Non-fiction: Second Inaugural Address

Clarification
There is no Second Inaugural Address by Franklin Pierce in 1857. Pierce served a single term (1853–1857) and delivered one inaugural address in 1853. The only presidential inaugural in 1857 was James Buchanan’s First Inaugural Address. If you’re looking for a Pierce text from the end of his presidency, the closest equivalent is his Fourth Annual Message to Congress (December 1856), often read as his valedictory statement of policy.

Option 1: Franklin Pierce’s Inaugural Address (1853)
Pierce’s 1853 address stresses national unity under the Compromise of 1850 as a final settlement of sectional discord, insists on obedience to the Constitution and laws, including enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, and presents an optimistic, expansionist vision consistent with Manifest Destiny. He promises a frugal, “simple” federal government, limited executive patronage, and respect for states’ rights. Foreign policy is assertive but couched in legalism: he signals interest in territorial growth (Cuba is implied rather than named) while professing peaceful intentions. The tone blends youthful confidence with conciliation, seeking to quiet slavery disputes by elevating constitutional fidelity above moral agitation, and to redirect national energy to prosperity, internal improvements guided by constitutional scruple, and westward development.

Option 2: James Buchanan’s Inaugural Address (1857)
Buchanan’s 1857 address pivots on the expectation that the Supreme Court, days away from announcing Dred Scott, would settle the territorial slavery question. He urges the country to accept that judicial resolution as authoritative, presenting courts as the constitutional safety valve for sectional tensions. He affirms that Congress should admit Kansas when its population warrants statehood and that lawful majorities in territories must prevail, indirectly endorsing popular sovereignty while deflecting responsibility to legal processes. Buchanan denounces secession as unconstitutional but emphasizes that the federal government’s powers are limited, foreshadowing his later passivity in crisis. He couples this constitutionalism with calls for a revenue tariff, a stronger navy, a Pacific railroad, civil service reform, and adherence to the Monroe Doctrine. The rhetoric is conciliatory, technocratic, and legalistic, aimed at cooling passions by procedural finality rather than moral argument.

Option 3: Franklin Pierce’s Fourth Annual Message (1856)
Pierce’s final message defends his administration’s Kansas-Nebraska policy as restoring constitutional equality to the states and territories, condemns “lawless” resistance in Kansas, and frames federal enforcement as neutral fidelity to statute rather than proslavery partisanship. He justifies an assertive foreign posture, Cuba, Central America, and neutrality in Europe, within treaty law and hemispheric security. Domestically, he highlights prosperity, low tariffs, and sound finances while warning that sectional agitation threatens both the Union and economic stability. The tone is self-justifying and admonitory, portraying critics as destabilizers of a constitutional settlement he insists is both fair and final.

How would you like to proceed?
Tell me whether you want a full summary of Pierce’s 1853 Inaugural Address, Buchanan’s 1857 Inaugural Address, or Pierce’s 1856 Fourth Annual Message, and I will provide a focused ~500-word synthesis.