Pierce, Franklin

Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills

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Very detailed and thoughtful anaylsis
Ok but could have been better
how not to avoid a civil war
Mediocre president, good book
A Plodder

Franklin Pierce: Young Hickory of the Granite Hills
Roy Nichols
Manufacturer: American Political Biography Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0945707061

Customer Reviews:

Very detailed and thoughtful anaylsis.......2007-01-03

Roy Nichols, biography on little known President Franklin Pierce was insightful and extremely detailed. I will admit that of all the biographies I have read on each President in chronological order this so far has been the toughest read as far as maintaining my enthusiasm. I think that Mr. Nichols did the best he could with the material he had meaning that Franklin Pierce was inadequate to the task of being the President of the United States. He did not have the constitution, nor the fortitude to be a strong President and consequently in my estimation his lack of action on dealing with the Kansas/Nebraska act and the south contributed to the oncoming of the Civil War. However, while this is a tough read, I think anyone who wants a thorough understanding on the 14th President of the United States needs to read this biography. Again as in my other reviews I think this biography should be in every library, high school and university. Every American needs to understand the responsibilities that go with this high office and the need to elect men of integrity, and who are leaders morally and courageously. This book in my estimation is exhausted with detail on President Pierce and the reader needs to know that before starting.

Ok but could have been better.......2006-03-17

I just finished this book last night. I am reading one biography on every US President and this was my 30th to read. Unfortunately there are not many choices on this particular president. The book was first written in 1931 and therefore feels a little dated in its structure. I feel I know a lot more about Pierce now and I happen to agree with history's assessment of the man and his one term in office. While his commitment to the Union is beyond question, he does deserve some blame in the deteriorating state of domestic affairs during the decade leading to Civil War. He was a weak, indecisive executive and his decision to form his cabinet to represent all views of the democracy was the deathblow to his administration before it even began. It demonstrated his lack of commitment to one set of principles. In his defense, even the greatest president could not have avoided civil war for ever. Linclon was correct when he said that the union was destined to be either all slave or all free. War was inevitable but Pierce's lack of leadership did not help.

His post presidency of 12 years is given very brief attention. And there is no examination of his relationship with Jefferson Davis either during the war or after the war. It is apparent from the book that Davis was one of his closest advisors. It is a very important relationship in American history that the President of the Confederate states had served as secretary of War in the US cabinet only 4 years before the war. An examination of how the war effected their relationship and what Pierce thought of Davis being the southern president isn't even mentioned.

I would hope some modern author will revisit the subject of Franklin Pierce. Until then, this book is the best we have.

how not to avoid a civil war.......2005-02-26

Over the last several years I have read more than 25 presidential biographies, using Amazon readers' reviews to guide my selections. I was a bit reluctant to try this biography of Franklin Pierce; but, reading it was a pleasant surprise. I found Nichols' work to be well organized and very readable. He did a nice job of weaving together Pierce's private life, his politics, and the times. Pierce was often stymied by misfortune and occasionally by tragedy and was simply is not equipped to be a great leader. Pierce was a charming courtroom lawyer, the inevitable 19th century party stalwart, and became deeply religious, but he lacked the vision or skill to do much more than react to problems. Often, he falls prey to others' subterfuge. He became famous for vacillating from one position to another .

The 1850's were a fascinating but difficult time The Whig Party collapsed, No Nothings rose and fell, the Republicans got their start, and sectionalism was often as important as party loyalty. The country's greatest statesmen - Jackson, Polk, Calhoun, Webster, and Clay - had died off. The US was attempting to come to grips with Western expansion and the opportunity to be a world power, but every foreign policy Pierce tried stalled or failed. He constantly misjudged the North's evolving opinions against slavery. During much of Pierce's administration the Executive and Legislative branches vied for supremacy. But neither branch had the leadership or vision to be effective, and perhaps no leader or party could have found a way to avoid the Civil War. Nichols' biography captures all of this and I strongly recommend it.

