Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) is the 14th President of the United States (1853–1857) and is the only President from New Hampshire.

Pierce is a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who serves in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

Pierce takes part in the Mexican-American War and becomes a brigadier general in the Army.

His private law practice in his home state, New Hampshire, is so successful that he is offered several important positions, which he turns down.

Later, he is nominated as the party's candidate for president on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention.

In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King win by a landslide in the Electoral College.

They defeat the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50 percent to 44 percent margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.

He makes many friends, but he suffers tragedy in his personal life; all of his children die young.

As president, he makes many divisive decisions that are widely criticized and earn him a reputation as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

Pierce's popularity in the Northern states declines sharply after he supports the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which replaces the Missouri Compromise and renews debate over the expansion of slavery in the American West.

Pierce's credibility is further damaged when several of his diplomats issue the Ostend Manifesto.

Abandoned by his party, Pierce is not renominated to run in the 1856 presidential election; he is replaced by James Buchanan as the Democratic candidate.

After losing the Democratic nomination, Pierce continues his lifelong struggle with alcoholism and his marriage to Jane Means Appleton Pierce falls apart.

His reputation is destroyed during the Civil War when he declaredssupport for the Confederacy, and personal correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President Jefferson Davis is leaked to the press.

Pierce dies in 1869 from cirrhosis of the liver.

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