Pierce, Franklin (1804–1869)

14th president of the USA, 1853–57. He sat as a Democrat in the House of Representatives 1833–37 and the Senate 1837–42. Chosen as a compromise candidate of the Democratic Party, he was elected president in 1852. His presidency was marked by territorial and commercial expansion, including the Gadsden Purchase, but also by escalating North–South tensions.

His signing of the Kansas–Nebraska Act 1854, which permitted the new western states to vote if they wanted slavery, provoked full-scale violence over the slavery issue, and Pierce was denied renomination 1856.

Pierce was born in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, and qualified as a barrister 1827. He served in the New Hampshire state legislature 1829–33. Returning to New Hampshire from the Senate 1942, he served briefly as US attorney but refused other high-profile political appointments. He saw action in the Mexican War 1846–48.