Mediocre president, good book.......2003-01-20

I had always been somewhat intrigued by Franklin Pierce, perhaps our most obscure president. I would wonder why he was almost neglected by history while other presidents got much more press. As I eventually learned - and as this book reaffirms - there is a reason he is almost completely ignored. Pierce represented the nadir of the Presidency, a period that by historical circumstances and Pierce's own lack of ability made presidential power as weak as it ever would be.

Nichols's book describes the early life of Pierce. The son of a Revolutionary War veteran, Pierce used his family connections and his own gifts of intelligence and oratory to rise in the local political community, first on a state level and then eventually into both houses of Congress. While adept enough to get these positions, he never really sparkled at any of them; his period as a general in the Mexican War is similarly unimpressive.

The Democratic Party, desperate to find a nominee in 1852, eventually settled on Pierce, not because he was a great candidate, but - as a Northerner with distinctly pro-Southern views - he was the only candidate with wide geographical appeal. Attaining the Presidency, he did little to calm the growing North-South rift and, in fact, left things in a sadder state than when he left.

Nichols portrays Pierce sympathetically enough as a man beset by poor health, a hard-to-live-with wife and a series of family tragedies, culminating with seeing the death of his last child in an accident just prior to his inauguration. Pierce, however, was also a politician with little political awareness, oblivious to the growing conflict over slavery and with sympathies in complete contrast to that of his New Hampshire neighbors. Compared with most of his fellow Presidents, Pierce wound up dying in ignonimy.

This is a good book, very detailed and with a high level of objectivity, and can be considered probably the best book on Pierce. Originally written in the 1930s, Nichols occasionally uses language that may seem quaint to modern eyes, but this is still quite readable. If you want to learn about Franklin Pierce (and the era leading up to the Civil War), this is a good place to start.

A Plodder.......2000-08-14

I turned to Roy Nichols' work because truthfully there isn't much of a Franklin Pierce bibliography. Nichols' work dates back to 1931, an era of different writing styles and certainly different interpretations of American political life.

When I refer to this work as a "Plodder," I intend no disrespect. Nichols work is, for the most part, a straightforward biography of a New Hampshire politician who became an unlikely compromise candidate for the presidency in 1852. To borrow a sports analogy, one has to be in a position to win in order to win, and the author painstakingly traces the steps of this methodical politician that put him in lightning's way.

Nichols leaves the reader with ample evidence to believe that Franklin Pierce owed at least something of his steady rise through local offices to the reputation of his father, General Benjamin Pierce, a Revolutionary war hero and governor of New Hampshire in his own right. Franklin graduated from Bowdoin and began his lawn practice precisely at the heydey of his father's own success. A late twentieth century biographer most certainly would have delved into the psychodynamics between father and son.

In the style of the day, Nichols hints at, but does not detail, several critical factors in Pierce's life. His marriage to Jane Appleton smacks of Lincoln's trials with Mary Todd. His drinking was problematic. His absence of commitment to one of the proper religious denominations of the day was noted then by those who charted such things. He seemed to have been unduly shaken early in his congressional career when John Calhoun denounced him on the floor over a ludicruously insignificant matter. Later The reader is left to surmise the impact of a horrific family tragedy upon Pierce's state of mind as he prepared to take the presidential oath in 1853.

Nichols' Pierce was himself a plodder who for the most part achieved political offices the old fashioned way: he earned it, and particularly by his services within the Democratic Party. Pierce enforced party discipline with a ruthlessness that served him well early in his career, but his intractibility was a serious handicap in the 1850's as America saw multiple realignments of political families. Nichols recounts the presidential years in straightforward fashion, but he deftly questions the wisdom of trying to build national unity through a "representative" cabinet of such diverse characters as Jefferson Davis and William Marcy. The upshot of such a strategy was a not unexpected rearguard action from within the executive branch that stymied the few genuine executive initiatives from the presidential desk.

