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Jane Pierce
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Jane Means Pierce (née Appleton; March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863) was the first lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857, being married to Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States. Born in Hampton, New Hampshire, she married Pierce, then a congressman, in 1834 despite her family's misgivings. She refused to live in Washington, D.C., and in 1842, she convinced her husband to retire from politics. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination without her knowledge in 1852 and was elected president later that year. Their only surviving son, Benjamin, was killed in a train accident before Franklin's inauguration, sending Jane into a deep depression that afflicted her for the rest of her life. Pierce was a reclusive first lady, spending the first two years of her husband's presidency mourning her son. Her duties at this time were often fulfilled by Abby Kent-Means. After Franklin's presidency, they traveled abroad for two years before settling in Massachusetts. She died of tuberculosis in 1863.
Key Information
Pierce disliked political life and was unhappy in the role of first lady. She took interest in abolitionism, and attempted to influence her husband's decisions on the subject. A Puritan, Pierce was strictly religious and believed the tragedies she suffered were divine retribution for her and her husband's sins. Jane has been described as the opposite of her husband, who was outgoing, political, and a heavy drinker. She was reclusive, averse to politics, and a teetotaler.
Early life
[edit]Jane Means Appleton was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, on March 12, 1806, to Congregationalist minister Jesse Appleton and his wife Elizabeth Means Appleton. The Appletons had six children: three elder daughters, of which Jane was the third, and three younger sons. Their father became president of Bowdoin College in 1807, and the family settled in Brunswick, Maine (then part of Massachusetts).[1]: 89 [2]: 188–189 Her father's religious practices included a strict fasting diet that caused his health to decline, leading to his death in 1819.[3]: 108 After his death, the family lived with Elizabeth's mother in Amherst, New Hampshire.[1]: 89 In her childhood, Appleton acquired a devotion to Puritan,[1]: 89 evangelical[1]: 91 Calvinism.[3]: 108–109
Appleton came from a well-off and well-connected New England family.[4]: 166 Jane's education was of a high quality, consisting of both public schooling and homeschooling.[5] She attended the prestigious Miss Catherine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary in Keene, New Hampshire,[2]: 189 where she received an education of a higher quality than women could typically access. She was talented in music and enthusiastic about literature, but declined to pursue these further in favor of Bible study.[5] As she approached young adulthood, Appleton was shy, devoutly religious, and pro-temperance.[6]: 31–32 [7][8] Even in her youth, her health was poor; she regularly contracted severe winter colds.[3]: 109
Marriage and family
[edit]Appleton met Franklin Pierce after he moved to Amherst to study law at Bowdoin. One anecdote suggests that they met during a thunderstorm when he implored her not to sit under a tree for risk of lightning strikes. Another suggests that they were introduced by Alpheus Packard, Jane's brother-in-law and one of Franklin's professors.[9]: 96 She may also have met him while he was visiting her mother's home.[10] Appleton's family opposed the relationship for a number of reasons, including their difference in class, his poor manners, his drinking, his tolerance of slavery,[1]: 89 his Episcopalian beliefs,[9]: 96 and his political aspirations.[3]: 109 They courted for seven years, including a period in which Franklin moved to Hillsborough, New Hampshire, to practice law and serve in the New Hampshire General Court.[3]: 109 Franklin and Jane married in a small ceremony on November 19, 1834, by which time Franklin was a member of the House of Representatives.[1]: 89 They were seen as opposites, Jane's reclusiveness and depression contrasting with Franklin's gregariousness and public aspirations.[11][12]
The Pierces went together to Washington, D.C., after their marriage, but Jane found the city unpleasant. In 1835, she attended the White House New Year's Day reception with her husband and met President Andrew Jackson. She decided to leave the city later that year, returning to her mother's home in Amherst while her husband remained in Washington.[4]: 168 The Pierces later purchased a home in Hillsborough where Jane chose to live while Franklin was away. They moved to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1838 while Franklin was a senator, and Jane encouraged him to resign and retire from politics in 1842.[1]: 90 Jane abhorred politics, and her distaste for the subject created a tension that continued throughout her husband's political ascent.[6]: 31–32 [7][8] Though politics was often a point of debate or argument between the two, they were otherwise warm with one another and wrote each other regularly when apart.[9]: 96–97
