Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them April 12, 1958 Issue

Franklin Pierce, 1804-1869

[Mentioned in Retrospection, p. 6, and in Miscellany, pp. 308, 309, 311]

Franklin Pierce , fourteenth President of the United States, was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Fifth in his class when he graduated from Bowdoin College, he studied law in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then returned to his native state to practice law in Concord.

Following in the footsteps of his father, who had twice been Governor of New Hampshire, Pierce entered politics and was elected to the state's House of Representatives. Speaker of the House when he was twenty-seven, he was regarded a "boy wonder." In 1833 he was elected to the national House of Representatives and subsequently to the United States Senate, of which he was the youngest member. He resigned before he had completed his term and returned to his law practice.

Pierce refused President Polk's offer of the attorney generalship on the ground that he did not want to leave his practice and family unless it were "at the call of my country in time of war." When war with Mexico broke out, Pierce enlisted as a private, and when new regiments in the regular Army were authorized, he was named a colonel. He served in General Scott's campaign against Mexico City and in recognition of his services was created a major general. He had a hero's welcome when he returned to Concord.

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Franklin Pierce, 1804-1869

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