James Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the fifteenth President of the United States (1857–1861). He was the only President from Pennsylvania and the only President to
never marry. As president he was a "doughface" who battled Stephen A. Douglas for control of the Democratic Party. Scholars consistently rank him as one of the two or
three worst American presidents. As southern states
declared their secession in the lead-up to the American Civil War, he held that
secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal.
Early career
Buchanan was a Representative and a Senator from Pennsylvania. He was born in a
log cabin at Cove Gap, near Mercersburg,
Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on April
23, 1791, to James Buchanan and Elizabeth Spear as the second of ten children (two of whom
did not survive past infancy). The Buchanan family claims direct descent from King James I
of Scotland. In 1802, he moved to Mercersburg with his parents, where he was privately
tutored. He later attended the village academy and graduated from Dickinson College,
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. At one point, he was expelled from Dickinson for wild
behavior and bad conduct, but after pleading for a second chance he graduated with honors three years later on September 7, 1809.[1] Later that year he moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
For the next three years he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. He then opened a practice in Lancaster. A dedicated
Federalist, he strongly opposed the War
of 1812 on the grounds that it was an unnecessary conflict. Nevertheless, when the British invaded neighboring Maryland,
he joined a volunteer light dragoon unit and served in the defense of Baltimore,
Maryland.
A Serviceable Garment or Reverie of a Bachelor
An
1856 cartoon depicts Buchanan sitting in his room examining the "
Cuba" patch he has sewn on his jacket. As
Minister
to Britain, he pressed unsuccessfully for the purchase of Cuba in what is known as the
Ostend Manifesto. He says, "My old coat was a very fashionable federal coat when it was new, but by
patching and turning I have made it quite a
Democratic Garment. That
Cuba patch to be sure is rather unsightly, but it suits Southern fashions at this season, and then, if I am elected, let me see,
$25,000 pr. annum and no rent to pay and no women and babies about, I guess I can afford a new
outfit."
Political career
Buchanan started his political career in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814–1820. He was elected to the
Seventeenth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1821 –
March 4, 1831). He was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary (Twenty-first Congress). He was not
a candidate for renomination in 1830. Buchanan served as one of the managers appointed by the House
of Representatives in 1830 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District
Court for the District of Missouri. Buchanan served as minister to Russia from 1832 to 1834.
Portrait of Buchanan as a younger man.
With his original party of choice, the Federalists, long defunct, Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy and served from
December 1834; he was reelected in 1837 and 1843, and resigned in 1845. He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth
Congresses).
After death of Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin in 1844, Buchanan was
nominated (and refused the nomination) by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court (seat was filled by
Robert Cooper Grier).
Buchanan served as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President
James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849, during which time he negotiated the 1846 Oregon
Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary in the western
U.S. No Secretary of State has become President since James Buchanan, although William
Howard Taft, the 27th U.S. President of the United States, often served as Acting Secretary of State during the
Theodore Roosevelt administration.
In 1853, Buchanan was named president of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College in his hometown of Lancaster. He served in this capacity until 1865.
He served as minister to the Court of St. James (Britain) from 1853 to 1856, during which time he helped to draft the
Ostend Manifesto, which proposed the purchase of Cuba
from Spain in order to extend slavery. The Manifesto was a major blunder for the Pierce Administration, and greatly weakened
support for Manifest Destiny.
Election of 1856
-
The Democrats nominated Buchanan in 1856 largely because he
was in England during the Kansas-Nebraska debate
and thus remained untainted by either side of the issue. He was nominated on the 17th ballot. Although he did not want to run, he
accepted the nomination.
Former president Millard Fillmore's "Know-Nothing" candidacy helped Buchanan defeat John C. Frémont,
the first Republican candidate for president in 1856, and he
served from March 4, 1857 to March
4, 1861.
With regard to the growing schism in the country, as President-elect, he intended to
sit out the crisis by maintaining a sectional balance in his appointments and persuading the people to accept constitutional law
as the Supreme Court interpreted it. The court was considering the
legality of restricting slavery in the territories and two justices hinted to Buchanan what the
decision would be.
