James Buchanan

I

Introduction

James Buchanan (1791-1868), 15th president of the United States (1857-1861). He was a prominent figure in American political life for nearly half a century, holding some of the nation's highest offices. As president he played a role in the split that developed in his own Democratic Party. The split allowed the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860.

Buchanan tried to conciliate the Southern states to keep them from seceding from the federal Union over the issue of slavery. He failed, and his term in office was followed by the Civil War between the North and the South. He has been criticized ever since for not taking a more active stand against secession. However, although Buchanan was not a heroic figure, his policy of compromise was not unreasonable. Most presidents before him had taken the same approach, and even his decisive successor, Lincoln, tried conciliation as long as he could. Buchanan hoped that his policy would at least prevent the border states—the northern tier of slave states—from seceding. It is perhaps to his credit that, indeed, the states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri and the western part of Virginia (which split off as the state of West Virginia) did not join the Southern cause.

II

Early Life

Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791, near Mercersburg in south-central Pennsylvania. He was the son of James Buchanan, a well-to-do businessman, and Elizabeth Speer Buchanan. He attended school in Mercersburg, and in 1807 he entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated two years later and began the study of law. In 1812 Buchanan was admitted to practice. Before long, he was a prosperous lawyer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

During this period, Buchanan fell in love and became engaged to be married. However, his fiancee, Ann Coleman, died suddenly after breaking off the engagement, and he remained a bachelor all his life.

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III

Political and Diplomatic Career

A

State and Federal Legislator

Buchanan held his first public office at the age of 23, when he was elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature. He also served as a volunteer in the defense of Baltimore, Maryland, against the British during the War of 1812.

In 1818 Buchanan ran as a Federalist Party candidate for U.S. congressman. He was defeated in his first attempt, but two years later he won the election. When the Federalist Party disintegrated in the 1820s, Buchanan became a supporter of General Andrew Jackson and a leader in the political faction that became the Democratic Party. Relations between the two men became strained, however, during the election of 1824. Jackson received the most popular votes in the presidential election that year, but, because no candidate got a majority, the election was decided by the House of Representatives. House supporters of candidate Henry Clay shifted their votes to John Quincy Adams, which gave Adams enough votes to defeat Jackson. Later, Jackson charged that Clay had entered into a “corrupt bargain” with Adams and that Buchanan had been involved in it.

B

Diplomat to Russia

Buchanan was such an efficient organizer of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania that the grievance against him was soon forgotten. After ten years in the House of Representatives, Buchanan planned to retire from politics, but Jackson, who had been elected president in 1828, persuaded him to accept the post of U.S. diplomatic representative to Russia in 1831. Buchanan served at Saint Petersburg (then the Russian capital) from 1832 to 1833. During that time he negotiated a valuable commercial treaty with Russia.