James Buchanan (23 April 1791 – 1 June 1868) was President of the United States from 4 March 1857 to 4 March 1861, succeeding Franklin Pierce and preceding Abraham Lincoln. As a member of the conservative US Democratic Party, Buchanan supported states rights, including the American South's legalization of slavery. His failed conciliation between the north and south led to the American Civil War in 1861.
Biography[]
James Buchanan was born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania on 23 April 1791, the son of two Scots-Irish parents; his father was from County Donegal. In 1812, he became a lawyer in Lancaster, and he became a dedicated member of the Federalist Party, opposing the War of 1812. However, he decided to enlist in the US Army after the British Army invaded Maryland, and he fought as a private in the volunteers during the defense of Baltimore; he was the only US president with military experience to have been a non-commissioned officer for the entirety of his service. In 1814, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving until 1816; he served again from 1821 to 1831, and President Andrew Jackson appointed Buchanan as ambassador to the Russian Empire in 1832. In 1834, he was elected to the Senate, and he would be reelected for several terms as a member of the conservative US Democratic Party. In 1845, he left the senate to serve as Secretary of State under President James K. Polk, serving until 1849. From 1853 to 1856, he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom, and he missed the debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Buchanan was seen as untainted by the slavery debate, so his election to the presidency in 1856 went smoothly.
Presidency[]
Portrait of Buchanan
Buchanan entered office on 4 March 1857, and he was immediately confronted with the issue of slavery. Just two days after Buchanan's inauguration, Roger B. Taney ended the Dred Scott v. Sandford case by deciding that African-Americans were not citizens, could not engage in lawsuits in court, and that Congress could not exclude slavery in American territories. Buchanan also had to deal with the Bleeding Kansas upheaval between abolitionists and pro-slavery activists, the war with the Mormons in Utah, and a financial scare. Buchanan was faced with several issues during his presidency, and he attempted to prevent a war between the North and South by conciliating. However, he decided not to seek another term as president during the 1860 election, and his Vice President John C. Breckinridge and the southern Democrats would walk out of the Democratic National Convention and run against northern Democrat Stephen A. Douglas as well as US Republican Party nominee Abraham Lincoln. During his "lame duck" months, all arsenals and forts in the American South were taken over by the Confederate States of America, and a fourth of all US Army troops surrendered to militia forces in Texas. Buchanan attempted to negotiate the withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina in exchange for South Carolina's continued loyalty to the United States, but Major Robert Anderson was not informed of this deal, and his garrison at Fort Sumter was besieged by Confederate States Army troops. Buchanan left office in March 1861, and he returned home to Lancaster, dying there in 1868 at the age of 77.