Franklin Pierce
A New Hampshire Democrat sympathetic to the South. He signed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which let settlers vote on slavery and set off the violence of 'Bleeding Kansas', and recognized the proslavery territorial legislature elected with the help of fraud. He enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, completed the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, and his diplomats' Ostend Manifesto urged taking Cuba from Spain. His party refused to renominate him.
The economy, first day to last
Shaded areas show the years in office, with a few years before and after for comparison. Budget years ran July to June until 1976 (now October to September), so each year's figures cover parts of two calendar years.
National debt
June 30, 1852 (end of fiscal 1852): $66.20 million → June 30, 1856 (end of fiscal 1856): $31.97 million
Daily debt figures don't exist before 1993, so Pierce's numbers use the fiscal years closest to his term, the same rule as every other page.
Debt compared with the economy
Debt as a share of GDP. Above 100% means the debt is bigger than a year of everything the country produces.
Deficits and surpluses
Money borrowed each budget year (below the line) or paid down (above). The White House budget office's yearly figures begin in 1901.
Unemployment
No national estimates before 1890. Economist Stanley Lebergott's yearly estimates, the earliest national series, begin in 1890
Inflation
How much prices rose each year (consumer price index).
Cost of living
What everyday prices and paychecks did while in office.
Prices use the consumer price index (MeasuringWorth). The minimum wage is the federal rate set by Congress.
Executive orders
35 orders. Count from the American Presidency Project.
Orders signed each year
Yearly counts aren't reliable for this era. Orders were not numbered until 1907, when the State Department numbered the ones already in its files, and many orders were never numbered at all, so only the total is shown.
Source: American Presidency Project: executive orders (full list of every order).
Notable orders
Most orders in this era were routine, such as setting aside public land or exempting jobs from civil service rules.
Every executive order we have 2Search, filter by topic or year, and open any order's full text
Incomplete: orders before 1929 were not numbered or collected consistently. This archive has 2 of the roughly 35 orders counted for this president.
- OrderMarch 23, 1853Executive Order
- OrderApril 20, 1853Executive Order
Source: Executive Orders Archive, compiled from the American Presidency Project and the Federal Register. Topics are the archive's automated tags; "Revoked" and similar labels come from the Federal Register's records.
Pardons and commutations
A pardon wipes out the punishment for a federal crime; a commutation shortens a sentence but leaves the conviction. The Justice Department's published counts begin in 1900.
Granted each year
The Justice Department's published clemency counts begin in fiscal 1900, so there are no reliable yearly totals for this presidency.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, clemency statistics, which lists every recipient with the crime and sentence.
Notable grants: tap to see the crime
No individual grants from this presidency are highlighted yet.
Investigations and legal record
The same checklist for every president. Tap a row for details and sources.
ImpeachedNoNo
No articles of impeachment were voted on.
Criminally chargedNoNo
Never charged.
Aides or cabinet convictedNoNo
No member of his cabinet or White House staff was convicted.
Special counselsNoNo
None were appointed.
Misuse of DOJ, FBI or IRSNo findingNo
No official investigation found he used federal law enforcement against opponents.
People around the president who were charged or penalized
No one in the administration was charged or formally penalized.
Controversies and scandals
What happened, what was proven, and how it ended.
The Kansas–Nebraska ActDisputed1854
Pierce signed a law repealing the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery in the northern territories and letting settlers decide. Pro- and antislavery settlers poured into Kansas.
Outcome: Years of violence known as 'Bleeding Kansas'; the backlash created the Republican Party.
SourceBacking a fraudulently elected legislatureProven1855–1856
Thousands of Missourians crossed into Kansas to vote in its 1855 election. Pierce recognized the proslavery legislature they elected and called the rival free-state government an act of rebellion.
Outcome: A House committee found in 1856 that the election had been carried by fraud.
SourceReturning Anthony Burns to slaveryProven1854
Pierce sent federal troops and a revenue cutter to Boston to return Anthony Burns, who had escaped slavery, to Virginia under the Fugitive Slave Act, at a cost of about $40,000.
Outcome: Burns was later bought out of slavery by Boston supporters; the case turned many Northerners against the law.
SourceThe Ostend ManifestoProven1854
Three U.S. diplomats, including future president James Buchanan, wrote a memo arguing the U.S. would be justified in taking Cuba by force if Spain refused to sell it.
Outcome: It leaked and caused an uproar; the administration disavowed it.
SourceIn their own words
Widely quoted remarks, with the context they were said in.
I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the 'compromise measures,' are strictly constitutional and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect.