Cause of death: Respiratory Failure Political party Democratic Alma mater Dickinson College Profession Lawyer Diplomat Religion Presbyterianism Signature Military service Service/branch Volunteer Battles/wars War of 1812 Buchanan statue in National Portrait Gallery James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868, English pronunciation: /bjuːˈkænən/) was the 15th President of the United States (1857–1861). He is the only president from Pennsylvania and the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor. His niece Harriet Lane played the role as lady of the house. Buchanan (often called Buck-anan by his contemporaries) was a popular and experienced state politician and a successful attorney before his presidency.[1] He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate, and served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He was also Secretary of State under President James K. Polk. ! After he turned down an offer for an appointment to the Supreme Court, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Minister to the United Kingdom, in which capacity he helped draft the controversial Ostend Manifesto . Buchanan was nominated in the 1856 election. Throughout most of Franklin Pierce's term he was stationed in London as a Minister to the Court of St. James's and therefore was not caught up in the crossfire of sectional politics that dominated the country. Buchanan was viewed by many as a compromise between the two sides of the slavery question. His subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race with John C. Frémont and Millard Fillmore. As President, he was often called a "doughface", a Northerner with Southern sympathies, who battled with Stephen A. Douglas for the control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan's efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South alienated both sides, and the Southern states declared their secession in t! he prologue to the American Civil War. Buchanan's view of reco! rd was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal. Buchanan, first and foremost an attorney, was noted for his mantra, "I acknowledge no master but the law."[2] When he left office, popular opinion had turned against him, and the Democratic Party had split in two. Buchanan had once aspired to a presidency that would rank in history with that of George Washington.[3] However, his inability to impose peace on sharply divided partisans on the brink of the Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents. Buchanan biographer Philip Klein puts these rankings into context: "Buchanan assumed leadership ... when an unprecedented wave of angry passion was sweeping over the nation. That he held the hostile sections in check during these revolutionary times was in itself a remarkable achievement. His weaknesses in the stormy years of his presidency were magnified by enraged partisans of the North and South. His! many talents, which in a quieter era might have gained for him a place among the great presidents, were quickly overshadowed by the cataclysmic events of civil war and by the towering Abraham Lincoln."[4] Buchanan was the last president born in the 18th century. Contents 1 Early life 2 Political career 3 Presidential election of 1856 4 Presidency 1857–1861 4.1 Dred Scott case 4.2 Chaos in Kansas 4.3 Buchanan's political views 4.4 Panic of 1857 4.5 Utah War 4.6 Partisan deadlock 4.7 Disintegration: election of 1860 4.8 Fort Sumter 4.9 James Buchanan's presidential cabinet 4.10 Judicial appointments 4.11 States admitted to the Union 5 Personal relationships 6 Legacy 7 See also 8 Ancestors 9 Bibliography 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links [edit] Early life James Buchanan was born in a log cabin in Cove Gap (now Buchanan's Birthplace State Park), Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1791, to James Buchanan, Sr. (1761–1833). He was a well-to-do busine! ssman, merchant, and farmer, and married Elizabeth Speer, a literate an! d smart woman (1767–1833). His parents were both of Scots-Irish descent, the father having emigrated from Donegal, Ireland in 1783. He was the second of eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. Buchanan had six sisters and four brothers, only one of whom lived past 1840.[5] In 1797, the family moved to nearby Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The home in Mercersburg was later turned into the James Buchanan Hotel.[6] Buchanan attended the village academy (Old Stone Academy) and later Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Expelled at one point for poor behavior, after pleading for a second chance, he graduated with honors on September 19, 1809.[7] Later that year, he moved to Lancaster, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. A dedicated Federalist, he initially opposed the War of 1812 because he believed it was an unnecessary conflict. When the British invaded neighboring Maryland, he joined a volunteer light dragoon unit and served in the defense ! of Baltimore.[8] An active Freemason, he was the Master of Masonic Lodge No. 43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.[9] [edit] Political career Buchanan began his political career in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814–1816, serving as a Federalist.[10] He was elected to the 17th United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1821 – March 4, 1831), serving as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in the 21st United States Congress. In 1830, he was among the members appointed by the House to conduct impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri, who was ultimately acquitted.