Franklin and Jane had three sons, all of whom died in childhood. Franklin Jr. was born in 1836 and died three days after his birth. Frank Robert was born in 1839 and died in 1843 at age four of epidemic typhus. Benjamin was born in 1841 and died in 1853 at age 11 in a train accident.[6]: 241–244 Following the end of her husband's term in the Senate, Pierce was able to live a domestic life with her family together at home. Franklin provided for the family with his law practice, though he briefly went away to serve as a brigadier general in the Mexican–American War.[13] This period of Jane's life is often regarded as her happiest, as her husband was out of politics and she still had two surviving sons.[4]: 169 [2]: 189 Their house was sold during the war, and the family made various living arrangements over the following months. President James K. Polk offered Franklin an appointment as United States Attorney General, but he turned it down due to Jane's objection. After the death of their second son, Pierce focused on raising their only surviving son, Benjamin, in a strict religious manner while her husband operated his law practice.[1]: 91 She wholly dedicated herself to Benjamin and avoided any obligations beyond her family and her religion. Pierce did not carry out housework due to her health, so it was carried out by a married couple that Franklin hired to care for Jane and Benjamin while he was away.[9]: 97
First Lady of the United States
[edit]
In 1852, Pierce's husband received the Democratic Party nomination for president. She is said to have fainted upon hearing the news.[9]: 98 [14] He had deceived her about his presidential aspirations, denying the extent to which he was seeking the office.[3]: 110 He sought to persuade her that if he became president, their son Benjamin would be more likely to become successful.[13] Despite this, she regularly prayed that her husband would lose the presidential election.[1]: 91 Her prayers went unanswered, as he was elected by a large margin on November 2, 1852.[2]: 190
While Franklin was president-elect, a train with the Pierces on board derailed, and Benjamin was killed in front of his parents. Pierce went into a deeper depression after witnessing her final son's death, believing that God took their sons as a punishment for her husband's political aspirations. She did not attend his presidential inauguration, instead staying in Baltimore for two weeks.[1]: 91 Pierce was also affected by the deaths of her predecessor Abigail Fillmore and Vice President William R. King over the following weeks.[2]: 190 [9]: 98–99
For the first few months of her husband's term, Pierce did not take visitors and only sparingly attended public receptions,[14] and she entertained only family and friends.[4]: 171 Upon arriving at the White House, she wore black and had the White House decorated for mourning.[3]: 111 She did not host social events or supervise the White House in the traditional role of first lady, leaving these responsibilities to her aunt and close friend Abby Kent-Means. She avoided company, regularly engaging in private Bible study.[1]: 91–92 Pierce also developed a friendship with Varina Davis, wife of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. She took an interest in the Davises' infant son, though he became ill and died in 1854. She gradually acclimated to life as First Lady, attending the New Year's reception two years into her husband's term and the Friday evening receptions thereafter.[3]: 112 Pierce attempted to communicate with her late son while she was first lady, sometimes writing letters to him as an exercise in grief.[1]: 92 She also attempted to contact him through a séance with the assistance of the Fox sisters, major figures in the Spiritualism movement.[12][15]
As first lady, Pierce insisted on adherence to religious practice in the White House, instructing the staff to attend church and holding religious services in the White House library. Pierce's cousin Amos A. Lawrence described the effect this had on her husband, saying that he was deeply pious in her presence but drank heavily when she was away.[2]: 190 She also lobbied him on occasion; in 1856, she convinced him to reverse the arrest of abolitionist Charles L. Robinson. During times of poor health, Franklin invited many of her nieces and nephews to the White House to care for her.[16] Taking an interest in abolitionism, she began attending Congressional debates after her period of mourning to follow the issue. At the end of her husband's term, she again declined to attend the presidential inauguration, this time of her husband's successor James Buchanan.[3]: 113
Later life and death