Presidency 1857–1861
The Dred Scott case
In his inaugural address, besides promising not to run again, 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." Two days later, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (a fellow alumnus of
Dickinson College) delivered the Dred Scott
Decision, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to exclude slavery in the territories. Much of Taney’s
written judgment is widely interpreted as obiter dictum — statements made by a
judge that are unnecessary to the outcome of the case, which in this case, while they delighted Southerners, created a furor in
the North. Buchanan was widely believed to have been personally involved in the outcome of the case, with many Northerners
recalling Taney whispering to Buchanan during Buchanan's inauguration. Buchanan wished to see the territorial question resolved
by the Supreme Court. To further this, Buchanan personally lobbied his fellow Pennsylvanian Justice Robert Cooper Grier to vote with the majority in that case to uphold the right of owning slave
property. Abraham Lincoln denounced him as an accomplice of the Slave Power, which Lincoln saw as a conspiracy of slave owners to seize control of the federal
government and nationalize slavery.
Bleeding Kansas
Buchanan, however, faced further trouble on the territorial question. Buchanan 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 so far as to offer patronage appointments and
even cash bribes in exchange for votes. The Lecompton government was unpopular to Northerners, as it was dominated by
slaveholders who had enacted laws curtailing the rights of non-slaveholders. Even though the voters in Kansas had rejected the
Lecompton Constitution, Buchanan managed to pass his bill through the House, but it was blocked in the Senate by Northerners led
by Stephen A. Douglas. Eventually, Congress voted to call a new vote on the Lecompton
Constitution, a move which infuriated Southerners. 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.
Views on slavery
Buchanan personally favored the rights of slave owners and he sympathized with the slave-expansionists who coveted
Cuba. In opposition to his great enemy Stephen Douglas,
Buchanan shared the southern view of popular sovereignty, believing the residents of
a territory could not prohibit slavery until they were ready for statehood.[dubious – discuss] Douglas fought him on this issue and prevailed, at the cost of ripping the
Democratic party apart. Buchanan despised both abolitionists and free-soil Republicans, lumping the two together. Seeing no
injustice in the slave system, and no problem with slaveowner control of the government, he fought the opponents of the
Slave Power. In his third annual message Buchanan claimed that the slaves were "treated
with kindness and humanity....Both the philanthropy and the self-interest of the master have combined to produce this humane
result." Shortly after his election, he assured a southern Senator that the "great object" of his administration would be "to
arrest, if possible, the agitation of the Slavery question at the North and to destroy sectional parties. Should a kind
Providence enable me to succeed in my efforts to restore harmony to the Union, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain." As
historian Kenneth Stampp concludes, "Buchanan was the consummate 'doughface', a northern man
with southern principles."[2]
Financial Panic
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, at the behest of Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb, 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 attack Buchanan for financial mismanagement.
Utah War
-
In the 1850s, responding to reports that Governor Brigham Young was planning revolt,
Buchanan sent the Army to oust the Mormon leader.
1860–1861: The nation disintegrates
When Republicans won a plurality in the House in 1858, every significant bill they passed fell
before southern votes in the Senate or a Presidential veto. The Federal Government reached a
stalemate. Bitter hostility between Republicans and Southern members prevailed on the floor of Congress.
To make matters worse, Buchanan was dogged by the partisan Covode committee,
which was investigating the administration for evidence of impeachable offenses.
Sectional strife rose to such a pitch in 1860 that the Democratic Party split. Buchanan played little part as the national
convention meeting in Charleston deadlocked. The southern wing walked out of the Charleston convention and nominated its own
candidate for the presidency, incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge, whom
Buchanan refused to support. The remainder of the party finally nominated Buchanan's archenemy, Douglas. Consequently, when the
Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be
elected even though his name appeared on no southern ballot. Buchanan watched silently as South Carolina seceded on December 20,
followed by six other cotton states, and by February, they formed the
Confederate States of America. Eight slave states refused to join.
In Buchanan's Message to Congress (December 3, 1860), he
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 it.
Beginning in late December, Buchanan reorganized his cabinet, ousting Confederate sympathizers and replacing them with
hard-line nationalists Jeremiah S. Black, Edwin M.
Stanton, Joseph Holt and John A. Dix. These
conservative Democrats strongly believed in American nationalism and refused to countenance secession. At one point, Treasury
Secretary Dix ordered Treasury agents in New Orleans, "If any man pulls down the American flag, shoot him on the spot".
