Considered a failure upon leaving the White House in 1857 and thought to be on his way to a well-deserved obscurity, Franklin Pierce during the Civil War emerged as a major spokesman for that era\'s Peace Democrats, opposed to President Lincoln\'s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and in defense of Civil liberties.
A Northerner with many close Southern friends, including Jefferson Davis the President of the Confederacy and his wife, Varina Davis, Pierce was also thought to be a traitor.
Considered a failure upon leaving the White House in 1857 and thought to be on his way to a well-deserved obscurity, Franklin Pierce during the Civil War emerged as a major spokesman for that era\'s Peace Democrats, opposed to President Lincoln\'s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and in defense of Civil liberties
