Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States (1853–1857), a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. He signed trade treaties with Britain and Japan, while his Cabinet reformed their departments and improved accountability, but these successes were overshadowed by political strife during his presidency. His popularity declined sharply in the Northern states after he supported the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which nullified the Missouri Compromise, while many whites in the South continued to support him. 'I consider slavery a social and political evil,' Pierce said, 'and most sincerely wish that it had no existence upon the face of the earth.' Still, he wrote in December 1835, 'One thing must be perfectly apparent to every intelligent man. This abolition movement must be crushed or there is an end to the Union.'