[edit]The Pierces lived in Washington for a month after the end of Franklin's presidential term and then toured New England during the summer. They traveled abroad for two years, returning home to purchase 60 acres (24 ha) of land in Concord before leaving for the West Indies. Pierce avoided Concord as it reminded her of her late son, and she often stayed with relatives in Massachusetts for the remainder of her life.[1]: 93 During the American Civil War, she supported the Union and the cause of abolitionism, while her husband supported the preservation of slavery in order to preserve the nation and the Constitution.[16] Pierce's bouts of tuberculosis worsened in the years after Franklin's presidency, and she died on December 2, 1863, at age 57.[1]: 93 She was buried at Old North Cemetery in Concord. Franklin Pierce died on October 8, 1869, aged 64, and was interred beside his wife and son.[16] In her will, she bequeathed money to the American Bible Society, the American Society for Foreign Missions, and the American Colonization Society.[9]: 100
Public perception and legacy
[edit]
The general public's first impression of Pierce was in a biography of her husband by family friend Nathaniel Hawthorne at the beginning of Franklin's campaign. It emphasized her poor health as her husband's reason for declining a role in the Polk administration, creating a reputation as a sickly woman that has persisted ever since.[2]: 189 While first lady, Pierce was considered an invalid and seen as a depressing presence in a depressing White House, though she received sympathy from the people for her grief.[14] She was known as "the shadow of the White House".[9]: 99 [15] She received backlash from the public after canceling Saturday evening Marine Band concerts in view of the Sabbath.[3]: 112 Hawthorne once wrote that she "wasn't really of this world."[11]
Pierce is ranked poorly among historians, with polling showing that she is considered one of the least effectual first ladies.[17][18] She is also one of the most obscure, having served in the role before it had national prominence and during a presidency that has itself become obscure. Much like other antebellum first ladies, she has often been identified as avoiding the spotlight and of little importance to her husband's administration.[2]: 177 She is considered to have had little influence on the position of first lady and set no precedent for her successors.[12] Pierce's influence on her husband manifested through her dislike of politics, including her role in his decision to retire from the Senate in 1842.[3]: 110 Some scholars have suggested that in the course of her relationship with her husband, she may have felt a religious compulsion to save his soul and courted him because of his vices rather than despite them.[3]: 109 While contemporary perception of Pierce was generally one of sympathy, a trend among 20th-century historians was to describe her as a hypochondriac who failed to support her husband during tragedy and to consider her as a damaging factor in her husband's poorly received presidency.[2]: 191–192
Political beliefs
[edit]Pierce was a Puritan, and this formed the basis of her worldview. Her religious beliefs impressed on her the conviction that suffering was punishment from God. She strongly opposed Washington's political and social culture, lamenting the regular parties and alcohol consumption.[3]: 110 She was raised as a Whig, which caused conflict with her family when she married her husband, who served in office as a Democrat. She supported the temperance movement and opposed the consumption of alcohol.[8] Pierce also supported abolitionism, in contrast to her husband's tolerance of slavery in the name of states' rights, and wished for a Union victory in the American Civil War.[16] Pierce admired Andrew Jackson while he was president. She disliked Representative Davy Crockett, believing him "conceited, stupid, [and] silly".[9]: 97
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Schneider, Dorothy; Schneider, Carl J. (2010). "Jane Means Appleton Pierce". First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary (3rd ed.). Facts on File. pp. 88–94. ISBN 978-1-4381-0815-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Thacker-Estrada, Elizabeth Lorelei (2016). "Chapter Eleven: Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, and Jane Pierce: Three Antebellum Presidents' Ladies". In Sibley, Katherine A. S. (ed.). A Companion to First Ladies. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 176–196. ISBN 978-1-118-73218-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hendricks, Nancy (2015). "Jane Pierce". America's First Ladies: A Historical Encyclopedia and Primary Document Collection of the Remarkable Women of the White House. ABC-CLIO. pp. 108–115. ISBN 978-1-61069-883-2.
- ^ a b c d Cottrell, Debbie Mauldin (1996). Gould, Lewis L. (ed.). American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy. Garland Publishing. pp. 166–173. ISBN 0-8153-1479-5.
- ^ a b Longo, James McMurtry (2011). From Classroom to White House: The Presidents and First Ladies as Students and Teachers. McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7864-8846-9.
- ^ a b c Wallner, Peter A. (2004). Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son. Plaidswede. ISBN 9780975521632.
