Franklin Pierce in 1853

Electoral Brawlage, #14

“Electoral Brawlage” examines the first inaugural address of each president in U.S. history, with some commentary and analysis. This is the thirteenth installment. Check back on Mondays for more.

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Franklin Pierce succeeded Millard Fillmore, who didn’t run for re-election in 1852; the Whig candidate was Winfield Scott, who was utterly pulverized by Pierce, carrying more than 50% of the popular vote and 27 of 31 states. This was a landslide back then. Pierce was also the youngest to serve at the time, just 48 years old when elected.

Like most Americans, I know very little about this man or the circumstances of his electoral victory. He’s in that muddy first leg of executives who only served one term and didn’t have too significant an impact on the history books. So it surprised me that he opened his inaugural address with this banger:

It is a relief to feel that no heart but my own can know the personal regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself.

You could have convinced me that Millard Fillmore died in office and Pierce was somehow forced to fill his vacancy. Those words are sadder than the ones Fillmore uttered when he replaced Zachary Taylor. So why the sadness? I asked Grok for some clarification and here’s the skinny:

Franklin Pierce only ever had three sons: Franklin Jr., Frank Robert, and Benjamin. His firstborn died in infancy. His second died of typhus. His third died in a train wreck after Pierce won the ‘52 election and after his wife had already asked him to retire from politics. It was January 6, 1853. The train carrying the Pierces derailed in Massachusetts. There was only one casualty. Benny Franklin was 11. Franklin Pierce’s bloodline died on that train.

Two months later, he had to give his inaugural address, and he did, from memory. It’s 3,300 words long. I cannot imagine what he went through to deliver that.

“You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength.

—Franklin Pierce

Knowing that single fact is probably the one thing that is going to stick in my head more than anything else he said that day. The Compromise of 1850 had already gone through, and Pierce hoped it would quiet the contention over the slavery question—maybe even end it—but unfortunately we know that was not to be.

Borderline Unreadable

Because Pierce delivered the speech from memory, what remains are his handwritten notes, put to paper in a tight script that sometimes makes it hard for transcription software to tell where one word ends and another begins. You can see that here. For this I asked Grok to reproduce the text with proper spacing between the words. I copied-and-pasted the result at the bottom of this article.

So what did this grieving young executive have to say?

First: The nation, while young, was incredibly strong because of the caliber of the men who had led it from the Revolution to the present.

Second: The heretofore success of the nation was not a guarantee of future victories; men would have to work hard, sacrifice much, put their treasures at risk, and live righteously.

Third: The expansion would continue. Polk had done much to grow the nation’s borders, and its people were fit to fill those borders. Pierce wasn’t going to take his foot off the gas at all.

Fourth: “Every man shall be a king.” Pierce didn’t say this, but it’s a line from Les Miserables that I think of often when trying to summarize a Republic. He equates royalty with action, not with breeding.

Fifth: He closes with a supplication to the Almighty for the continued blessings of the people.

With all this—and again, just with knowing the circumstances under which he gave this speech—I’m actually pretty eager to read a biography of Pierce now.

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Pierce’s speech, minus the intro from above:

The circumstances under which I have been called for a limited period to preside over the destinies of the Republic fill me with a profound sense of responsibility, but with nothing like shrinking apprehension. I repair to the post assigned me not as to one sought, but in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your will, answerable only for a fearless, faithful, and diligent exercise of my best powers. I ought to be, and am, truly grateful for the rare manifestation of the nation’s confidence; but this, so far from lightening my obligations, only adds to their weight. You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength. When looking for the fulfillment of reasonable requirements, you will not be unmindful of the great changes which have occurred, even within the last quarter of a century, and the consequent augmentation and complexity of duties imposed in the administration both of your home and foreign affairs.

Whether the elements of inherent force in the Republic have kept pace with its unparalleled progression in territory, population, and wealth has been the subject of earnest thought and discussion on both sides of the ocean. Less than sixty-four years ago the Father of his Country made “the” then “recent accession of the important State of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States” one of the subjects of his special congratulation. At that moment, however, when the agitation consequent upon the Revolutionary struggle had hardly subsided, when we were just emerging from the weakness and embarrassments of the Confederation, there was an evident consciousness of vigor equal to the great mission so wisely and bravely fulfilled by our fathers. It was not a presumptuous assurance, but a calm faith, springing from a clear view of the sources of power in a government constituted like ours. It is no paradox to say that although comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically strong. Inconsiderable in population and apparent resources, it was upheld by a broad and intelligent comprehension of rights and an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, stronger than armaments. It came from the furnace of the Revolution, tempered to the necessities of the times. The thoughts of the men of that day were as practical as their sentiments were patriotic. They wasted no portion of their energies upon idle and delusive speculations, but with a firm and fearless step advanced beyond the governmental landmarks which had hitherto circumscribed the limits of human freedom and planted their standard, where it has stood against dangers which have threatened from abroad, and internal agitation, which has at times fearfully menaced at home. They proved themselves equal to the solution of the great problem, to understand which their minds had been illuminated by the dawning lights of the Revolution. The object sought was not a thing dreamed of; it was a thing realized. They had exhibited only the power to achieve, but, what all history affirms to be so much more unusual, the capacity to maintain. The oppressed throughout the world from that day to the present have turned their eyes hitherward, not to find those lights extinguished or to fear lest they should wane, but to be constantly cheered by their steady and increasing radiance.

