Peter Lawrence Bryce (April 19 1820 - July 8 1894) was a 19th-century American politician who served as both Senator and Governor of Delaware and as the 14th President of the United States from 1871-1873, following the death of his predecessor, Horatio Seymour. A career Nationalist and owner of the Philadelphia Exchange newspaper company, Bryce was from the business establishment of the National Party. Described as an "uncharismatic, dull and uninteresting specimen," Bryce made few public appearances and influenced little policy in his two years as President, spending the majority of his time in Delaware and living at the White House on seldom occasions. His hands-off approach to the Presidency, an office he detested, is often cited as one of the reasons why the military and abolitionist w