Childhood and Education
Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. His father, Benjamin Pierce, had fought in the Revolutionary War and later became an important official in New Hampshire. Eventually, he was elected as governor of the state. His mother, Anna Kendrick Pierce, was prone to bouts of depression and alcoholism, which Pierce seemed to inherit.
Pierce went to a local school and two academies before attending Bowdoin College in Maine.
PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA
Franklin Pierce studied at Bowdoin College with both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became good friends with Hawthorne. Hawthorne would write his campaign biography in 1852. In 1853, when Pierce was president, he appointed Hawthorne to be a consul in Liverpool, England.
At first Pierce was a poor student, spending much of his time on the social scene and being ranked last in his class. He then decided to increase his effort and by the time he graduated from college, he was fifth in his class. He then went on to study law with various individuals in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1827.