- ^ a b Gara, Larry (1991). The Presidency of Franklin Pierce. University Press of Kansas. pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b c Baker, Jean H. "Franklin Pierce: Life Before the Presidency". American President: An Online Reference Resource. University of Virginia. Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
Franklin and Jane Pierce seemingly had little in common, and the marriage would sometimes be a troubled one. The bride's family were staunch Whigs, a party largely formed to oppose Andrew Jackson, whom Pierce revered. Socially, Jane Pierce was reserved and shy, the polar opposite of her new husband. Above all, she was a committed devotee of the temperance movement. She detested Washington and usually refused to live there, even after Franklin Pierce became a U.S. Senator in 1837.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Watson, Robert P. (2001). "Jane Means Appleton Pierce". First Ladies of the United States: A Biographical Dictionary. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 95–100. doi:10.1515/9781626373532. ISBN 978-1-62637-353-2. S2CID 249333854.
- ^ Diller, Daniel C.; Robertson, Stephen L. (2001). The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents: White House Biographies, 1789–2001. CQ Press. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-1-56802-573-5.
- ^ a b Foster, Feather Schwartz (2011). The First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Mamie Eisenhower, an Intimate Portrait of the Women Who Shaped America. Sourcebooks, Incorporated. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-1-4022-4272-4.
- ^ a b c "Jane Pierce". Miller Center. October 4, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- ^ a b "Biography of Jane Pierce". whitehouse.gov. January 2, 2004 – via National Archives.
- ^ a b c Caroli, Betty Boyd (2010). First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-19-539285-2.
- ^ a b Arnold, Amanda (July 12, 2017). "The First Ladies Who Brought the Occult to the White House". Vice. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "First Lady Biography: Jane Pierce". National First Ladies' Library. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
- ^ Watson, Robert P. (January 1, 1999). "Ranking the presidential spouses". The Social Science Journal. 36 (1): 117–136. doi:10.1016/S0362-3319(99)80008-1. ISSN 0362-3319.
- ^ "Siena College and C-SPAN Announce the Rankings of the First Ladies of the United States (FLOTUS)". PRWeb. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
External links
[edit]- Letter to Benjamin Pierce from Jane Pierce after Benjamin's death
- Painting of Jane Pierce
- Jane Pierce at C-SPAN's First Ladies: Influence & Image
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Jane Pierce
View on GrokipediaEarly Life
Family Origins and Childhood
Jane Means Appleton was born on March 12, 1806, in Hampton, New Hampshire, to Jesse Appleton, a Congregationalist minister serving the local church, and Elizabeth Means Appleton.[7] The family included five children who survived infancy—three daughters and two sons—with Jane among the younger siblings in a household shaped by her father's clerical and academic pursuits.[8] In 1807, shortly after Jane's birth, the Appletons relocated from Hampton to Brunswick, Maine, following Jesse's appointment as the second president of Bowdoin College, a role that defined the family's primary residence and socio-economic position for the next twelve years.[8][9] Life in Brunswick centered on the college community, where the family resided in modest quarters supported by Jesse's presidential salary and the limited resources typical of early 19th-century New England academic families, amid a rural environment of farming communities and emerging educational institutions.[8] Jesse Appleton died on November 12, 1819, likely from tuberculosis, at age 46, leaving 13-year-old Jane and her siblings under their mother's care in financially strained circumstances.[8] Elizabeth Appleton subsequently moved the family to her native Amherst, New Hampshire, enforcing a disciplined, piety-focused household reflective of Congregationalist principles, which emphasized predestination and moral rigor in daily routines and family dynamics.[9] This early environment of relocation, paternal loss, and maternal religious oversight formed the foundational context for Jane's personal development in rural New England.[8]Education and Formative Influences
