Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A member of the Democratic Party, he was born in New Hampshire on November 23, 1804. Before his presidency, Pierce served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837 and as a U.S. Senator from 1837 until 1842. His presidency is often noted for his support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which aimed to facilitate the expansion of slavery into the territories and heightened tensions between the North and South, contributing to the onset of the American Civil War.