ELECTION #17, 1852. The NASTY-METER is 5.

QUOTE from Franklin Pierce at his inaugural address on March 4, 1853, just two months after he and his wife had watched their twelve-year son get killed in a train accident on January 6, 1853. "It is a relief to feel that no heart but my cwn 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 have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me in my strength."

In 1852 the U.S. was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had done little more than make the antislavery and proslavery supporters angrier than ever. The Compromise of 1850, written by Henry Clay, proposed that California be admitted as a free state, that the newly acquired territories of New Mexico and Utah, be allowed to determine whether they would allow slavery, that slave trading (though not slavery itself) be ended in Washington D.C., and that the Fugitive Slave Act, which would provide for runaway slaves to be returned to their owners no matter where they were captured, become law. President Fillmore signed it into law. What it did was to temporarily relieve the tensions between North and South that will lead to the Civil War in ten years.

At the Whig convention in Baltimore in 1852 Fillmore lost the nomination because of his support for the Conpromise of 1850. A splinter group of sixty delegates threw their support to the Mexian war hero General Winfield Scott. Chaos ensued and it took 53 ballots for Scott to get the nomination over Millard Fillmore and Nathaniel Webster.

The Democrats also met in Baltimore and after much chaos and debate picked the little-known Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire over Lewis Cass and James Buchanan. Pierce was considered a compromise candidate and was finally nominated on the 49th ballot.

The CANDIDATES in 1852.

DEMOCRAT: FRANKLIN PIERCE.

Pierce was a good-looking and well-liked congressman and senator.He had fought in the Mexican War and, at age forty-eight. was a relatively young presidential candidate. Yet he was dogged by alcoholism and tragedy. which (at this pint) included the deaths of two of his three children. The third one died two months before he was inaugurated. Pierce and his party pledged to support the Compromise of 1850.

WHIG: WINFIELD SCOTT.

Scott was 66, 6'5" tall and looked every bit the war hero that he was. He was essentially against the Compromise of 1850 but was a waffler in his public pronouncements. Like Clay before him, and many a candidate after, he would pay the price for being afraid to come down clearly on one side or the other of an important issue.


The CAMPAIGN of 1852.

When a person is a war hero everyone congratulates him for his service to the country. But when his name is put on the ballot as a presidential candidate suddenly everything changes. (Think back to 2004 when the Bush forces attacked John Kerry for his Vietnam service even though Bush had never been in Vietnam). The Whigs tore into Pierce by portraying him as a coward in the war. Pierce had suffered a severe wound to his knee and had fainted from the pain, He had to be carried to safety as a result of the pain. The Whigs referred to Pierce as the "Fainting General" or "Fainting Frank" and asked voters if they wanted a coward for a president. They also knew he had an alcohol problem. The Whigs called Pierce the "hero of many a well-fought BOTTLE" and kept at it through the whole campaign.

The Democrats fought back by calling Scott "Old Fuss and Feathers," a name given to him by his officers because of his devotion to military discipline and protocol. His officers saw first hand that he was really a bit of a "pompous ass." They also attacked on his waffling on the Compromise of 1850 and said he was a puppet of N.Y. Senator William Seward. a radical antislavery Whig. Scott was made fun of for pandering to the new Irish Catholic immigrants coming to America. He told them he had a daughter,now dead, who had been a nun. (It was true but sounded so much like blatant pandering that it came across as a lie.)
He also said in a speech to an Irish crowd, "When I hear that rich Irish brogue, it makes me remember the noble deeds of Irishmen, many of whom I have led to battle and victory."

The WINNER was FRANKLIN PIERCE - the 14th president.

Pierce got 1,601,274 popular votes and 254 electoral votes.
Scott got 1,386,580 popular votes and 42 electoral.

Some historians believe that Scott lost because of his waffling on the slavery issue. At least people knew where Pierce stood on the Compromise of 1850 and that it really might put an end to the bsttling over slavery in America.