Jane Means Appleton was born on March 12, 1806, in Hampton, New Hampshire, into a family steeped in intellectual and religious pursuits, as her father, Jesse Appleton, served as a Congregational minister and later president of Bowdoin College from 1807 until his death in 1819.[10][1] Her education, typical for daughters of New England elites in the early 19th century, emphasized home-based instruction in reading, writing, literature, and moral philosophy, supplemented by private tutors and an early aptitude for music, though she did not attend college despite her father's academic position.[5][11] Following her father's death when she was 13, she spent time at a boarding school in Keene, New Hampshire—possibly Catharine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary in the 1820s—where she further developed an interest in literature amid a curriculum focused on refinement and piety rather than advanced scholarship.[10][1][12] Her formative influences were profoundly shaped by the Congregationalist theology prevalent in her household and community, with her mother's devout piety fostering an environment of introspective moral instruction and Christian devotion that prioritized personal reflection over outward engagement.[13][11] This religious milieu, combined with her delicate health and shy disposition noted from childhood, cultivated an early temperament marked by intellectual curiosity yet reticence, evident in her preference for quiet study over social pursuits.[14] The family's relocation to Brunswick, Maine, during her father's tenure at Bowdoin exposed her to a scholarly atmosphere, reinforcing values of disciplined self-examination and ethical reasoning derived from Calvinist principles, without the formal rigor available to male contemporaries.[10]Marriage and Family
Courtship with Franklin Pierce
Jane Means Appleton first encountered Franklin Pierce, a Bowdoin College graduate and aspiring lawyer, in New Hampshire during the late 1820s, likely in Amherst where her family resided following her father's death. Their courtship extended over roughly five years, marked by persistent family disapproval rooted in class disparities—Appleton hailed from a prominent Congregationalist and Whig lineage—Pierce's modest origins, his youthful service in the War of 1812, and his alignment with the Democratic Party, which clashed with the Appletons' Federalist-Whig sensibilities.[15] [10] Jane herself harbored reservations, prioritizing a secluded domestic existence over the public scrutiny and instability inherent in Pierce's burgeoning political aspirations.[6] Despite these obstacles, the couple wed on November 19, 1834, at the Amherst home of Jane's maternal grandparents; she was 28, an age considered advanced for marriage in that era.[2] The union reflected Pierce's steadfast devotion, though Jane's reluctance persisted, informed by her introspective temperament and aversion to the social demands of political life.[1] After the ceremony, the Pierces settled in Concord, New Hampshire, where Franklin established a thriving law practice and ascended in state politics, serving as speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives by 1832 and later winning election to the U.S. House in 1833. Early marital life involved Jane adapting to her husband's expanding professional commitments, which included frequent travel to Washington, D.C., amid her preference for rural seclusion.[6]Children and Familial Losses
Franklin and Jane Pierce's first son, Franklin Pierce Jr., was born on February 2, 1836, and died three days later on February 5.[16] Such early infant deaths were common in the early 19th-century United States, where infant mortality rates exceeded 150 deaths per 1,000 live births due to limited medical interventions and prevalent infectious diseases.[17] Their second son, Frank Robert Pierce, was born on August 27, 1839, in Concord, New Hampshire, and died on November 14, 1843, at age four from epidemic typhus, a bacterial infection transmitted by lice during outbreaks.[18] Typhus epidemics were frequent in the era, contributing to high child mortality, and the Pierce family relocated to Concord seeking a healthier environment following prior losses.[19] The third son, Benjamin Pierce, was born in 1841 and lived until age eleven.[20] On January 6, 1853, while traveling by train from Andover, Massachusetts, to Concord, New Hampshire, the locomotive derailed on a frosty curve, causing the passenger car to plunge down a 20-foot embankment; Benjamin was the sole fatality, killed instantly when his head was crushed.[21] Franklin and Jane sustained minor injuries but witnessed the event, marking the final loss among their three sons, all deceased before adulthood.[22]First Lady Years
Arrival in Washington and Initial Challenges
Franklin Pierce won the presidential election on November 2, 1852, securing 254 electoral votes against Winfield Scott's 42.[23] Jane Pierce, who had long detested politics and viewed public life in Washington as detrimental to family well-being, reportedly prayed against her husband's nomination success, reflecting her deep reluctance to assume the role of first lady.[6] The family's transition was shattered on January 6, 1853, when their only surviving child, 11-year-old Benjamin, died instantly in a train derailment near Andover, Massachusetts. The accident occurred as the Pierces traveled northward from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire, to finalize preparations for the move to Washington; the locomotive jumped the track, crushing the car where Benjamin sat with his parents, who survived with minor injuries.[24] Jane interpreted the tragedy as divine judgment against her husband's presidential ambitions, intensifying her preexisting aversion to the capital.[24] At the inauguration on March 4, 1853, Jane remained absent in New Hampshire, overwhelmed by grief, while Franklin delivered his address amid visible emotional distress, alluding to "personal regret and bitter sorrow" that had borne him to office.[25] She arrived in Washington later that month but delegated initial White House setup and social preparations to relatives, including her aunt by marriage, Abigail Kent Means, who handled logistical arrangements and early hostess responsibilities owing to Jane's seclusion in mourning. This delegation underscored the immediate emotional and practical barriers to their establishment in the executive mansion.[6]Official Duties and Social Withdrawal
