THE PRESIDENCY OF FRANKLIN PIERCE

Pierce’s foreign policy was pro-expansionist. In 1853 he sent a naval force under Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to open Japan to American trade and diplomatic contact. American diplomats negotiated the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico, which gave America an additional southern route for trade (and territory for a proposed transcontinental railroad). Pierce also initiated efforts to purchase Cuba from the Spanish. When this effort proved unsuccessful, many in the Pierce administration favored the seizing of Cuba by force, which infuriated many in the North. Pierce’s policies seemed to benefit Southern interests and were viewed with suspicion by many in the North.

The Whig party also died during this period. Many former Whigs became members of the American or Know-Nothing party that developed in response to rising immigration from Ireland and Germany, which had begun in the late 1840s. The Know-Nothing party was nativist and especially anti-Catholic. The Know-Nothings favored restrictions on further immigration and various schemes that would keep recent immigrants from voting. The fact that it was second most powerful party in America during the first years of the Pierce administration demonstrates the weakness of the two-party system in this period.