Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-09-21
Franklin Pierce.

storm Of protest by his resolution call
ing for the endorsement of a plan to
erect statue of Franklin Pierce One
delegate jumped up and shouted,
Wait until the men who wear the
G. A. r. buttons are dead before we
put up monuments to traitors here in
New Hampshire!" Senator Chambers
speech in defense of his resolution was
received with much applause, but also
of disapproval which led him to with
draw the resolutions, since he said he
had no desire to press it if it could
not be passed unanimously.
Plainly New Hampshire is a state
where old prejudices die hard. Frank
lin Pierce, the eighth President of the
United States, was the only son OF
New Hampshire who has ever oc-
cupied the White House and of course
there is nothing to be said against his
memory or against his administration
except that he was pro-slavery
President as We're all Presidents before
him. New Hampshire has placed
statues to Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass
and John p. Hale in it's State House
yard, and it is hard to see how any
New Hampshire man, whether he
wears the G. A. R. buttons or not, can
now object to a memorial of son of
his state who was for four years the
chief executive of the nation
Certainly it is little harsh to speak
of Franklin Pierce as a traitor" At
a mass meeting in Concord a few days
after Sumpter had been fired upon,
Pierce was the chief speaker, and with
the splendid eloquence for which he
was famous he urged the people to
sustain the government against the
time until his death few years later
he lived in retirement. A few years
after his death his portrait was
placed beside the speakers desk in the
House of Representatives at Concord,
where as a young man he began his
political life
To be sure, it is customary to refer
to Franklin Pierce as one of the small
men who have been elected to the
Presidency and yet there is little
justification for this view of the man.
1t is certain that he was ADLER
than Polk. fillmore or Buchanan.
After serving two terms in the lower
house of Congress while still in he
States Senate at the age of 80, being
by far the youngest member of that
BODY. and having barely reached the
legal age when he took his oath of
Office. RcsiSning after nine years ir
the Senate in order to resume the
practice of law. he later declined an
appointment to the Senate and also an
election as governor of New Hamp-
shire. He also declined an appoint
ment in the cabinet of President Polk
in order to enlist as a private in the
Mexican War. In that war he dis
and personal bravery and earned ev arv
promotion that came to him. Upon
his return, the New Hampshire
legislature presented him with sword
in token of the esteem of the people Of
his state
Certainly New Hampshire never had
a son whom it honored more during
political matters, than Franklin Pierce.
His nomination for the Presidency in
1852 was a case of the dark horse
coming to the front. as So ballots were
taken before his name appeared. and
it was only on the 49th ballot that he
was named In the election which
followed. General Scott, the whig
candidate. carried only four states
Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky,
and Tennessee, with AZ electoral votes
while Pierce carried all the others,
with 254 votes. That defeat was the
death blow of the Wing party.
Except for the overshadowing
slavery issue the administration OF
Franklin Pierce was successful in all
respects. As President he was true
to his convictions and his absolute
integrity was never questioned. After
all his public life and an exceptionally
successful professional career, IN died
at his Concord home poor man. AL
though Pierce's policy as President
regarding the question OF slavery was
based upon the theory that the in
stitution was imbedded in and
guaranteed by the constitution of the
United States, there was nothing APP
preaching the systematic treason and
hot 1tn1r