreign Policy
The escalating sectional tensions of slavery had both domestic and foreign policy consequences. Pro-slavery factions pushed for territorial expansion in the south to offset the abolitionist sentiments of Mexico.
Franklin pierce wife: Despite his bravery during the march from Veracruz to Mexico City, Pierce missed out on the capture of the capital that cemented America's victory. Jean H. Grant Rutherford B. More importantly, the Whig party was losing popularity, and Scott was its last presidential candidate.
Pierce himself made no secret of his territorial ambitions. In his inaugural address, he declared that his administration would not be deterred by fears of America's growth.
His choice of diplomats reflected these views. Most, including John Mason and James Buchanan, hailed from the radical pro-slavery, Manifest Destiny wing of the Democratic Party's "Young America" movement.
A collision was almost inevitable. When Spain illegally seized the American ship "Black Warrior" in , outrage swept through the country. Pierce used this as an opportunity to demand Cuba's secession from Spain.
Franklin pierce early life biography of senator lito lapid When antislavery settlers in Kansas formed a rival government and sought admission to the Union as a free state, violence broke out between these Free Staters and their proslavery opponents. Indeed, Jane's disgust with the political life in Washington must have been behind Pierce's decision to resign from the Senate in Before long, stories of his partying and drunken escapades were a staple of the capital's grapevine. The President repaid Pierce's old campaign favors.The American envoy to Madrid, Pierre Soulé, a firebrand (who had recently shot and killed his French counterpart in a duel), took a step further in the absence of instructions from Washington. He delivered Spain a short-lived ultimatum that included the demand for the removal of prominent Cuban officials. The Spanish government, recognizing Soulé's unauthorized gambit, dismissed the ultimatum and instead paid compensation for the seized "Black Warrior." As a consequence, the crisis was peacefully resolved.
Undeterred in their belief that Cuba was as important to the United States as any of the previous statehoods, the Pierce administration's diplomatic team pushed for its annexation.
In August , Soulé, Buchanan, and Mason drafted the Ostend Manifesto, which called for the forcible seizure of Cuba by the United States if Spain refused to sell it. When the secret deal became public, fierce protests erupted not only in the North but also in Europe. Pierce and his radical advisors backed down. The Young America diplomats' unauthorized actions destroyed any chance of Cuba's annexation for many years to come.
Tensions with Great Britain
Relations with Great Britain also faced significant strains.
The trigger was the episode at Greytown, a small British colony on the San Juan River that hindered American commercial interests on the other side. After the killing of a black boatman by an American captain and the minor wounding of an American lawyer by a Briton, a rapid escalation of violence occurred. Pierce's administration dispatched the USS Cyane to Greytown.
Its commander, Captain Hollins, demanded an apology and $24, in compensation from the British. When they refused, Hollins threatened to bombard Greytown.
Franklin pierce early life biography of senator Pierce returned home to New Hampshire at war's end. The manifesto became public that fall, inspiring protest from the emerging Republicans. He served as speaker of the state legislature before winning election to the U. Truman Dwight D.The population fled, and Hollins proceeded to level the city, inflicting $3 million in damage. Lord Clarendon, the British Foreign Secretary, called the action a crime "without parallel in the recent history of the world." The "New York Tribune" condemned Hollins' actions as "needless, uncalled for, inhuman, and anti-American." President Pierce, however, defended Hollins' actions unconditionally in his annual message to Congress.
Central America and Manifest Destiny
US-British relations endured further trials when two dubious characters, Henry L.
Kinney and William Walker, sought to realize their dreams of power and wealth in Central America. Kinney purchased a large tract of land in Nicaragua from a self-proclaimed "king" of the Mosquito Indians whose title was highly questionable. The wily speculator sold shares in the land to numerous American magnates and members of Pierce's administration, with rumors of Pierce's personal involvement.
Actions like these heightened British suspicions about the seriousness of US policy.
London feared that America might use adventurers like Kinney to expand its influence south. Even more troubling than the Kinney affair was the Pierce administration's approach toward William Walker, a blatant expansionist who created a puppet government in Nicaragua in , rallied disaffected masses, and proclaimed the restoration of slavery. Despite his Secretary of State's repeated warnings, President Pierce recognized Walker and his regime, and his actions led some pro-slavery Southern Democrats to envision Nicaragua as a future American state.
But Walker's enterprise was doomed.
Franklin pierce The Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Pierce signed in , enraged antislavery northerners and brought about the emergence of the new Republican Party. Most of the cabinet members Pierce assembled in had little political experience. Instead, Native Americans were increasingly forced into reservations, and resistance was ruthlessly punished. Truman Dwight D.A coalition of Central American states defeated the political adventurer, and Pierce had no choice but to quickly dispatch a mission to rescue Walker. Walker embarked on another failed venture and was executed by firing squad in Honduras in
Conclusion
If Franklin Pierce's foreign policy is measured by his ambition to expand US territory in the spirit of Polk's "manifest destiny," his presidency failed to achieve significant successes.
His attempts to acquire more Mexican territory met with considerable resistance at home. Likewise, the