Portrait of Franklin Pierce, oil on canvas by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1853.
Franklin Pierce held the American presidency from 1853 to 1857, during which he signed into law the Kansas-Nebraska Act, legislation which effectively annulled the Missouri Compromise, giving the new states of the West the power to decide whether they would or would not permit slavery. Passage of the Act prompted abolitionists and proslavers to flood the region and attempt to wrest control of the vote, leading to the infamous guerrilla violence of Bleeding Kansas, presaging the Civil War to come.
National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Healy, G. P. A. (2026, September 15). Franklin Pierce: The United States' 14th President. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/22140/franklin-pierce/
Chicago Style
Healy, George Peter Alexander. "Franklin Pierce: The United States' 14th President." World History Encyclopedia, September 15, 2026. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/22140/franklin-pierce/.
MLA Style
Healy, George Peter Alexander. "Franklin Pierce: The United States' 14th President." World History Encyclopedia, 15 Sep 2026, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/22140/franklin-pierce/.
