When was pierce elected

June 5, Canadian Reciprocity Treaty. July 6, Republican Party founded. October 18, February 10, Nationality laws amended. Know-Nothing Party renamed. September 5, October 23, November 26, February 22, Republican Party holds first national meeting.

May 21, Border Ruffians attack Lawrence, Kansas. May 22, May 24, John Brown's raid. June 2, DNC nominated James Buchanan. Know-Nothing Party nominates Millard Fillmore. June 17, August 1, September 17, Whig National Convention nominates Fillmore. November 4, James Buchanan elected. January 15, State of Disunion Convention. February 21, Foreign coins declared illegal. James Buchanan inaugurated. James Buchanan is inaugurated as the fifteen President of the United States.

Pierce understood the threat to the Union if Congress failed to find a peaceful solution to the debate over the expansion of slavery. Nonetheless, he believed the Constitution protected the institution and he supported the Southern position. He continued to hold this position when elected to the U. Senate in Calhoun to defeat the attempt. But in , leaving the fight over slavery to others, Pierce resigned from the Senate and returned to New Hampshire to practice law and spend more time with his family.

Politics was in his blood, however, and in the same year he left the Senate, Pierce accepted the chairmanship of the New Hampshire State Democratic Party.

In he supported James Polk in the presidential election. His reward was appointment as U. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire. Appointed commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment in February , he fought in Mexico until a knee injury suffered when his horse fell on him during the Battle at Contreras, limiting his ability to lead his troops effectively. He finally returned to New Hampshire in December , trailed by accusations of cowardice that plagued him for the rest of his political career, even after Ulysses S.

The victory over Mexico triggered yet another slavery crisis as President Polk worked to have Texas admitted to the Union as a slave state. Once again the threat of secession loomed. This time the conflict was resolved by the introduction of the Compromise of After much political maneuvering by Senator Stephen A.

Macy, and Stephen Douglas. Hayes James Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon Gerald R. Bush William J. Clinton George W. Bush Barack Obama Donald J. Trump Joseph R. Two weeks later, the Whigs met in Baltimore as well. The incumbent President Millard Fillmore ruined his chances for another term with his support of the controversial Compromise of Scott did not run an effective campaign.

Ignoring orders from his Whig handlers to remain silent on the slavery issue, his acceptance of the nomination voiced agreement with the party's pro-Compromise platform. Support for him, always lukewarm at best in the South, cooled even further as Southerners defected to the Democratic party and voted for Pierce. With neither side eager to discuss issues relating to either their party's platforms or slavery, the contest turned personal.

Reviving the old "Fainting Frank" stories, Whigs accused Pierce of cowardice during the Mexican-American War, and of drunkenness as well. Democrats fired back, dredging up a decades-old story of Scott refusing a dueling challenge from war hero and former President Andrew Jackson.

They also tried to paint Scott as a would-be military dictator. Unlike his rival, Pierce did no campaigning whatsoever, which probably helped his cause. It is probable that his wife's feelings about his return to politics had something to do with his low profile, although few candidates for the presidency in this period in American history did any campaigning.

Jane Pierce had been disgusted by her husband's candidacy and did not welcome the prospect of returning to Washington. Before the convention, Pierce had assured her that he was not seeking the nomination; when she received the news that he had accepted it, she fainted. Afterwards, she accused her husband of lying to her about his political aspirations. Pierce left electioneering to others, including his old college classmate Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Modern historians consider less a campaign that Pierce won than one that Scott lost. One newspaper of the day called it the most "ludicrous, ridiculous, and uninteresting presidential campaign" ever.

Whatever the truth of these speculations, Pierce won the election easily in a contest in which nearly 70 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots.