PIERCE 



1666 



PIERCE 



Democratic- majority, headed by Pun 

 ceeded in obtaining a legislature in which the 

 Whips and antislavery Democrat- had a ma- 

 jority. In this contest Pierce clearly r. 

 the fact that !- Northern stater-man 



with Southern principles.' 1 



At the outbreak of the Mexican War. Pierce 

 volunt. private soldier. Before long, 



however. President Polk commissioned hin'i a 

 colonel, and in March. 1M7. appointed him 

 brigad: d of volunteers. Pierce 



promptly .-ailed for Yera C'nix. where he joined 

 :1 Wintield Scott in time to take part in 

 the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. At 

 Contreras Pierce was thrown from his horse, 

 but. although suffering great pain, refused to 

 leave the field. This brief military experience, 

 although creditable, added little to his reputa- 

 tion. II. was e.--entially a peaceable man. and 

 was never associated in the public mind with 

 military affairs. 



Presidential Candidate. During the four years 

 following the Mexican War. Pierce practiced 

 law at Concord. X. H. Kxcept for a single in- 

 stance, in 1850, when he was president of u 

 convention to draft a new constitution for New 

 Hampshire, he had no part in public affairs. 

 This aloofness from the issues of the day made 

 Pierce an acceptable compromise candidate for 

 the Presidency in 1852. The Democratic con- 

 vention met at Baltimore on June 1. To the 

 previous party declarations on the subject of 

 .-lavery its platform added a new resolution, 

 pledging the party to a faithful execution of 

 the Compromise of 1850. "the act for reclaiming 



fugitive slave included." and to a iv-i.-tancr 

 of all attempt- to n new agitation of the slavery 

 question. Then the convention struggled fruit- 

 le ly for three days to nominate; Cass. Marcy. 

 Buchanan and Douglas we're formidable candi- 

 dates. o n the thirty-fifth ballot ( ; neral Pierce 



received a few votes, and on the forty-ninth 

 ballot he was nominated. It cannot !- 

 that Pierce was a national leader, but he held 

 a iv.-peetable place in public life. wa- per- 

 sonally attractive and was popular; he had no 

 record to attack and no enemies to fear. Li- 

 able than any of the men he defeated, he was 

 a safe selection under the existing conditions. 



To oppose him the Whigs nominated (ien- 

 eral Winfield Scott, on a platform almost iden- 

 tical with that of the Democrats, recognixing 

 the "finality" of the Compromise of 1850. 

 Some of the Southern Whigs refused to support 

 Scott because of his lukewarm attitude 1 towards 

 the Compromise. The Free-Soilers thereupon 

 held a convention of their own, and nominated 

 for President John P. Hale. Pierce's old college 

 friend and political opponent. Between Pierce 

 and Scott there was no real issue except the 

 personality .of the candidates, and the campaign 

 soon degenerated into petty personalities. 

 Scott was called a "miracle of vanity," and 

 Pierce was unjustly abused as a coward in the 

 Mexican War and a drunkard in private life. 

 There was no enthusiasm for Scott, and the re- 

 sult was foreseen for weeks. Pierce carried 

 every state except Massachusetts, Vermont, 

 Kentucky and Tennessee, and received 254 

 electoral votes to 42 for Scott. 



The Administration of Franklin Pierce, 1853-185? 



Pierce was inaugurated "in the full sunshine 

 of popularity," and delivered an optimistic 

 inaugural address before the largest assembly 

 which had ever gathered in Washington on such 

 an occasion. In selecting his Cabinet, Pierce 

 .-howi d the same optimism, and as a means of 

 maintaining compromise, chose men of all fac- 

 tion-. William L. Marcy, Secretary of State. 

 was a leader of the New York state "Hunkers." 

 or conservative Democrats. James Guthrie, 

 Secretary of the Treasury, and James C. Dob- 

 bin, Secretary of the Navy, were conservative 

 Southern Democrats. But on the radical side 

 were Robert McClelland, Secretary of the In- 

 terior, an ant isla very Northerner; Jefferson 

 Davis, Secretary of War. a states'-rights South- 

 erner; and Caleb Cushing, Attorney-(ieueral, 

 originally a Massachusetts Whig. Although 



composed of so many elements, this Cabinet 

 remained unchanged throughout the whole of 

 Pierces administration, a unique distinction in 

 the history of the United States. 



The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In spite of the 

 fact that the platforms both of the Whigs and 

 of the Democrats accepted the finality of the 

 Compromise of 1850, the slavery question came 

 to the front in less than a year after Pierce's 

 inauguration. In January, 1854, Stephen A. 

 Douglas introduced into the Senate the Kan- 

 sas-Nebraska Bill (which see). The bill passed 

 at once, and became a law on May oO. Thus 

 Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise of 

 1S20. and left the new territories free 'o decide 

 for themselves whether they would or would not 

 admit slavery. Kansas, the territory nearest 

 the newei 1 states, was turned into a battle 