Before Buchanan left office, seven slave states seceded, the Confederacy was formed, all
arsenals and forts in the seceded states were lost (except Fort Sumter and two remote ones),
and a fourth of all federal soldiers surrendered to Texas troops. The government decided to hold
on to Fort Sumter, which was located in Charleston harbor, the most visible
spot in the Confederacy. On January 5, Buchanan sent a civilian steamer Star of the West to carry reinforcements and supplies to Fort
Sumter. On January 9, 1861, South Carolina state batteries opened fire on the Star of the West, which returned to
New York. Paralyzed, Buchanan made no further moves to prepare for war.
Historians in 2006 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made. [1]
On Buchanan's final day as president, he remarked to the incoming Abraham Lincoln,
"If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland you are a happy man."[3]
James Buchanan's average historical ranking by
scholars considering presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults (such as corruption), is a lowly 36.58
(with smaller numbers reflecting better scores), placing him 41st out of a total of 42 presidents.
Administration and Cabinet
Supreme Court appointments
Buchanan appointed the following Justice to the Supreme Court of the
United States:
States admitted to the Union
Personal relationships
In 1819 Buchanan was engaged to Ann Caroline Coleman, the daughter of a wealthy iron manufacturing businessman and sister-in-law of Philadelphia judge Joseph Hemphill, a colleage of
Buchanan's from the House of Representatives. However, Buchanan spent little time with her during the courtship; Buchanan was
extremely busy with his law firm and political projects at the time, taking him away from Coleman for weeks at a time.
Conflicting rumors abounded, opining that he was marrying for her money as he came from a less affluent family, or that he was
involved with other women. Buchanan, for his part, never publicly spoke of his motives or feelings, however, letters from Ann
revealed she was paying heed to the rumors, and after Buchanan paid a visit to the wife of a friend, Ann broke off the
engagement. Ann died soon after; the records of Dr. Chapman, who looked after Ann in her final hours, and who said just after her
passing that this was "the first instance he ever knew of hysteria producing death," reveal that he theorized the woman's demise
was caused by an overdose of laudanum.[4]
His fiancée's death struck Buchanan. In a letter to her father – which was returned to him unopened – Buchanan said "It is now
no time for explanation, but the time will come when you will discover that she, as well as I, have been much abused. God forgive
the authors of it... I may sustain the shock of her death, but I feel that happiness has fled from me forever."[5] The Coleman family became bitter towards Buchanan, and denied
him a place at Ann's funeral.[6] Buchanan vowed he would
never marry, though he continued to be flirtatious, and some pressed him to seek a wife. In response he said "Marry he could not,
for his affections were buried in the grave." He preserved Ann Coleman's letters, kept them with him throughout his life, and
requested they be burned upon his death.[4]
For fifteen years in Washington, D.C., prior to his presidency, Buchanan lived with
his close friend, Alabama Senator William Rufus King[7]. King had been Vice President under
Franklin Pierce. He took ill and died shortly after Pierce's inauguration, and four
years before Buchanan became President. Buchanan and King's close relation prompted Andrew
Jackson to refer to King as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy," while Aaron V. Brown
spoke of the two as "Buchanan and his wife."[8][9] Further, some of the
contemporary press also speculated about Buchanan and King's relationship. Buchanan and King's nieces destroyed their uncles'
correspondence, leaving some questions as to what relationship the two men had, but surviving letters illustrate "the affection
of a special friendship",[8] and Buchanan wrote
of his "communion" with his housemate. Such expression, however, was not unusual amongst men at the time. Though the
circumstances surrounding Buchanan and King have led some to speculate that he was America's first homosexual president, there is currently no evidence that King and Buchanan had a sexual
relationship.[8]
The only President never to marry, Buchanan turned to Harriet Lane, an orphaned niece
whom he had earlier adopted, to act as his First Lady. "I feel that it is not good for man to be alone", he wrote, "and [I]
should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me
when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."[10][11]
Post-presidency, death, and legacy
In 1866 Buchanan published Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion — the first presidential memoir. He
died June 1, 1868, at the age of 77 at his home at Wheatland. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery, in Lancaster. On the day before his death,
he predicted that "history will vindicate my memory": but historians continue mainly to emphasize his failure to deal with
secession, with the policy of appeasement practiced by Buchanan and his predecessor, Franklin Pierce, toward the pro-slavery
lobby being heavily censured. There is no evidence, however, that Pierce and Buchanan taking a harder line against slavery would
have done anything but provoke the Southern states to secede a few years earlier than they eventually did. Whether America's
slide toward secession during his administration was Buchanan's fault, or whether it was simply his bad luck to have presided
over it, remains a matter for debate. Nonetheless, surveys of
Presidential scholars consistently rank Buchanan among the five worst presidents.