Much to his credit, Nichols reminds his readers that the Pierce Presidency was more than Bleeding Kansas. In fact, one is left with the impression that Pierce never had the full picture of the Kansas situation. The years 1853-1857 were times of Indian wars in the northwest, railroad dealings and wheelings north and south, filibustering in central America, the emergence of the Know-Nothings, and a variety of midrange diplomatic problems with England and Spain in particular. Some of Pierce's diplomats--Pierre Soule and Dan Sickles, for example--did not represent him well. There is surprisingly little information about reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law; Pierce never waivered in his belief that the growing vocal reaction against slavery was nothing more than the annoyance of a few malcontents, an impression formed in New Hampshire in the 1830's when Pierce was laboring to build party unity.

The absence of a psychological vocabulary hinders Nichols when he attempts to describe the dissolution of Pierce after his presidency. As the Civil War unfolds, Pierce's inability to either understand its forces or accept the new national order becomes eery. In the structured world of Franklin Pierce, the abolitionists are the villains, true anarchists, and their sin is disruption of the Democratic Party. The moral component of both "causes," north and south, totally escaped him...

Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son
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President Pierce - an honest man enduring personal and political tragedy

The Making of President Pierce

Long overdue exploration of a political mystery.

what about Pierce's presidency?

Fresh, highly readable look at our 14th President

Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son
Peter A. Wallner
Manufacturer: Plaidswede Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0975521616

Book Description

Biography of Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire native and 14th president of the United States. Volume covers Pierce to the night of his inauguration.

Customer Reviews:

President Pierce - an honest man enduring personal and political tragedy.......2007-04-02

For those who have interest in studying tough, stong, capable men who achieve our highest office but yet fail to achieve anticipated heights of power and glory, this brief, taut biography gives insights into a northeastern political power who harbors quiet sentiments for the South's "peculiar institution" and who fails due to the dichotomy of constituent demands.

An interesting human drama played against a transitioning political background.

The Making of President Pierce.......2007-03-03

It has been nigh on to 100 years since there was a complete biography of Franklin Pierce published and in that time there have been many changes in the way historians look at things. Revisionism and Counter-Revisionism and all sorts of isms have swept through the historical community but until now no one has thought to take another look at Franklin Pierce. Back in my college days I sat through classes during which the professors only mentioned Pierce in a negative light and in one class I had as a textbook a book that was very hard on Pierce and the notion that he was a horrible president and person just never seemed to be challenged. Finally in this book those notions are beginning to be challenged and in a forceful and thought provoking way.

The basis for most of the Pierce bashing comes from the idea that he was not only pro Southern but also pro-slavery and neither could be farther from the truth. Of course this book doesn't deal with his presidency or the Civil War but just with his life up until his first night in the White House but the author proves quite satisfactorily that Pierce only supported the South in matters where he believed that the Constitution was on their side and that he deplored slavery but felt that it was protected by the Constitution and to Pierce nothing was more sacred than the Constitution. The Constitution in Pierce's mind was the only thing that stood between the common man and absolute domination of the country by the rich and powerful and he wasn't willing to sacrifice that for any cause no matter how noble.

The author also does an excellent job of explaining Pierce's dislike for abolitionists above and beyond the fact that he felt that they were a threat to the Union. Pierce spent most of his life fighting for the common man and especially for religious liberty including a court case where he put his popularity on the line to defend the Shaker sect from persecution. Many of the people who sought to persecute the Shakers were abolitionists and also many abolitionists were violently anti-Catholic and Pierce began to see most abolitionists as religious bigots, which in fact many of them were. In Pierce's mind racial bigotry and religious bigotry were equally noxious and he came to detest all abolitionists because of their association with this intolerant attitude. To Pierce those who chose to lie down with dogs most certainly got up with fleas.

