Pierce, Franklin 1804-69
14th President of the USA

Born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, he studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1827. From 1829 to 1833 he was a member of the state legislature, the last two years as Speaker. In 1833 he was elected to Congress as a Jacksonian Democrat, and in 1837 to the US Senate, where he showed himself a loyal member of his party. He resigned in 1842 to practise law in Concord, New Hampshire, and in 1846 he volunteered for the Mexican War, rising to the rank of brigadier-general. Pierce was nominated in 1852 as a compromise candidate for the presidency and was elected by a generous margin over Winfield Scott, the Whig nominee. The events of his administration (1853-57) included the treaty for reciprocity of trade with the British American colonies, the Gadsden purchase from Spain, the expeditions of William Walker to Nicaragua and of others to Cuba, and, especially, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which led to bitter debates about the possible expansion of slavery, and contributed to the formation of the Republican Party. The unpopularity of this act led to his enforced retirement from politics, as he was passed for the 1856 Democratic presidential nomination.