1515thth American President: American President: James BuchananJames Buchanan

Family and Background

Born in a log cabin at Cove Gap in Franklin County, Pennsylvania on April 23, 1791 to James Buchanan, Sr. (1761-1833), and Elizabeth Speer (1767-1833).

Buchanan, second of eleven children, had six sisters and four brothers Born to a well-to-do family, Buchanan lived in the James Buchanan Hotel as a child. After graduating with honors on September 19, 1809, he moved to Lancaster and studied law. He

was then admitted to the bar in 1812. As an active Freemason, he was the Master of Masonic Lodge #43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,

and a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

Rise to Presidency Dred Scott Case:Buchanan referred to the territorial question as "happily, a matter of but little practical

importance" since the Supreme Court was about to settle it "speedily and finally." Buchanan wished to see the territorial question resolved by the Supreme Court. To further this, he personally lobbied his fellow Pennsylvanian Justice Robert Cooper Grier to vote with the majority to uphold the right of owning slave property

Bleeding Kansas: He threw the full prestige of his administration behind congressional approval of the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state, going as far as offering patronage appointments and even cash bribes in exchange for votes. Buchanan managed to pass his bill through the House, but it was blocked in the Senate by Northerners led by Stephen A. Douglas. Buchanan and Douglas engaged in an all-out struggle for control of the party in 1859–60, with Buchanan using his patronage powers and Douglas rallying the grass roots. Buchanan lost control of the greatly weakened party.

Panic of 1857: Economic troubles also plagued Buchanan's administration with the outbreak of the Panic of 1857. The government suddenly faced a shortfall of revenue, partly because of the Democrats' successful push to lower the tariff. Buchanan's administration began issuing deficit financing for the government, a move which flew in the face of two decades of Democratic support for hard money policies and allowed Republicans to go to Buchanan for financial problems.

Presidential Election of 1856

The Democratic Party nominated James Buchanan because unlike the preceding President Pierce and Douglas, Buchanan was not indelibly tainted by the Kansas-Nebraska Act that had caused uproar. The Republicans nominated John C. Fremont and the Know-Nothings Party chose ex-president Millard Fillmore as their candidate. Choosing the traditional approach to campaigning, Buchanan made almost no appearances without a word to the press and left the fight to “Buchaneers,” his followers. During mudslinging, Buchanan was nicknamed “Old Foggy” and Fremont reviled due to illegitimate birth. Although winning less than the majority of the popular vote, Buchanan won the election. His tally in the Electoral College was 174 to 114 for Fremont and Fillmore 8. The popular vote was 1,832,955 for Buchanan to 1,339,932 for Fremont, and 871,731 for Fillmore. He carried only four of the Northern states and all of the Southern states and border slave states except for Maryland.

Buchanan’s Cabinet With consideration of the results of

Buchanan’s decisions in his term as President, we think that a word that would best describe him would be “failure.” He failed to deal with secession and stood helplessly and watched silently as South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by six other cotton states, forming the Confederate States of America. He had denied the legal right of the states to secede but held that he, as a “lame-duck” President, could do nothing about it. He failed to demonstrate a strong presidential leadership that could have possibly saved the nation from civil war. Buchanan also failed to resolve the issue of slavery and had no choice but to leave these issues to be resolved to his successor. Ultimately, Buchanan’s inability to resolve issues presented to him in his term as President makes us regard him as a failure.

Domestic Policy Issues

Buchanan was popular because he supported the Ostend Manifesto, and was not willing to abolish slavery. Democrats agreed that to the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska bill.     

In 1857 the Supreme Court handed down a controversial decision.

The Dred Scott case was a test case set up by the North to test the constitutionality of slavery. However, it backfired: the court ruled that Dred Scott, and all blacks were not citizens and had no right to sue in the Supreme Court.

The Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional because only a state had the right to forbid slavery. The public in the North was outraged by this decision and refused to obey it. The tension was growing, and with one spark, the war would begin.

Foreign Policy

Could not fully pursue an activist foreign policy due to sectional crisis and threat of civil war; virtually Buchanan’s entire foreign policy was focused on strengthening the influence of the United States in nations to the south of it and told the Congress in 1858, “It is, beyond question, the destiny of our race to spread themselves over the continent of North America.”

Foreign agenda remained focused on the Caribbean; Buchanan wanted to annex Cuba but Republican opposition interfered and doomed this plan

America came in conflict with the British who both had plans of their own in Central America; the British retreated after Buchanan used the Navy to enforce American sovereignty

Buchanan used American power to intimidate and bully smaller Central American and Caribbean nations, earning a great deal of ill will toward coercive American diplomacy.

Served as a five-term Congressman

Served as a foreign diplomat who twice represented the United States, in Russia (1832-1834) and in England (1855-1856) as a two-term Senator and as Polk's Secretary of State.

Defeated Millard Fillmore and John C. Fremont in the 1856 Presidential election

Admitted Minnesota as 32nd, Oregon as 33rd, and Kansas as 34th states to the Union

Rejected the legal right of states to secede from the Union, but was not prepared to use the power of the Federal Government to forcibly hold the states in the Union; offered a compromise but failed and eventually led to secession of the southern states, which later forms the Confederate States of America

Lacked the courage to deal effectively with the slavery crisis

Denounced secession of South Carolina following the election and sent reinforcements to Fort Sumter but failed to respond to further mounting crisis

Failed to preserve the Union and took indecisive actions in attempt to do so but failed horribly, presenting to his successor perhaps the most daunting challenge than ever did any president

PIRATES Political: Member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1815-16; Member of

U.S. House of Representatives from 1821-31; Minister to Russia from 1832-34; United States Senator from 1834-45; Secretary of State from 1845-49; Minister to England from 1853-56; denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them. Democrat.

