1 day Ago
It's interesting — perhaps ironic — that Franklin Pierce, a political semi-novice in the realm of national politics, was deemed the compromise presidential candidate who could bring together the North and South, and yet he accelerated the gathering clouds of war. Since Pierce was a Northerner who supported the institution of slavery, the Democrat Party believed that both sections of the nation would identify with him, ergo his election could soften the angry words that had become the hallmarks of congressional debate and newspaper stories. Alas, Franklin Pierce was not a strong leader, and once he was inaugurated as president, his unwillingness to weigh in with a strong voice that could dominate the debate regarding slavery and states' rights doomed the nation to eventually settle that issue with arms.
And yet, students of history can feel a bit of sympathy for the man who was propelled into leadership in a decade that witnessed a rush toward war. Why? Let's imagine that we were witnesses to Franklin Pierce's inauguration. It's March 4, 1852, and a blustery wind blew across the District of Columbia.
The new president's face was drawn and sorrow-lined, reflecting the anguish the Pierces had felt when they buried their infant son only two months earlier. Mrs. Pierce refused to leave her DC hotel room to attend the ceremony; instead, she remained in the room, writing letters to her dead child.
Pierce, whose greatest attribute as a politician was his oratory skill, displayed a lack of emotion in delivering his short inaugural address that contained the statement, "You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your...
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