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.