During her tenure as First Lady from March 4, 1853, to March 4, 1857, Jane Pierce delegated most official hostess responsibilities to Varina Davis, the wife of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who effectively served as the primary social figure in Washington. Abigail Kent Means, Pierce's aunt by marriage, assisted with the sparse remaining duties amid an extremely curtailed social schedule.[6] The White House hosted no notable social events, including official dinners, diverging sharply from the era's norms of regular levees and receptions seen in prior administrations like that of Millard Fillmore. This minimal entertaining underscored the administration's subdued public profile, with permanent mourning decorations in state rooms signaling Pierce's disengagement from ceremonial protocol.[6] Pierce made few public appearances, notably absenting herself from Franklin Pierce's inauguration and avoiding large gatherings for the initial two years of the term. Her reluctance to engage with Washington society, evident in her avoidance of protocol-driven obligations, reflected a preference for seclusion over the expected first lady's role in fostering diplomatic and social ties.[6][1]Personal Health and Coping Mechanisms
Jane Pierce entered the White House with longstanding tuberculosis, a condition that predated her husband's presidency and was severely exacerbated by the traumatic death of her only surviving son, Benjamin, in a train derailment on January 6, 1853, just weeks before Franklin Pierce's inauguration.[26][6] This compounded her physical frailty, leading to prolonged withdrawal from public life as she confined herself primarily to the second-floor family quarters.[1][27] Her coping mechanisms centered on private religious devotion and written correspondence; she devoted hours to prayer, drawing solace from her devout Congregationalist faith, and composed letters to friends that often echoed themes of condolence and mourning, including some directly addressed to her deceased son.[1][22] Social interactions were minimal, restricted to a small circle of relatives—such as nieces who provided care—and trusted aides, as her health permitted few visitors beyond these.[5] Accounts from contemporaries, including Varina Davis, wife of Cabinet member Jefferson Davis, described Pierce's rare appearances as spectral and detached, highlighting her evasion of the era's rigorous demands for First Ladies to host frequent receptions and embody gracious hospitality amid Washington's political elite.[28] This seclusion marked a stark deviation from precedents set by predecessors like Dolley Madison, underscoring the personal toll of her afflictions against expectations of visible spousal support for the administration.[1]Later Life
Post-Presidency Residence and Activities
Upon departing the White House in March 1857, the Pierces embarked on an extended sojourn abroad aimed at improving their health amid ongoing physical and emotional strains. They initially wintered in Madeira, Portugal, before undertaking a broader itinerary in 1858 that encompassed Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, and England, with limited social interactions during the travels.[29] The couple's engagements remained minimal, prioritizing rest over formal diplomacy or public appearances, reflecting Jane Pierce's persistent reticence toward social obligations.[1] The Pierces returned to the United States in early 1860, resettling in Concord, New Hampshire, their longtime base. They resided in a home in the city, maintaining a low-profile domestic routine centered on private family matters rather than political or communal involvement.[30] Jane Pierce continued her pattern of social withdrawal, rarely participating in local events or receiving visitors, while the household focused on everyday management amid Franklin Pierce's increasing infirmities from chronic ailments.[1] This period marked a deliberate retreat from public life, with the couple's activities confined largely to home-based pursuits and occasional short excursions within New Hampshire.Final Illness and Death
