James Buchanan: A Union Dividing

James Buchanan

President from: Mar. 4, 1857–Mar. 3, 1861

Age at inauguration: 65

Political Party: Democrat

What I read:

James Bucannon by Jean Baker

Age at death: 77

Cause of Death: respiratory failure

Health & Appearance: James Buchanan stood 6’0” with blue eyes and blond hair.  He had an eye defect which caused him to tilt his head forward and sideways when conversing. He also had an eye lid twitch. 

He drank, heavily, up to 3 bottles of cognac or whiskey a night. Numerous reports tell of him showing no ill effects from the massive amount of alcohol consumption as those around him fell by the wayside trying to keep up. Not surprisingly he suffered from gout.

He suffered from dysentery twice within months--shortly before his inauguration and then on the eve of his inauguration. The dysentery was thought to be caused by dead rats in the hotel water tower where he stayed prior to the inauguration. One thing for certain is that he felt very ill when he gave his inaugural address. 

He ended his presidency in a deep depression, as South Carolina had seceded from the Union and the Civil War was looming. His failure to stop this made him an outcast in the Democratic party in which he had spent his life.

Pre-Presidency: If there was ever a president that should have been prepared and capable of being president it was Buchanan. He was a constitutional lawyer and gifted debater.  He was first elected to state office in 1814, was elected fives times to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives, and served ten years as a U.S. Senator. President Jackson appointed him envoy to Russia. He was Secretary of State under President Polk, and Minister to England under President Pierce. Yet, even with such a pedigree, he is ranked as one of the worst presidents the United States has ever had.

Major accomplishments: They are few and far between. The one win he had was keeping the British out of our hemisphere by using our military to keep them away from the countries they wished to influence in South America.  These actions and others, however, upset South American countries. They did not like how Buchanan did not take their interests into account. Some argue that Buchanan catching and hanging John Brown was an accomplishment. 

Are you kidding me? He was the last president to be born in the 1700’s. His first great love broke off the engagement and then died shortly thereafter. He vowed never to marry and was our nation's only bachelor president.

Buchanan lived with Rufus King for several years even though both were quite wealthy. Andrew Jackson referred to the pair as “Aunt Nancy and Aunt Fancy.” Some historians believe Buchanan was the country's first gay president.

What I learned: Buchanan wanted the presidency badly. Though he was personally against slavery, he believed because it was incorporated into the constitution, he should support the South in its continuation. In his inaugural speech, he reiterated his belief that each state should make its own choice on slavery.

Two days after his inauguration, the Dred Scott decision came down. The Supreme Court declared that slaves were not U.S. citizens and had no right to sue or any rights at all. Enslaved people were the property of their owners who could do with them as they please. It made no difference if they were brought to a free state to live, they were still enslaved and property. The Dred Scott decision also negated the Missouri Compromise and stated that slavery could not be banned in new states. Buchanan convinced a liberal judge to support the conservatives to rule against Dred Scott. The abolitionists lost their minds, and it was only a matter of time before the nation fell apart.

Kansas and Nebraska were on fire.  Bloody conflict raged, paralleled by fights in the House and Senate. Buchanan was unable to lead. With the following statement, his fate was sealed and history would show him to be one of the United States worst leaders.

"How easy it would be for the American people to settle the slavery question forever and to restore peace and harmony to this distracted country! They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible and have no more right to interfere than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil."

Buchanan pledged to only serve one term. The Democratic convention to choose Buchanan's successor divided into chaos with Northern factions choosing Douglass and the South choosing VP Breckenridge. This fracture split the Democratic vote and assured Lincoln’s fateful presidency.

Six weeks after Lincoln’s election, while Buchanan was still president, South Carolina left the Union and six more states followed by the time Lincoln was inaugurated.

PRECEDED BY: Franklin Pierce

SUCCEEDED BY: Abraham Lincoln