[11] Buchanan did not seek reelection, and from 1832 to 1834 he served as Minister to Russia, appointed by Andrew Jackson. With the Federalist Party long defunct, Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to the Unit! ed States Senate to fill a vacancy and served from December 1834; he wa! s reelected in 1837 and 1843, and resigned in 1845 to accept President James K. Polk's nomination of him as Secretary of State. He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (24th through 26th Congresses). After the death of Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin in 1844, Buchanan was nominated by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court. He declined that nomination because he felt compelled to complete his collaboration on the Oregon Treaty negotiations. The seat was filled by Robert Cooper Grier.[12] Buchanan served as Secretary of State under President Polk from 1845 to 1849, despite objections from Buchanan's rival, Vice President George Dallas.[13] In this capacity, he helped negotiate the 1846 Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary of the western U.S.[14] No Secretary of State has become President since James Buchanan, although William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, often served as Acting Secr! etary of State during the Theodore Roosevelt administration. In 1852, Buchanan was named president of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and he served in this capacity until 1866,[15] despite a false report that he was fired.[16] He served as minister to the Court of St. James's (Britain) from 1853 to 1856, during which time he helped to draft and then signed, with Pierre Soulé and John Mason, a memorandum that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. This document proposed the purchase from Spain of Cuba, then in the midst of revolution and near bankruptcy, declaring the island "as necessary to the North American republic as any of its present ... family of states." Against Buchanan's recommendation, the final draft of the Manifesto suggested that "wresting it from Spain" if Spain refused to sell would be justified "by every law, human and Divine."[17] The Manifesto, generally considered a blunder overall, was n! ever acted upon but weakened the Pierce administration and support for ! Manifest Destiny. [edit] Presidential election of 1856 Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage for Buchanan in each county. Main article: United States presidential election, 1856 The Democrats nominated Buchanan ("Old Public Functionary") in 1856. He had been in England during the Kansas-Nebraska debate and thus remained untainted by either side of the issue. Pennsylvania, which had three times failed Buchanan, now gave its full support in its state convention. Though he never formally threw his hat into the ring, it is apparent from all his correspondence, that he was aware of the distinct possibility of his nomination by the Democratic convention in Cincinnati, even before heading home at the finish of his work as Minister to England. Nathaniel Hawthorne, then serving as American Consul in Liverpool, recorded in his diary that Buchanan visited him in January 1855: He returns to America, he says, next October, and then retires forever from public life....as! regards his prospects for the Presidency, [h]e said that his mind was fully made up, and that he would never be a candidate, and that he had expressed this decision to his friends in such a way as to put it out of his own power to change it....that it was now too late, and that he was too old...although, really, he is the only Democrat, at this moment, whom it would not be absurd to talk of for the office.....I wonder whether he can have had any object in saying all this to me. He might see that it would be perfectly natural for me to tell it to General Pierce.[18] Jonathan Foltz told Buchanan in November 1855: "The people have taken the next presidency out of the hands of the politicians...the people and not your political friends will place you there." While Buchanan did not overtly seek the office, he most deliberate
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Expert University of Virginia biography of President James Buchanan, including facts about slavery, southern secession, and the coming of the Civil War. Read the rest
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Biography.com tells the long tale of James Buchanan's service to his countr! y - notably as the 15th President of the United States. Read the rest
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James McGill Buchanan, Jr. (born October 3, 1919) is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Read the rest
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James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the fifteenth President of the United States (1857–1861). To date he is the only President from Read the rest
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James Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the fifteenth president of the United States (1857–1861). He was the only bachelor president and the only Read the rest
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James Buchanan (April 23, 1791 - June 1 , 1868) was the 15th ( 857 - 1861) President of the United States . He was the only President never to marry, and the only Read the rest
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James Buchanan. James Buchanan, fifteenth President of the United States, was born on April 23, 1791 near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. His father, a Scotc! h-Irish Read the rest
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James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States (1857–1861). He is the only president from Pennsylvania and the Read the rest