Jane Pierce's longstanding tuberculosis intensified after 1860, amid continued mourning for her deceased children, rendering her increasingly frail and housebound in Concord, New Hampshire.[5] Efforts to alleviate her symptoms through relocation and rest, common 19th-century approaches to the disease, yielded no lasting improvement, as effective antibiotics and therapies remained unavailable until the 20th century.[31] Tuberculosis then ranked among the deadliest afflictions in the United States, claiming roughly one in seven lives by the late 1800s, with urban infection rates reaching 70 to 90 percent due to airborne transmission in crowded conditions.[32][33] On December 2, 1863, Pierce succumbed to the illness at age 57 in Andover, Massachusetts, while staying at her sister Mary Aiken's residence for purported recovery.[5][34] Her body was returned to Concord for interment in Old North Cemetery, placed beside the grave of her son Benjamin, who had perished a decade earlier in a train accident.[35][34] Franklin Pierce outlived her by nearly six years, dying in 1869 and joining her in the same plot.[34]Beliefs and Perspectives
Religious Faith and Interpretations of Adversity
Jane Means Appleton Pierce was raised in a strict Congregationalist household, the daughter of Reverend Jesse Appleton, a minister in Hampton, New Hampshire, who later served as president of Bowdoin College.[36] Her upbringing instilled a deep adherence to Calvinist doctrines, including predestination and the notion of divine sovereignty over human affairs, viewing worldly ambitions—particularly political ones—as potential sources of divine disfavor.[9] Pierce interpreted personal adversities through this lens, attributing them to God's intervention as corrective punishment or redirection from material pursuits toward spiritual focus.[37] Following the deaths of her three sons—all before adulthood—Pierce explicitly linked these losses to divine will in her correspondence, seeing them as mechanisms to refocus her family on eternal matters rather than temporal success. For instance, after the January 6, 1853, train derailment that killed her eleven-year-old son Benjamin just weeks before her husband's inauguration, she wrote letters to the deceased child expressing belief that God had removed him to spare the family worldly distractions and compel Franklin Pierce's undivided attention to presidential duties.[6] Earlier losses, including an infant son in 1833 and a four-year-old in 1843, reinforced her view of these events as providential acts to deter her husband's political path, which she regarded as incompatible with pious living.[22] Throughout her life, prayer served as Pierce's primary mechanism for enduring grief and illness, a practice rooted in her faith's emphasis on submission to God's inscrutable purposes rather than human agency.[1] She frequently retreated to private devotion amid tuberculosis and melancholy, eschewing social engagements in favor of scriptural reflection. This contrasted with her husband Franklin Pierce's more nominal or secular disposition toward religion; while he participated in Episcopal services sporadically, she actively urged him toward temperance and moral rigor, interpreting his drinking and ambitions as further provocations of divine chastisement.[38] Her letters reveal pleas for his spiritual awakening, framing familial tragedies as calls to repentance over political entanglement.[26]Views on Politics, Slavery, and Temperance
Jane Pierce harbored a profound aversion to politics, viewing her husband's involvement as incompatible with family stability and moral integrity. From early in their marriage, she urged Franklin Pierce to forsake political office, including pressing him to resign his U.S. Senate seat in 1842 after just five years, citing the toll on their health and domestic life. Her reluctance intensified with his 1852 Democratic nomination for president; she interpreted their repeated personal losses—such as the deaths of two sons in infancy and a third in a train accident shortly before inauguration—as divine retribution tied to his ambitions, and she actively prayed for his electoral defeat to avert further calamity. Despite these entreaties, she acquiesced to his pursuit, though her influence manifested in private appeals against specific policies she deemed expansionist or compromising.[37] On slavery, Pierce aligned with anti-slavery sentiments prevalent in her New Hampshire upbringing and family circles, supporting abolitionist causes in opposition to her husband's doctrine of popular sovereignty, which facilitated slavery's potential spread. In 1856, amid the Kansas territorial conflicts known as Bleeding Kansas, she successfully lobbied Franklin to pardon and release her relative, Dr. John Robinson, imprisoned by pro-slavery forces for aiding free-state settlers and distributing anti-slavery materials; Robinson had been captured in December 1855 and held under harsh conditions until federal intervention in March 1856. She expressed private disapproval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Franklin signed into law on May 30, 1854, as it repealed the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery north of 36°30' latitude, reopening territories to the institution and exacerbating sectional tensions. While avoiding public abolitionist activism, her letters reveal critiques of political maneuvers that prioritized compromise over moral opposition to slavery's expansion.