Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, prompting a bloody conflict over Kansas’ slavery status.

• Franklin Pierce was the 14th president of the United States, a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation.
• Born: November 23, 1804, Hillsboro, NH
• Died: October 8, 1869, The Pierce Manse, Concord, NH
• Presidential term: March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857
• Vice president: William R. King (1853)
• Buried: Old North Cemetery, Concord, NH
• Children: Franklin Robert Pierce, Franklin Pierce, Jr., Benjamin Pierce
• First president born in New Hampshire.
• First president to install central heating in the White House.
• First president born in the 19th century (November 23, 1804).
• First president to deliver his inaugural address from memory.
• First president who had been elected to actively seek reelection but be defeated for nomination for a second term by his party.