Mr. Wallner has done an excellent job with this book and although he has to some extent fallen into the biographer's trap of becoming too enamored by his subject he has at least backed up all of his ascertains with good research. This is a well-written and very enjoyable book that gives the reader a good look at Franklin Pierce's pre-presidential life both private and public. A lot of President Pierce's policies may look bad in hindsight but thanks to Mr. Wallner one can easily see where his core beliefs came from. Any student of the presidency will want to pick up this book as will any Civil War buff but just keep in mind that while history has not been kind to Pierce Mr. Wallner may have been a bit too kind to him. I very much look forward to volume two.

Long overdue exploration of a political mystery........2006-09-21

For years Franklin Pierce has been ill-served by the nation's historians, nearly all of whom repeat the same things about him--that he was an alcoholic, a coward in the Mexican-American war, pro-slavery and one of the reasons why this country had a Civil War.

Unfortunetely such judgements are basedly largely on biased accounts written decades ago, such as Allen Nevin's "Ordeal of the Union," an enormously slanted work on the events leading up to the Civil War; thus repeating for succeeding generations the same tired old myths without bothering to take a new look at where those myths originated.

In recent years the most important attack on Pierce came in the form of an essay written by William W. Freehling, who admits he borrowed from Nevin, in a guide called "The Presidents: A Reference History." In it, Freehling delivers what could only be described as a personal attack on the 14th president, calling him, among other things, "an inconsequential charmer," a "pleasant nonentity," and "a non-actor clinging to more powerful statemen's actions as if they were his own."

Freehling's very brief scholarship on Pierce's years after the White House are the most disturbing and incorrect. He claims, without providing any documentary evidence, that Pierce sank "deeply into an alcoholic haze," and died in 1869 "almost unnoticed, once again almost unknown."

In fact, Pierce's death was a day of national mourning called for by President Ulysses S. Grant (even the U.S. Supreme Court suspended activities), with his controversial life and career vigorously debated and amply covered by the nation's most important newspapers: The New York Times, the New York Herald, the New York Tribune and the Washigton Star, among others.

I am the author of a book called "The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce: the Story of a President and the Civil War," which mostly focuses on Pierce's activities as an ex-president during the Civil War years, when he fought against President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and urged the government to enter into negotiations with the Confederacy.

Far from sinking into an alcoholic haze, Pierce remained remarkably active and vigorous in retirement, engaged in contemporary debate, and compiling a record of political participation that is perhaps only equalled by Harry Truman in the decade or so after he left the White House in 1953.

For a much larger look at Pierce and his complex rise to the top during his New Hampshire years, Peter Wallner's book is a welcome addition. Unlike Freehling and others, Wallner has actually gone through the Pierce papers (the vast majority of which are available in the archives of the New Hampshire Historical Collection and through the Library of Congress' presidential papers microfilm series).

The end result is a work of solid scholarship that in no way serves to apologize for anything that Pierce does, but effectively dismantles the "non-entity" noose that others have tried to hang him with. Wallner copiously explores every aspect of Pierce's career leading up to his landslide election in 1852, and the result is a profile of a politician who was remarkably good at what he did.

Incidentally, Wallner finally puts to rest the idea that Pierce was plucked from hinterland obscurity when delegates to the Democratic convention in 1852 named him as their presidential nominee. In fact, Pierce angled for months behind the scenes to get the nod, and adriotly figured that if the other, more well-known candidates cancelled themselves out, he would have a real shot at being nominated in a later ballot.

Pierce's cunning and guile in just that contest alone, as amply demonstrated by Wallner, showed that he was actually an astute and capable political strategist.

What Wallner will tell us about Pierce as president, and whatever other myths he may effectively demolish, can only be imagined. His style is quiet and respectful, slowly building a case that casts historians like Freehling, who have appraoched the Pierce presidency a bit too breezily, in an unfavorble light.

