The Pioneer Volume 51, Issue 2

piercepioneernews.com
CAMPUS/19
Remembering Franklin Pierce
Former president’s name graces college, county landmarks
Franklin Pierce, 14th President
of the United States, poses
for the camera.
BY CRAIG T. HIBLAR
Contributing Writer
IT IS NO CHALLENGE TO THE
IMAGINATION where Pierce College
got its name. However, it may be only
the student who just finished a civics or
local history class who knows how Pierce
County was named.
Franklin Pierce had just been elected
President of the United States in November
1852. The Territorial Legislature of Oregon
determined that the Thurston territory was
too large. On Dec. 22, 1852, a piece of land
was cut, creating Pierce County to honor
the new president.
Franklin Pierce was born into politics
on Nov. 23, 1804 in Hillsborough, New
Hampshire. Pierce’s father, Benjamin,
Wikimedia Commons/Courtesy Photo
had served in the Revolutionary War and
served two terms as New Hampshire’s
governor.
The younger Pierce studied to become
a lawyer and was admitted to the bar in
1827 and eventually became known as
one of the most successful lawyers in New
England, according to whitehouse.gov.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Franklin
entered politics with a successful run for
a seat in the New Hampshire legislature.
He was then elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1832.
A Democrat who supported President
Andrew Jackson, his career as a politician
continued to rise when he was elected to
the U.S. Senate in 1836. But he resigned
in 1842 before his term as Senator was
complete. His wife Jane Pierce, who was
in chronic poor health, had prevailed
upon him to leave Washington and return
to New Hampshire and resumed his
law practice, according to a biography
presented by history.com.
In 1852, the Democratic Party was
searching for a candidate that would
appease the North and South. It was
Pierce’s promise to keep the Union
together and to protect slavery that won
him the nomination for president.
Franklin Pierce would win the election
defeating his Whig opponent Gen.
Winfield Scott in a landslide. Pierce won
254 electoral votes to Scott’s 42.
In a biography published on
americanpresidents.org, he is described
as a “doughface,” a Yankee who possessed
Southern sympathies. Pierce believed the
Constitution protected the South’s right
to own slaves and the U.S. Congress had
no right to pass legislation limiting the
expansion of slavery in the new territories
acquired from Mexico after winning the
Mexican War (1846-1848).
The tragic death of his 11-year-old son
while on the campaign trail only added to
his trials when he took his oath of office.
The dark cloud continued to spread as
he was unable to find a solution to the
increasing division between the North and
the South over the institution of slavery,
according to whitehouse.gov. His push to
expand the borders past the Kansas and
Nebraska territories helped to set the stage
for the Civil War.
Because of legislation he backed to
support expansion of the railroad, in 1854,
an outbreak of violence became known as
“Bleeding Kansas.”
As a result, his popularity declined
and he was not nominated for a second
term. His administration is considered
by historians to be one of the worst in
the history of U.S Presidents, returned to
New Hampshire and became an alcoholic,
according to whitehouse.gov.
He died Oct. 8, 1869.