User:Orser67/Pierce
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The presidency of Franklin Pierce began on March 4, 1853 and ended on March 4, 1857. The 14th President of the United States, Franklin Pierce was a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation.[1] His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act alienated anti-slavery groups while failing to stem intersectional conflict, setting the stage for Southern secession and the American Civil War. Pierce was succeeded by Democrat James Buchanan.
Seen by Democrats as a compromise candidate uniting northern and southern interests, he was nominated on the 49th ballot of the 1852 Democratic National Convention. In the 1852 presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King easily defeated the Whig ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham. As president, Pierce simultaneously attempted to enforce neutral standards for civil service while also satisfying the diverse elements of the Democratic Party with patronage, an effort which largely failed and turned many in his party against him. Pierce was a Young America expansionist presided over the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico and led a failed attempt to acquire Cuba from Spain. He signed trade treaties with the United Kingdom and Japan, while his Cabinet reformed their departments and improved accountability, but these successes were overshadowed by political strife during his presidency.
His popularity in the Northern states declined sharply after he supported the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which nullified the Missouri Compromise, though many whites in the South continued to support him. Passage of the act led to violent conflict over the expansion of slavery in the American West. Pierce's administration was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto, calling for the annexation of Cuba, a document which was roundly criticized. Although Pierce fully expected to be renominated by the Democrats in the 1856 presidential election, he was abandoned by his party in favor of Buchanan. Historians and other scholars generally rank Pierce as among the worst of US Presidents.