Surely the second volume of Wallner's biography of Pierce will effectively (if the first volume has not already done so) establish him as the preeminent Pierce scholar of our time, doing for the 14th president what Arthur Schlesinger did for FDR.

Garry Boulard, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

what about Pierce's presidency?.......2006-06-02

I just finished reading this book and found it interesting and well-written. It convinced me that Pierce was an exceptional politician, honest, hardworking, sincere and well liked. He was a leader in New Hampshire for many years. What struck me as odd was the fact that it ended shortly about his inauguration. There was no mention of his presidency and why he was considered a failure. Perhaps the author intends to write a second book. However, this is not evident in the first one. Also, Pierce is often tagged with the reputation as a drunk. Wallner does not delve into this problem. He points out that Pierce gave up drinking and was in favor of convincing other people to do the same.

Since Pierce was such an obscure president, there are very few books on his life. Wallner points out that he was able to consult many manuscripts that were not previous available.
That would indicate that this short life is authoritative, as far as it goes. If you want another good biography, the only one by a historian is by Nichols, but it was written decades ago. The one by Gara is not recommended. It is mainly about the period and rarely mentions Pierce by name.

Fresh, highly readable look at our 14th President.......2006-05-06

This is the story about a handsome, gifted son of a colorful Revolutionary War veteran and governor, who seemingly with little effort became Speaker of the N.H. House at age 27, then a congressman, senator, general in the Mexican War, was among the most celebrated lawyers in his home state, turned down a presidential appointment to be U.S. attorney general, only to later become President himself. All this by age 48. With such a life, of course, came much suffering. Wouldn't you know it. With the talent and success, there was a flow of self doubt, inner torment, struggles with faith and the bottle, a difficult marriage, and huge personal grief. With the eloquence, brilliant mind and good looks was also stubbornness and political vindictiveness. It's a familiar story that always fascinates. Bright boy from a powerful, connected family makes it big, really big, but it all ends sadly. This story about Franklin Pierce is wonderfully and freshly told by author Peter A. Wallner, whose college mentor was the biographer of another president of the same era, Philip Shriver Klein (President James Buchanan: A Biography, Penn State Press, 1962; reprinted: American Political Biography Press, 1995). Drawing on documents unavailable to previous biographers, Wallner's Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire's Favorite Son is actually the first of a two volume project, covering the years from birth, to the election of 1852, to just before entering the White House. The second volume, dealing with the presidential years, is reportedly due for publication in early 2007. If it's like the first, the set will be an important new look at an easily passed over, but critical period. Let's face it. As presidents go, Franklin Pierce has not had a huge following since his one-term administration ended in 1857 (he was not renominated by his own party). Our 14th president along with the seven others between Jackson and Lincoln, rest in a kind of historical blur amid the years leading to the Civil War. Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan...not much there to inspire generations of school children, or historians for that matter (possibly excepting Polk). That's why it's so interesting, even surprising to see such a high quality, readable work about one of these to emerge. More proof that anyone capable of getting elected to the White House must certainly have a great story, if only it can be told well enough to appeal to an audience outside of academia. In this, Peter Wallner has truly delivered, and in doing so has given all who love American history, especially those interested in the Antebellum Period, a great gift indeed.

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Bob Pierce: This One Thing I Do
Franklin Graham , and Jeanette Lockerbie
Manufacturer: W Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (American Presidency Series)

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A good description of the fragmentation that led to war
Review of Gara's Pierce biography
THE PIVOTAL POINT LEADING TO SECTIONALISM

The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (American Presidency Series)
Larry Gara
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0700604944

Book Description

Franklin Pierce was one of the least known, least liked, and least successful presidents in American history. In this study of his administration, historian Larry Gara makes no attempt to revive Pierce's reputation. Instead he provides a clear analysis of Pierce's shortcomings as well as his few successes.

