[147] Pierce and his cabinet left office on March 4, 1857, the only time in U.S. history that the original cabinet members all remained for a full four-year term.[148]

Post-presidency (1857–1869)
Portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy. Pierce, seen here in 1858, remained a vocal political figure after his presidency.[149]
After leaving the White House, the Pierces remained in Washington for more than two months, staying with former Secretary of State William L. Marcy.[150] Buchanan altered course from the Pierce administration, replacing all his appointees. The Pierces eventually moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Pierce had begun to speculate in property. Seeking warmer weather, he and Jane spent the next three years traveling, beginning with a stay in Madeira and followed by tours of Europe and the Bahamas.[149] In Rome, he visited Nathaniel Hawthorne; the two men spent much time together and the author found the retired president as buoyant as ever.[151]
Pierce never lost sight of politics during his travels, commenting regularly on the nation's growing sectional conflict. 