"You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength.
14th President, 1853-1857-Pierce was a cohort and fellow student at Bowdoin College along with writers, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Only two months earlier, in January, 1853, the Pierce's last surviving son had died in a railroad accident. He had been nominated on the 49th ballot as a northerner at the Democratic Party convention.-from his Inaugural Address, Friday, March 4, 1853"... I repair to the post assigned me not as to one sought, but in obedience to the unsolicited expression of your will, answerable only for a fearless, faithful, and diligent exercise of my best powers...You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me by your strength... It is no paradox to say that although comparatively weak the new-born nation was intrinsically strong. Inconsiderable in population and apparent resources, it was upheld by a broad and intelligent comprehension of rights and an all-pervading purpose to maintain them, stronger than armaments...With the Union my best and dearest hopes are entwined... I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the "compromise measures," are strictly constitutional and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect...within reach of the tomb of Washington, with all the cherished memories of the past gathering around me like so many eloquent voices of exhortation from heaven, I can express no better hope for my country than that the kind Providence which smiled upon our fathers may enable their children to preserve the blessings they have inherited."
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