Franklin Pierce's administration (1853-1857) spanned a turbulent period in the life of the nation: North-South polarization reached new extremes due, in part, to Pierce's failure to understand the depth of Free Soil sentiment in the North; the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its aftermath made civil war likely, if not inevitable; and Pierce's apology for southern actions served only to widen the rift. The term "Bleeding Kansas" came to symbolize the failures of Pierce's administration.

Pierce's few achievements were in the realm of foreign policy. In fact, Gara points out, the Pierce years were an important chapter in the history of American imperialism--a time when Japan was opened to the West, U.S. trade in Central America and Asia was expanded, and additional land was acquired from Mexico. Pierce also initiated discussions on acquiring Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, Nicaragua, Formosa, the Dominican Republic, the guano islands of the Pacific, and Cuba.

In this twenty-fourth volume of the American Presidency Series, Gara provides a clear, tough-minded analysis of the Pierce administration and a fair, though generally negative, assessment of the man and the president.

This book is part of the American Presidency Series.

Customer Reviews:

A good description of the fragmentation that led to war.......2001-06-17

The years before 1860 were a period of increasing cold war in the United States. From the perspective of over a century after the conclusion of the internal war, we tend to lose the knowledge that there was more to the separatism than the disagreement concerning slavery. While the North/South dispute over slavery was paramount, other regional differences such as the role of the frontier led to a political fragmentation that prevented any faction from being able to govern and solve the growing problems. Several new parties arose while the formerly powerful Whig party was dying. This fragmentation is the main theme of this book and Gara states it very well. With the modern emphasis on the slavery question, the other divisive forces in the nation are often overlooked, which leads to historical inaccuracy.
Gara explains in great detail how the political fragmentation prevented any real attempt to resolve the issues. One point in particular that is often ignored is the three-fifths representation. For census purposes a slave was considered to be three-fifths of a person, even though they were also property. This absurdity caused a great deal of resentment in free states, as it concentrated more political power in the slave states than the size of the free population should have allowed. This caused more representatives to be elected from the southern states, which altered the outcome of some of the votes in favor of the south. Deeply resented by many in the north, it points out the inherent absurdities of slavery and is well documented and explained.
The federal government was still largely a weak institution with most of the power held by the states. With all of these problems, it would have taken an extraordinary president to alter the course of history. Franklin Pierce was no such man, and the best that can be said is that he muddled through without any great catastrophes. More than anything else, it was his handsome, presidential appearance that earned him the white house. His rise to the presidency was largely an accident, as he was a compromise candidate after the better candidates were somehow disqualified. His administration also began on a tragic note, when one of the Pierce children was killed before the eyes of his father and mother. Being largely untested on the national political arena, Pierce also wore a colossal political tin ear, often making basic errors that made things worse.
Given all of these problems, it is surprising that the Pierce administration did as well as it did. As the author points out, his presidency is ranked somewhere above a failure, but nowhere near a success. In reading about all of the problems of the country at that time, it is hard to see where a great deal of improvements could have been made. The country was expanding rapidly and the industrial revolution with associated social changes was just beginning. Slavery was a historical anachronism, clearly in the process of being eliminated and had it not become the symbol of the rights and tradition of the southern states, it would have naturally ceased to exist. Even the ardent proponents of slavery referred to is as the "peculiar institution."
In retrospect, the forces that led to the regional split were so powerful that it is hard to envision any way that it could not have led to a civil war. Those forces were stronger than any man or political party and in this book you learn about the actions of a man who landed in a job beyond his talents and yet avoided being a total failure. Given the complexity of the circumstances, his time as president was close to the best that could have been done.

Review of Gara's Pierce biography.......2000-01-22

This is very dry reading. As well, there is almost no mention of Pierce! Instead, the author focuses on the issues/characters that shaped the times. These are crucial to understanding the political atmosphere surrounding Pierce's presidency, but a biography should focus on the individual. We learn next to nothing about Pierce.