A bronze and granite memorial residing near the Southeast corner of Washington, D.C.'s Meridian Hill Park was designed by architect William Gorden Beecher and sculpted by Maryland artist
Hans Schuler. Commissioned in 1916, but not approved by the U.S. Congress until 1918, and not completed and unveiled until June 26, 1930, the memorial
features a statue of Buchanan bookended by male and female classical figures representing law and diplomacy, with the engraved
text reading: "The incorruptible statesman whose walk was upon the mountain ranges of the law," a quote from a member of
Buchanan's cabinet, Jeremiah S. Black. The memorial in the nation's capital complemented an
earlier monument, constructed in 1907–08 and dedicated in 1911, on the site of Buchanan's birthplace in StonyBatter, Pennsylvania. Part of an 18.5-acre memorial site, the monument is a
250-ton pyramid structure designed to show the original weathered surface of the native rubble and mortar.
An active Freemason during his lifetime, he was master of a Masonic Lodge in Lancaster and a District Deputy Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Three counties are named in his honor: Buchanan County in Iowa, Missouri, and Virginia.
Bibliography
- Baker, Jean H. James Buchanan. Henry Holt, 2004. 192 pp.
- Binder, Frederick Moore. "James Buchanan: Jacksonian Expansionist" Historian 1992 55(1): 69-84. Issn: 0018-2370
Fulltext: in Ebsco
- Binder, Frederick Moore. James Buchanan and the American Empire. Susquehanna U. Press, 1994. 318 pp.
- Birkner, Michael J., ed. James Buchanan and the Political Crisis of the 1850s. Susquehanna U. Press, 1996. 215
pp.
- Meerse, David E. "Buchanan, the Patronage, and the Lecompton Constitution: a Case Study" Civil War History 1995 41(4):
291-312. Issn: 0009-8078
- Nevins, Allan. The Emergence of Lincoln 2 vols. (1960) highly detailed narrative
of his presidency
- Nichols, Roy Franklin; The Democratic Machine, 1850–1854 (1923), detailed narrative; online
- Potter, David Morris. The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 (1976). ISBN 0-06-013403-8 Pulitzer prize.
- Rhodes, James Ford History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896
Volume: 2. (1892)
- Smith, Elbert B. The Presidency of James Buchanan (1975). ISBN 0-7006-0132-5, standard history of his
administration
- Stampp, Kenneth M. America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink (1990). ISBN 0-19-503902-5 online version
- Updike, John Buchanan Dying (1974). ISBN 0-8117-0238-3
Primary sources
References
- ^ Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of
Presidential Facts".
- ^ Stampp (1990) p. 48
- ^ Baker, Jean H., James Buchanan, New York: Henry Holt, 2004, pg
140
- ^ a b Klein, Philip
Schriver; American Heritage Magazine: The Lost Love of a Bachelor President; December, 1955; Vol. 7, Issue 1
- ^ The Lost Love
of a Bachelor President americanheritage.com. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
- ^ [University of Virginia: Miller Center of Public Affairs: James Buchanan:
Life Before the Presidency]
- ^ Klein, Philip S., President James Buchanan: A Biography, Newtown,
CT: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 111
- ^ a b c Baker, Jean H.;
James Buchanan; Henry Holt and Company; 2004; pages 25-26
- ^ Boller, Paul F., Not So!, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995,
pg 75
- ^ Klein, Philip, President James Buchanan: A Biography, University
Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 156
- ^ Curtis, George Ticknor, Life of James Buchanan, New York: Harper's,
188, 1:519
External links
