Franklin Pierce

But with two of his companions he formed a friendship which lasted always.

One of these was Franklin Pierce, who was destined to fill what Hawthorne calls, quote, the most august position in the world.

Pierce was elected President of the United States in 1852.

The other was Horatio Bridge, who afterwards served with distinction in the Navy, and to whom the charming prefatory letter of the collection of tales published under the name of the Snow Image is addressed.

And it was a jocular tradition among his neighbors, in allusion to his attributive tendency to evade rather than hasten the coming guest, that he used to ascend the structure and scan the road for provocations to retreat.

Insofar, however, as Hawthorne suffered the penalties of celebrity at the hands of intrusive fellow citizens, he was soon to escape from this honorable incommodity.

On the 4th of March 1853, his old college mate and intimate friend, Franklin Pierce, was installed as President of the United States.

He had been the candidate of the Democratic Party, and all good Democrats accordingly, in conformity to the beautiful and rational system under which the affairs of the great republic were carried on, begun to open their windows to the golden sunshine of presidential patronage.

That's pretty early.

I think your mom was a descendant of or related somehow to President Franklin Pierce.

And am I right about that?

Yeah, you are.

That's pretty early.

I think your mom was a descendant of or related somehow to President Franklin Pierce.

And am I right about that?

Yeah, you are.

We're going back to limited government.

And look, Tyler and not Polk so much, but certainly when you get to Pierce and Buchanan, these are people talking about Jeffersonian principles there.

That's why I think that Franklin Pierce in particular gets a very bad rap.

James Buchanan, I think, was trying to do the right thing by not rushing the United States into war, and Lincoln just didn't care.

So this is the post.

Sectional Conflict and Reconstruction.

history of the united states by charles a beard and mary r beard part v sectional conflict and reconstruction chapter thirteen the rise of the industrial system if jefferson could have lived to see the stars and stripes planted on the pacific ocean the broad empire of texas added to the planting states and the valley of the willamette waving with wheat sown by farmers from new england he would have been more than fortified in his faith that the future of america lay in agriculture even a staunch old federalist like governor morris or josiah quincy would have mournfully conceded both the prophecy and the claim manifest destiny never seemed more clearly written in the stars as the farmers from the northwest and planters from the southwest poured in upon the floor of congress the party of jefferson christened anew by jackson grew stronger year by year opponents there were no doubt disgruntled critics and whigs by conviction but in eighteen fifty two franklin pierce the democratic candidate for president carried every state in the union except massachusetts vermont kentucky and tennessee this victory a triumph under ordinary circumstances was all the more significant in that pierce was pitted against a hero of the mexican war general scott whom the whigs hoping to win by rousing the martial ardor of the voters had nominated on looking at the election returns the new president calmly assured the planters that the general principle of reduction of duties with a view to revenue may now be regarded as the settled policy of the country with equal confidence he waved aside those agitators who devoted themselves to the supposed interests of the relatively few africans in the united states like a watchman in the night he called to the country all's well The party of Hamilton and Clay lay in the dust.

The Industrial Revolution As pride often goeth before a fall, so sanguine expectation is sometimes the symbol of defeat.

Jackson destroyed the bank.

Such was the Great Compromise of 1850.

The Pro-Slavery Triumph in the Election of 1852 The results of the election of 1852 seemed to show conclusively that the nation was weary of slavery agitation and wanted peace.

both parties whigs and democrats endorsed the fugitive slave law and approved the great compromise the democrats with franklin pierce as their leader swept the country against the war hero general winfield scott on whom the whigs had staked their hopes Even Webster, broken with grief at his failure to receive the nomination, advised his friends to vote for Pierce, and turned away from politics to meditate upon approaching death.

The verdict of the voters would seem to indicate that for the time everybody, save a handful of disgruntled agitators, looked upon Clay's settlement as the last word.