Free time for drinking

Franklin Pierce

“Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.’’

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“After the White House what is there to do but drink?’’

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), the 14th president (1853-1857), who historians generally consider one of the worst. He was the only president to hail from New Hampshire. He grew up in Hillsboro and died in Concord, of alcoholism.

Pierce was a Northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity, and he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.

The Franklin Pierce Homestead, in Hillsboro, N.H., where Pierce grew up, is now a National Historic Landmark. He was born in a nearby log cabin as the homestead was being completed.

Odd that even a New Hampshire college would name itself after Pierce but you have such a place in Rindge.