[26][39] Pierce championed the temperance movement, advocating strict abstinence from alcohol as a remedy for social decay, a position that strained relations with Franklin, whose heavy drinking persisted despite his occasional involvement in local reform efforts. By the 1840s, amid rising national campaigns against intemperance—such as those led by the American Temperance Society, which claimed over 1.5 million members by 1835—she promoted zero-tolerance policies rooted in ethical concerns over alcohol's role in family ruin and moral lapse. Her commitment reflected broader 19th-century Protestant reform impulses, though she refrained from overt public campaigning during her White House tenure.[40]Legacy and Evaluation
Perceptions During Lifetime
During Franklin Pierce's presidency from 1853 to 1857, Jane Pierce was widely perceived as a reclusive figure, earning the nickname "Shadow in the White House" from contemporary observers due to her withdrawal from social duties following the death of her son Benjamin in January 1853.[41] This perception stemmed from her limited public appearances and delegation of hosting responsibilities to relatives, such as her niece Abby Means, who recorded in her White House diary that Jane remained lucid yet profoundly depressed, often confined to her rooms.[42] Associates, including Washington socialites, viewed her seclusion critically, describing her as a "selfish recluse" who prioritized personal grief over supporting her husband's administration through traditional first lady roles.[43] Cabinet members and White House staff noted her piety and kindness toward servants, urging them to attend religious services, but observed her overall detachment from political and social engagements.[12] Despite her family's Whig background and her own reservations about Democratic politics and expansionist policies, friends and relatives regarded her as a loyal spouse, evidenced by her correspondence expressing concern for Franklin's well-being amid her health struggles, countering any whispers of marital discord with demonstrations of steadfast support.[22] Public commentary contrasted Jane's traditional domestic focus and mourning with the more extroverted styles of predecessors like Julia Tyler, who had hosted elaborate entertainments during John Tyler's term from 1844 to 1845, reflecting era expectations for first ladies to facilitate White House sociability and bolster presidential image.[44] Jane's approach, rooted in religious introspection rather than public performance, highlighted a divergence from these norms, though newspapers of the time rarely detailed her personally, focusing instead on the administration's broader activities.[6]Historiographical Assessments and Criticisms
Early historiographical accounts from the early 20th century depicted Jane Pierce as a tragic figure defined by unrelenting grief, portraying her withdrawal from White House duties as the inevitable outcome of personal devastation rather than deliberate choice.[10] By the mid-20th century, assessments shifted toward criticism of her passivity, with scholars arguing that her refusal to host public events or engage socially contributed to the Pierce administration's political isolation, potentially exacerbating Franklin Pierce's alignment with pro-slavery interests without mitigating influences.[6] In Siena College Research Institute surveys of historians conducted since 1982, Pierce consistently ranks among the lowest-rated First Ladies, often 38th or below out of 39 or more, cited for neurotic tendencies and failure to fulfill ceremonial roles that might have bolstered public support amid policy controversies.[45][46] Recent evaluations critique the anachronistic pathologization of her grief as clinical depression, lacking any contemporaneous medical diagnosis and disregarding 19th-century realities where nearly 20 percent of children died before age five, often interpreted through a Calvinist lens as divine retribution rather than mental illness requiring intervention.[47][6] This perspective aligns with causal analyses emphasizing her religious worldview—evident in her reliance on prayer and fatalistic letters—as adaptive to era-specific mortality norms, rather than evidence of dysfunction.[1] While acknowledging her political reticence, some assessments highlight private exertions, such as temperance advocacy through personal correspondence pressing her husband to limit alcohol consumption, as subtle influence amid her broader rejection of Washington's social demands.[48] Conservative readings counter progressive expectations for activist spouses by praising her anti-ambition stance as a virtuous resistance to politicizing the First Lady role, reflecting institutional biases in academia that undervalue traditional domestic priorities in favor of modern public engagement metrics.[45]References
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woman_of_the_Century/Jane_Means_Appleton_Pierce