Historians have, rightly or wrongly, judged President Pierce, New Hampshire's only US President, harshly. Using your own information, provide your own evaluation of the Pierce presidency. After your synopsis, provide Pierce with a letter grade based on his performance as president. Responses are due by Dec. 5th.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fp14.html
http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0228070-0
http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/lfp.html
http://starship.python.net/crew/manus/Presidents/fp/fpobit.html
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B-...I would give President Peirce a B- for several reasons. To begin with I don’t think he was as bad as history recalls him as. Franklin Peirce had good intentions and a lot of what went wrong in his tenure I believe was the result of Stephen Douglas' actions to expand the south. After loosing to Peirce in the election, Douglas made it his mission to still carry out the plans he had if he had become president. This is where Pierce went wrong he should have been more sensitive to the overall needs of the nation and at the very least diluted the actions of the bills that Douglas was passing through the senate. He was not an effective leader in the broad political spectrum that composes the United States. He should have attempted to have a more neutral policy, he chose to takes stances that were not popular especially in the north. I also think that a lot of his problems originated with his New Hampshiran wife, which are known for this attribute, of not supporting him and constantly making his home life a fight in its own right and driving him to drink…kinda..after his sons tragic death.
President Pierce came into the presidency with good intentions but not all of them went as peacefully as he wanted them to, in fact some went in the opposite way as he wanted. Pierce started off once he got into power by trying to make a balance between northerners and southerners in his cabinet. He also planned to have a strong foreign policy to attempt to calm down the slavery controversy. Even when he sought out to expand the country he was looking at the entire country's best interest. How Pierce handled the new conflict against his actions though could have been better. When strong controversies about the new expansions occurred Pierce could have, and should have been able to handle it and calm it down. Instead it rose up to cause even greater strain on the northern and southern diversion. Also the removal of the Missouri Compromise became one of Pierce's biggest mistakes. With sectionalism growing greater, removing the strong restriction for slavery caused major panic in the nation. Considering that the Civil War occurred not long after his presidency people can make the connection that Pierce's action contributed to the causes for the war, although not much blame can be put on him in actuality. As for what letter grade I would give Pierce it would have to be a C. I think that Pierce made a good effort to keep peace in the nation, but he could have gone about it very differently, a C is just that, a good try but it could have been better.
President Pierce would rate a c in my opinion due to the fact that his term as president caused turmoil and disunion within the country. President Pierce made an honest attempt to create good for the country, but he made several large mistakes. He had weak foreign policies in which he failed to acquire Cuba. He was also easily influenced by people such as his secretary Jefferson Davis. He enraged many at his attempt to answer the question whether slavery would be legal in newly formed Kansas and Nebraska (Kansas-Nebraska Bill). He left the decision up to those who lived in the states. This bill encountered much opposition in the north. After the bill passed, free-soiler and pro-slavery settlers began a war within their borders. The good the bill could have done was canceled out by the bad. This is not to say everything President Pierce did was bad. Some of it was good. I think he just didn’t have the skills needed to become an extraordinary one. For that I rate him as an Average President. A c.
I would personally give President Pierce a B-. Going into office, he had really good ideas and intentions to get them done. He wanted to evenly distribute Northerners and Southerners throughout his cabinet planned a strong foregin policy that would hopefully quiet the slave controversy. Unfourtunately, things flipped quickly. Since he was easily influenced by his fellow cabinet, he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. When the bill that dealt with slavery in the new territories came out, it enraged and frightened people and a civil war broke out in Kansas which was virtually the prelude to the Civil War. People were very nervous with the instability of the nation. I gave Pierce a B- because he had the potential to be a great president, but was negatively influenced.
Scott Mills
I would give President Pierce a B. I would give Pierce a B because he came into office with good ideas and good intentions, but unfortunate circumstances made people think that maybe his Presidency was not so great. An Example of one of these ideas could be Pierce's attempt to balance his cabinet with members of the north and south. A good way to try to make everyone happy. Another way he tried to appeal to the people and strengthen the country was by strengthening foreign policy. Strengthening foreign policy would also ease tension on the slavery controversy. One thing that did not swing in his favor was the bitter controversy with his opponent Stephen Douglas. After losing to Pierce, Douglas was intent on sticking to his plans that would have been if he was president, by pushing them through the senate. I think Pierce should have been more resistant to Douglas' bills, which drops him to a B, in my mind.
Good old Franky came to the white house already a mess. His wife and his kid were killed in a horrific train crash. This left him drained of passion even before he was inaugurated.
