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James Buchanan

1857-1861

Tall, stately, stiffly formal…

he was the only president to never marry!

Failed

• To understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments that favored the South

• To realize how sectionalism had realigned political parties: the Democrats split; the Whigs were destroyed, giving rise to Republicans

Birthplace

• 1791 – born into a well-to-do family

Education

• Dickinson College in Pennsylvania • Gifted debater and learned in the law

Career

• Elected five times to the House of Representatives

• Served as Minister to Russia• Then, served for a decade in the Senate• Became Polk’s Secretary of State• Became Pierce’s Minister to Great Britain

SERVICE ABROAD helped bring him the Democratic nomination in 1856 because it had exempted him from involvement in bitter domestic controversies.

As President-elect,

he thought the crisis would disappear if he could• maintain sectional balance in his

appointments • persuade the people to accept constitutional

law as the Supreme Court interpreted it

Inaugural Address

• 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.”

Two days later…

Dred Scott Case

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney stated that Congress had no constitutional power to deprive people of their property rights.

Kansas

• Buchanan tried to end the troubles by urging the admission of the territory as a slave state.

• This angered Republicans and alienated members of his own party.

• So, Kansas remained a territory.

1858

When Republicans won a majority in the House, every significant bill they passed fell before southern votes in the Senate or a Presidential veto.

(like the Homestead Act that the Northerners badly wanted to pass, but got vetoed)

1860

Democratic party split into northern and southern wings

Rather than accept a Republican administration, the southern “fire-eaters” threatened secession.

Dismayed and hesitant…

• Buchanan denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them

He hoped for compromise, but secessionist leaders did not want compromise.

Militant tack

• As several Cabinet members resigned, he appointed northerners

• He sent the Star of the West to carry reinforcements to Fort Sumter

Lame-duck

Remained inactive for the rest of his term

• March 1861 – Retired to his Pennsylvania home

• Died in 1868