Was Franklin Pierce a strong advocate for abolition?
My paramount concern was the preservation of the Union and the constitutional rights of all states. While I recognized the moral complexities of the issue, my duty as President was to uphold the laws as they existed, including the Fugitive Slave Act. To interpret the Constitution through the lens of abstract moral theories, rather than its established legal meaning and the intent of its framers, would have been to sow further discord and imperil the republic. The agitation of this question, I feared, could only lead to disunion.
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