Intellectual: Harmony was Buchanan's primary goal, but his predilections helped make his dream impossible; Buchanan supported the Compromise and condemned the Wilmot Proviso, which would have forbidden slavery in the territories taken from Mexico.; he denounced slavery as a political and moral evil that could not be remedied without the "introduction of evils infinitely greater.“; Buchanan personally favored slave owners' rights and he sympathized with the slave-expansionists who coveted Cuba. Buchanan despised both abolitionists and free-soil Republicans, lumping the two together. He fought the opponents of the Slave Power.

Religion: Presbyterian; inspired to do hard work and stern duty to serve the Lord. ; Most of the Protestant churches painfully split into northern and southern division.

Arts/Culture:Unfortunately for Buchanan's aspirations, nothing the North would offer could keep the lower South from seceding, and nothing would induce Abraham Lincoln to accept a division of the Union. Neither James Buchanan nor a national convention could change these facts.

PIRATES (cont)

Technology: Lancashire Cotton Mill Famine in 1861 Economic: Free Trade Agreement negotiated between France and Great Britain

in 1869; He ultimately accumulated a fortune of some $300,000 as a lawyer and investor, but his most cherished possession was Wheatland, a manorial estate near Lancaster; in the North new demands for tariffs, homesteads, a more effective banking system, and internal improvements at federal expense had been renewed.

Social:Indian Mutiny in 1857 ;Indian Mutiny Suppressed in 1858; Civil War starts in 1861; Wisconsin legislature actually passed an ordinance of nullification against the federal law of 1850.

Post-presidential Activities

After his term as President, Buchanan was blamed for the Civil War. Posters with a caption of “Judas” depicted him with his neck in a hangman’s noose, and to keep vandals from damaging his portrait, it had to be removed from the Capitol. In 1866, Buchanan published Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion. It is the first published presidential memoir wherein Buchanan defended his actions, emphasizing his desire to avoid conflict. On June 1, 1868, Buchanan died at age 77 at his home at Wheatland and was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster. Buchanan had predicted the day before he died that “history will vindicate [his] memory.” Nevertheless, historians continue to emphasize his failure to deal with secession.

Quotes

As a Federalist and a Democrat, Buchanan said, “I like the noise of democracy.”

On Buchanan's final day as president, March 4, 1861, he remarked to the incoming Lincoln, "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man."

One Word: “Failure”

GIF Image

With consideration of the results of Buchanan’s decisions in his term as President, we think that a word that would best describe him would be “failure.” He failed to deal with secession and stood helplessly and watched silently as South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by six other cotton states, forming the Confederate States of America. He had denied the legal right of the states to secede but held that he, as a “lame-duck” President, could do nothing about it. He failed to demonstrate a strong presidential leadership that could have possibly saved the nation from civil war. Buchanan also failed to resolve the issue of slavery and had no choice but to leave these issues to be resolved to his successor. Ultimately, Buchanan’s inability to resolve issues presented to him in his term as President makes us regard him as a failure.

Buchanan as President today?

We think that Buchanan would definitely not have been a successful President today because of his views, beliefs, and previous decisions in his term as President. We believe that someone who greatly supports slavery cannot possibly rule a nation that is now completely slavery-free. It would contradict his views and possibly cause inconsistency if he were to change them. His decisions before as President also led towards the splitting of the Democratic Party by enraging the Douglas Democrats of the North, and at the time, the once-powerful Democratic Party was the only remaining national party and one of the last important strands in the rope that was barely binding the Union together. With his failure to prevent the Civil War, however it may have seemed inevitable, shows his possible incapability of leading a country currently facing a great economic recession, which is only one of the current nation’s issues/problems to be solved. In addition, Buchanan was a man who thought that too much education was unnecessary, and once vetoed a bill passed by Congress to create more colleges. Clearly, the percentage of educated people today is much higher than in the 19th century. If he thought that there were already too many educated people back then, he would be overwhelmed with the improvement of education now. And if he were to be President today, he could veto all bills passed related to improving education. We, as determined students who desire to pursue more education in the future, would undoubtedly not agree with his views.

Bibliography

“James Buchanan.” Tulane University. 1998. <http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/Buchan

an.html>. “James Buchanan.” History Central. 2004. <http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/preside

nts/buchanan.html>. “President: James Buchanan.” Presidential Pet Museum. 2002. <http://www.presiden

tialpetmuseum.com/presidents/15JB.htm>. “James Buchanan.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja

mes_Buchanan>. “Campaigns and Elections.” American President: An Online Reference Source. 2009.

Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. 23. Jan. 2010. <http://millercenter.org

/academic/americanpresident/buchanan/essays/biography3>. “Life After Presidency.” American President: An Online Reference Source. 2009.

Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. 23 Jan. 2010. <http://millercenter.org/

academic/americanpresident/buchanan/essays/biography/6>.