Franklin Pierce's Accomplishments

Born in 1804, Franklin Pierce became the fourteenth president of the United States from 1853 to 1857. Pierce was not a very effective nor well-liked president. At the end of his term, the Democratic party had refused to choose him again due to his shortcoming and instead, chose James Buchanan as its new nomination. As a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, Pierce also believed in a limited central government. His belief in a limited government combined with his inability to go against the strong supporters for pro-slavery caused him to be an ineffective leader.

Pierce was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire on November 23 of 1804. His parents were Benjamin and Anna Kendrick Pierce. Franklin Pierce was one of eight children, whom Anna Pierce

According to History.com, the “shared opposition to the bill led a coalition including antislavery Democrats, Free Soilers and former Whigs to form the new Republican Party.” The Republican party still exists today, and continues to oppose the Democratic party. Pierce’s foreign policy also created much rage and dissatisfaction throughout the country. With Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War at the time, urging him, Pierce had the US minister approach Mexico with an offer to buy land that was vital to the expansion of the railroads. In 1854, an American vessel, the Black Warrior, was confiscated by the Spanish, causing the Pierce administration and ministers from Spain, France and Britain to create “the…Ostend Manifesto, which stated that if the United States determined that Spanish possession of Cuba was a security threat, it was justified in taking [Cuba] by force” (History.com). When this became public, it caused protest from the newly emerging Republican party. Thankfully for Pierce, not all his foreign policies caused as much drama. Later in the same year, Commodore Matthew C. Perry negotiated with Japan to open trade between the two countries after years of monopoly of Japan from the Dutch

After him, James Buchanan was sworn in for presidency, and was left with the aftermath of Pierce’s presidency as well as the emerging clarity of the fact that civil war was on the horizon. When the civil war finally began, Pierce, along with many others voiced their support for the northern cause. As a loyal Democrat, Pierce also did not support Abraham Lincoln. In fact, he publicly blamed Lincoln for the war. Due to his harsh and unfounded criticism, Pierce lost numerous of his longtime friendships. He eventually became a bit of an alcoholic. Pierce, by the end of the war, was left forgotten about along with his reclusive and ill wife. However, one exception to this was when Lincoln was assassinated, there was a mob of angry people at his doorstep. Using is once-famed oratorical skills, he managed to convince the mob to leave peacefully. When he finally died in 1869, there was little left that was remembered about him and very few wrote about him as well