Son of Benjamin Pierce, governor of New Hampshire (1827 and 1829), Pierce attended Bowdoin College and was admitted to the bar in 1824. Pierce entered politics on the Democratic ticket and won a seat in Congress (1833-37). He was subsequently elected to the Senate in 1837-42. He returned to Concord and established a law practice which was extremely successful. Serving in the Mexican War, he rose to the rank of Brigadier General and, at one point, was offered the post of Attorney General in the Polk administration, which he declined.
During the Democratic convention in 1852, Pierce was nominated on the 49th ballot and won an overwhelming victory against Winfield Scott in the subsequent presidential election. As the 14th President, Pierce supported the Gadsen Purchase, which acquired parts of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Kansas-Nebraska bill. His support of the latter alienated him from the northern Democrats and cost him the nomination in 1856. He thereafter retired to Concord and a life of relative obscurity. |
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