Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857
- ISBN-10
- 0805087192
- ISBN-13
- 9780805087192
- Series
- Franklin Pierce
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 176
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2010-03-30
- Publisher
- Times Books
- Author
- Michael F. Holt
Description
The genial but troubled New Englander whose single-minded partisan loyalties inflamed the nation's simmering battle over slavery Charming and handsome, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire was drafted to break the deadlock of the 1852 Democratic convention. Though he seized the White House in a landslide against the imploding Whig Party, he proved a dismal failure in office. Michael F. Holt, a leading historian of nineteenth-century partisan politics, argues that in the wake of the Whig collapse, Pierce was consumed by an obsessive drive to unify his splintering party rather than the roiling country. He soon began to overreach. Word leaked that Pierce wanted Spain to sell the slave-owning island of Cuba to the United States, rousing sectional divisions. Then he supported repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which limited the expansion of slavery in the west. Violence broke out, and "Bleeding Kansas" spurred the formation of the Republican Party. By the end of his term, Pierce's beloved party had ruptured, and he lost the nomination to James Buchanan. In this incisive account, Holt shows how a flawed leader, so dedicated to his party and ill-suited for the presidency, hastened the approach of the Civil War.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-09-30
- 664 pages
- Paperback
- University of Pennsylvania Press
-
- 2010-03-30
- 176 pages
- Ebook
- Macmillan
Similar books
-
Franklin Pierce
By Barbara A. SomervillA biography of the man elected fourteenth president of the United States, discussing his personal life, education, and political career.
-
Franklin Pierce
By Caroline Evensen LazoChronicles the life and political career of the fourteenth president of the United States.
-
Franklin Pierce: Our Fourteenth President
By Steven FerryDiscusses the early life, family, political career, and contributions of the fourteenth president of the United States.
-
Franklin Pierce
By Peter A. WallnerIn this second volume of Wallner's Pierce biography, President Pierce faces unscrupulous and corrupt politicians, comically inept diplomats, violent adventurers, fanatical reformers, fraud, and speculation within an increasingly divided and...
-
The Presidency of Franklin Pierce
By Larry GaraFranklin Pierce was one of the least known, least liked, and least successful presidents in American history. In this new study of his administration, historian Larry Gara makes no attempt...
-
Life of Franklin Pierce
By Nathaniel HawthorneLife of Franklin Pierce
-
Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills
By Roy Franklin Nichols"Franklin Pierce - - the fourteenth President of the United Sates - - has existed in the public mind as a stereotype rather than as a many-sided human being. The...
-
Franklin Pierce: A Bibliography
By Gerry HaydenAlthough there has been little scholarly interest in Franklin Pierce, the issues of his administration--the Kansas-Nebraska Act, turmoil over Kansas, the Abolitionist crusade, the enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave...
-
Franklin Pierce
By Charnan Simon1767 – John Quincy Adams , sixth president of the U.S. and son of second president John Adams , is born in Braintree , Massachusetts . Andrew Jackson , seventh president of the U.S. , is born in Waxhaw settlement , South Carolina .
-
Franklin Pierce and his administration
By S. WebsterFranklin Pierce and his administration