How did Nathaniel Hawthorne know Franklin Pierce?

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A son of Salem — Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne's ancestors in Salem, Massachusetts, were Puritans named Hathorne. He added a w to his name when he began writing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin Pierce were long-time friends who first met as classmates at Bowdoin College. Their friendship endured well beyond their college years; Hawthorne famously supported Pierce's political career by writing a campaign biography for him in 1852. Following Pierce's successful presidential election that same year, he rewarded Hawthorne with a consulship in Liverpool, England, in 1853.123