THE PIVOTAL POINT LEADING TO SECTIONALISM.......1999-03-13

THE AUTHOR, LARRY GARA, SETS THE STAGE FOR FRANKLIN PIERCE'S EMERGENCE TO THE PRESIDENCY BY DELVING INTO THE POLITICAL SURROUNDINGS OF THE 1840'S AND '50S. PIERCE WAS AN OBSCURE CONGRESSMAN WHO SAID NO TO BECOMING PRESIDENT. HIS WIFE SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION.THE FAMILY EXPERIENCED THE TRAGIC DEATHS OF FAMILY MEMBERS AND PIERCE DRANK A LITTLE TOO MUCH. THE FAMILY PROBLEMS WERE ENOUGH, BUT BECAUSE CONGRESS' VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCY BEING THE PERSON WHO EXECUTED CONGRESS' WISHES, THE TRUE LEADERS OF THE TIMES COULD NOT GET ELECTED. FACTIONS ABOUND!! THE NEW YORK HARDS AND SOFTS, DEMOCRATS AND WHIGS, THE NEW REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT, FREE SOIL, THE NATIVISTS AND MANY MORE SPLINTERED GROUPS THAT CAUSED SETIONALISM. THERE WERE NO MAJORITIES. PIERCE WAS DOOMED TO FAILURE. IF YOU ENJOY AMERICAM POLITICS OF THE 19TH CENTURY THIS BOOK WILL PROVIDE GREAT INCITE.

Franklin Pierce (Encyclopedia of Presidents)

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Franklin Pierce (Encyclopedia of Presidents)
Charnan Simon
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0516013572

The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce: The Story of a President and the Civil War

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The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce: The Story of a President and the Civil War
Garry Boulard
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
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Binding: Paperback

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Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son
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ASIN: 0595403670

Book Description

Considered a failure upon leaving the White House in 1857 and thought to be on his way to a well-deserved obscurity, Franklin Pierce during the Civil War emerged as a major spokesman for that era's Peace Democrats, opposed to President Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and in defense of civil liberties.

A Northerner with many close Southern friends, including Jefferson Davis the president of the Confederacy and his wife, Varina Davis, Pierce was also thought to be a traitor because of such ties and was at one point nearly arrested for suspected seditious behavior.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......1999-01-08

This is an extremely well-written book on a sadly neglected figure in American culture. The most popular newspaper columnist of his time, Adams made "Tinker to Evers to Chance" a national catchphrase and was mentor to George S. Kaufman, James Thurber and other distinguished humorists. I thought the research was particularly thorough--especially regarding the ancestry of Adams' second wife. And someone must have done a lot of work in musty libraries looking up all F.P.A.'s articles for now-forgotten magazines! I hope he got paid well. I would also single out the index for special praise.

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Fiberglass Ding Repair
Franklin Pierce
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Included in this book are clear explanations about fiberglass surfboard construction, repair tools and materials check lists, and current procedures. The book can be useful for aspiring professionals or newcomers to ding repair. Even if you never fix a board, the book will give you insight and knowledge into the surf culture lingo. It is designed for easy reading with lots of drawings and pictures and covers every conceivable type of damage that can happen to a board. The first printing was in 1986. The book has become a standard in the surfing world.

Franklin Pierce: America's 14th President (Encyclopedia of Presidents. Second Series)

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into the abys

Franklin Pierce: America's 14th President (Encyclopedia of Presidents. Second Series)
John DiConsiglio
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0516242350

Customer Reviews:

into the abys.......2005-12-29

As a president who is popularly tied with Buchanan for the bottom of the barrel, it is refreshing that the volumne comes up with a story of interest. Even though this may be an obscure period for most of us, the bridge between the Revolution and the Civil War is represented in this story. Worth reading

Franklin Pierce: Fourteenth President 1853-1857 (Getting to Know the Us Presidents)

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Franklin Pierce: Fourteenth President 1853-1857 (Getting to Know the Us Presidents)

Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

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