Early Political Career
After graduating from college and completing his law degree, Pierce entered politics. He rose to a central position in the New Hampshire Democratic Party and became a member of the Concord Regency leadership group.
After establishing his law practice, in 1828 he was elected to the lower house of the New Hampshire General Court, the New Hampshire House of Representatives, the same year that his father was elected as governor. He served in the State House from 1829 to 1833, and was elected Speaker from 1832 to 1833.
In 1831 Pierce was commissioned as aide-de-camp to Governor Samuel Dinsmoor with the rank of Colonel, and he remained in the state militia until 1847.
In 1832, Franklin Pierce was elected as a Democrat to the 23rd and 24th Congresses (March 4, 1833 – March 4, 1837). He was 27 years old, the youngest U.S. Representative at the time.
In 1836, he was elected by the New Hampshire General Court as a Democrat to the United States Senate, serving from March 4, 1837, to February 28, 1842, when he resigned. He was chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Pensions during the 26th Congress.
After his service in the Senate, Pierce resumed the practice of law in Concord with his partner Asa Fowler. He was appointed as the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire from 1845 to 1847. He refused the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Hampshire and declined the appointment as Attorney General of the United States tendered by President James K. Polk.
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