In this our country has, in my judgment, thus far fulfilled its highest duty to suffering humanity. It has spoken and will continue to speak, not only by its words, but by its acts, the language of sympathy, encouragement, and hope to those who earnestly listen to tones which pronounce for the largest rational liberty. But after all, the most animating encouragement and potent appeal for freedom will be its own history—its trials and its triumphs. Preeminently, the power of our advocacy reposes in our example; but no example, be it remembered, can be powerful for lasting good, whatever apparent advantages may be gained, which is not based upon eternal principles of right and justice. Our fathers decided for themselves, both upon the hour to declare and the hour to strike. They were their own judges of the circumstances under which it became them to pledge to each other “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” for the acquisition of the priceless inheritance transmitted to us. The energy with which that great conflict was opened and, under the guidance of a manifest and beneficent Providence the uncomplaining endurance with which it was prosecuted to its consummation were only surpassed by the wisdom and patriotic spirit of concession which characterized all the counsels of the early fathers.

One of the most impressive evidences of that wisdom is to be found in the fact that the actual working of our system has dispelled a degree of solicitude which at the outset disturbed bold hearts and far-reaching intellects. The apprehension of dangers from extended territory, multiplied States, accumulated wealth, and augmented population has proved to be unfounded. The stars upon your banner have become nearly threefold their original number; your densely populated possessions skirt the shores of the two great oceans; and yet this vast increase of people and territory has not only shown itself compatible with the harmonious action of the States and Federal Government in their respective constitutional spheres, but has afforded an additional guaranty of the strength and integrity of both.

With an experience thus suggestive and cheering, the policy of my Administration will not be controlled by any timid forebodings of evil from expansion. Indeed, it is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation and our position on the globe render the acquisition of certain possessions not within our jurisdiction eminently important for our protection, if not in the future essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through no grasping spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and security, and in a manner entirely consistent with the strictest observance of national faith. We have nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations. Purposes, therefore, at once just and pacific will be significantly marked in the conduct of our foreign affairs. I intend that my Administration shall leave no blot upon our fair record, and trust I may safely give the assurance that no act within the legitimate scope of my constitutional control will be tolerated on the part of any portion of our citizens which can not challenge a ready justification before the tribunal of the civilized world. An Administration would be unworthy of confidence at home or respect abroad should it cease to be influenced by the conviction that no apparent advantage can be purchased at a price so dear as that of national wrong or dishonor. It is not your privilege as a nation to speak of a distant past. The striking incidents of your history, replete with instruction and furnishing abundant grounds for hopeful confidence, are comprised in a period comparatively brief. But if your past is limited, your future is boundless. Its obligations throng the unexplored pathway of advancement, and will be limitless as duration. Hence a sound and comprehensive policy should embrace not less the distant future than the urgent present.

The great objects of our pursuit as a people are best to be attained by peace, and are entirely consistent with the tranquility and interests of the rest of mankind. With the neighboring nations upon our continent we should cultivate kindly and fraternal relations. We can desire nothing in regard to them so much as to see them consolidate their strength and pursue the paths of prosperity and happiness. If in the course of their growth we should open new channels of trade and create additional facilities for friendly intercourse, the benefits realized will be equal and mutual. Of the complicated European systems of national polity we have heretofore been independent. From their wars, their tumults, and anxieties we have been, happily, almost entirely exempt. Whilst these are confined to the nations which gave them existence, and within their legitimate jurisdiction, they can not affect us except as they appeal to our sympathies in the cause of human freedom and universal advancement. But the vast interests of commerce are common to all mankind, and the advantages of trade and international intercourse must always present a noble field for the moral influence of a great people.

With these views firmly and honestly carried out, we have a right to expect, and shall under all circumstances require, prompt reciprocity. The rights which belong to us as a nation are not alone to be regarded, but those which pertain to every citizen in his individual capacity, at home and abroad, must be sacredly maintained. So long as he can discern every star in its place upon that ensign, without wealth to purchase for him preferment or title to secure for him place, it will be his privilege, and must be his acknowledged right, to stand unabashed even in the presence of princes, with a proud consciousness that he is himself one of a nation of sovereigns and that he can not in legitimate pursuit wander so far from home that the agent whom he shall commission to protect and support him shall not find ready and effectual succor in every quarter of the globe to which the national authority extends.

The history of the world furnishes no example of a nation so situated as ours, so abundantly favored by Providence, and so rich in the elements of greatness, which has failed through internal weakness or discord to maintain its position among the powers of the earth. We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis. Wise counsels, like those which gave us the Constitution, prevailed to uphold it. Let the period be remembered as an admonition, and not as an encouragement, in any section of the Union, to make experiments where experiments are fraught with such fearful hazard. Let it be impressed upon all hearts that, beautiful as our fabric is, no earthly power or wisdom could ever reunite its broken fragments. Standing in the presence of the witnesses of the past and the hopes of the future, let us resolve that the union of these States shall not be destroyed by the madness or folly of any portion of our citizens, but that it shall be perpetuated as the palladium of our own happiness and the hope of the world.

Fellow-citizens, you have before you the outlines of the policy which it is my purpose to pursue. It remains only for me to invoke the blessing of the Almighty upon your undertakings and upon the measures which may be adopted by the constituted authorities for the promotion of the public good. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations guide you in the path of prosperity and happiness, and preserve our beloved country from every danger, internal and external.

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