历届美国总统简介：富兰克林·皮尔斯（在线收听）

富兰克林·皮尔斯（Franklin Pierce）（1804年11月23日(甲子年) ~ 1869年（己巳年）10月8日），美国总统（1853-1857），这位能力一般、恶习很多的政治神童，在军内供职时间不长即晋升为将军。他无大的战绩，但却有似乎有神庇护。他不仅年轻时有机会青云直上，而且在总统选举中爆了冷门，被人们称为继詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克之后的又一黑马，创造了自詹姆斯·门罗以来从未有的绝对优势。由于他对南方的同情不能见容于北部各州，促成了国家的分裂，故任满后便隐退。他是第一位出生于19世纪的美国总统。直到今天为止，他仍是唯一一位来自新罕布什尔州的总统。

Franklin Pierce was born in New Hampshire in 1804. He was the 14th President of the United States. Pierce attended Bowdoin College. After graduation he studied law and then entered politics. At the age of 24 he was elected to the New Hampshire legislature; two years later he became its Speaker. During the 1830's he went to Washington, first as a Representative, then as a Senator.

He decided to volunteer to fight in the Mexican-American War and rose to the rank of colonel. He rose through the ranks and became a brigadier, taking command of his own brigade. During the Battle of Contreras he was seriously wounded in the leg when he fell off his horse. Despite the pain, he returned to battle the next day. He proved his skill as a military commander by going on to capture Mexico City.

After the Mexican War Pierce ran for the 1852 Presidential nomination. He won with a narrow margin of the popular vote. In his Inaugural speech he proclaimed an era of peace and prosperity at home and a more forceful foreign policy. This included trying to persuade Spain to sell Cuba. He also purchased the area now comprising southern Arizona and part of southern New Mexico for $10,000,000.

Pierce upset the delicate north-south balance in 1854 when he passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This reopened the question of slavery in the West as it allowed residents of the new territories to decide the slavery question for themselves. The result was a rush by southerners and northerners into Kansas. Shooting broke out, and "bleeding Kansas" became a prelude to the Civil War. Pierce died in 1869.