Franklin Pierce

Attended the academies of Hancock and Francestown, New Hampshire; prepared for college at Exeter and graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1824; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Hillsborough in 1827; member, State general court (1829-1833), and served as speaker (1832-1833); elected as a Democrat to the 23rd and 24th Congresses (4 Mar 1833 - 3 Mar 1837); elected as a Democrat to the US Senate and served from 4 Mar 1837 to 28 Feb 28, 1842, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Pensions (26th Congress); resumed the practice of law in Concord; district attorney for New Hampshire; declined the appointment as Attorney General of the United States tendered by President James Polk; served in the Mexican War as a colonel and brigadier general; member of the New Hampshire State constitutional convention in 1850 and served as its president; elected President of the United States on the Democratic ticket in 1852; sidestepped the antagonisms of the domestic scene by promoting the extension of U.S. territorial and commercial interests abroad; recognized the dubious regime set up in Nicaragua by an American adventurer (1855); gained limited access to Japanese ports as a result of Commodore Matthew Perry's expedition to Japan (1853-1854); acquired from Mexico almost 78,000 square km of territory to open the way for a southerly route to California (1853; the Gadsden Purchase); enacted the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) to stimulate migration to the Northwest; was unable to stop the struggle between proslavery and antislavery advocates in Kansas (1854-1859); was not a candidate for reelection in 1856; resumed the practice of law.