He, quite unfortunately, came into the presidency just before the boiling point between the north and the south. Peirce came to power in a pseudo-peace. Granted there wasn't union and confederate soldiers shiving each other with shanks, but the tensions that eventually led to the civil war were still present. Pierce's actions in office, no matter how well intentioned they were, did nothing but fan the flames.
I would give him a D+. He did succeed in not getting assassinated, getting involved in a global crisis, and driving America into trillions of dollars of debt. Unlike other several other presidents.
Pierce, or the "dark horse" president, was not a terrible president, but the circumstances that he came in on were unfortunate. He was nominated with 254 electoral votes out of a total of 296. General Pierce had seen many conflicts and political advances in his term, some of which were under heavy scrutiny. The more memorable few were the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, which acquired the remainder of now Arizona and New Mexico. This act was greatly approved since it gave the new country more land for the expanding railroads, not to mention that it was in the prosperous south-west. Yet the Kansas- Nebraska Act worked strongly against Pierce, and caused the major troubles in his term. This act was on the issue of the newly acquired states of Kansas and Nebraska being either slave or Free states. Even though this Act may be seen as a terrible “battle”, from this conflict came the Republican Party. The Republicans looked to ban slavery and focus on the more national causes. The goals of Pierce were simple: expand the U.S., conduct good foreign trade, and keep the U.S. at peace. The achieved goals of Pierce are simple too: foreign trade with Japan and some peace. Overall grade for the conditions that Pierce took presidency: F. Overall Rating for President Franklin Pierce: B.
I would give Franklin Peirce a C-. My reasons for this are because he served at a time when the US was in crisis, but he was not ready for dealing with this. Having served in the Mexican American war as a Brigadier general, the public expected him to be ready for war; however war was not what he found. What he found was a country in turmoil over race and slavery. He lost the favor of the north when he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the discussion of slavery in the west. I think Peirce deserves a C- because he had the ideas and the potential to be a good president, but he was unable to execute these into running a successful term.
Personally, I find it interesting that Franklin Pierce was a man who was strongly in favor of slavery. It’s weird that New Hampshire’s only president. That being said, Franklin Pierce did accomplish a few things in his career. The Commodore Perry Treaty was ratified during his presidency, which opened up Japan. Although even that treaty can be argued because of the fact that Japan was forced to open its boarders. In fact, I really don’t think there was anything that man offered this country. He couldn’t even sign a bill granting land to the mentally unstable. Also, isn’t it a bit odd that one the first things he does in office is to make sure that the United States gets more land from Mexico, because half of their country wasn’t enough as it was (please note the sarcasm). Oh, and about the whole slavery issue… Franklin Pierce is responsible for the Kansas and Nebraska act which gave Kansas the right to own slaves. I think that that I would have to give him a D-, because at least he gave Concord a golden roof.
Pierce gets a D+...sadly it is so.
Pierce gave a valid attempt but is still not a name that you hear and say oh ya Franklin Pierce, he was a great president. Personally I don’t even recognize that he is a President before now...but I didn’t take US Presidency as a freshman.
Although he didn’t get a fair start due to the death of his son Pierce still didn’t fully accomplish the things he set out to do. He was a "dark horse" candidate and was only elected after many others failed to get the nomination. Pierces policy was to keep the peace within the nation and to attempt to develop foreign relations. Also he wanted to obtain the necessary possessions for its own security (land). He claimed that he would push through any timid forebodings of evil.
Pierce did try to expand but this frustrated the northerners. He attempted to gain land from three different countries. All of this land would have been given to the south as slave states, thus increasing the gap between the north and south. This gap was torn open after he passed the Kansas Nebraska Act, based on the recommendation of his colleges. This created fighting within the state a small civil war. Although Pierce left before the civil war began he was one of the largest reasons for its course. He got out ranked poorly but overall avoiding war. He left and threw the next president and other to succeed him under the bus.
I think that Pierce was given a lot of leeway with his son dying. Obviously it was a horrific loss for him but the president is supposed to be the strongest one, the one that everyone else can look to. I trully believe the Pierce did want peace but I don't believe that he wanted it badly enough. He started off on the right foot by trying to make things equal with equal number of northern and southern cabinet members. Stephen Douglas obviously was incharge of too much at the time and the tension towards the south can be almost be blamed on him. Pierce should have been in more control of Douglas through his law controversies. I would give Pierce a C because he was the main man in charge and he didn't take the position strongly enough.
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