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{{Infobox_President
| name = James Buchanan
| image = James Buchanan.jpg
| order = 15th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start = [[March 4]], [[1857]]
| term_end = [[March 4]], [[1861]]
| predecessor = [[Franklin Pierce]]
| successor = [[Abraham Lincoln]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1791|4|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mercersburg]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1868|06|1|1791|04|23}}
| death_place = [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
| spouse = None ([[Bachelor]])
| occupation= [[Lawyer]], [[Diplomat]]
| alma_mater =[[Dickinson College]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| vicepresident = [[John C. Breckinridge]]
| religion = [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]]
| signature = James Buchanan Signature.png
| order2 = 17th [[United States Secretary of State]]
| term_start2 = [[March 10]], [[1845]]
| term_end2 = [[March 7]], [[1849]]
| president2= [[James K. Polk]]
| predecessor2 = [[John C. Calhoun]]
| successor2 = [[John M. Clayton]]
| order3= [[United States Senator]] <br> from [[Pennsylvania]]
| term_start3= [[December 6]], [[1834]]
| term_end3= [[March 5]], [[1845]]
| predecessor3= [[William Wilkins (U.S. Senator)|William Wilkins]]
| successor3= [[Simon Cameron]]
|}}
'''James Buchanan, Jr.'''<ref>[http://www.dkrause.com/americana/presidents/buchanan-james/ James Buchanan Jr<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ([[April 23]], [[1791]] – [[June 1]], [[1868]]) was the fifteenth [[President of the United States]] (1857–1861). To date he is the only President from [[Pennsylvania]] and the only President never to marry. As president he was a "[[doughface]]" who battled [[Stephen A. Douglas]] for control of the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]]. 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. Taking his own advice, he did nothing.
==Early career==
Buchanan was a Representative and a [[United States Senate|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 Speer 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]].<ref>Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". </ref> 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 Party|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]].
[[Image:ASGOROAB.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''A Serviceable Garment or Reverie of a Bachelor''<br>An 1856 cartoon depicts Buchanan sitting in his room examining the "[[Cuba]]" patch he has sewn on his jacket. As [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|Minister to Britain]], he pressed unsuccessfully for the purchase of Cuba in what is known as the [[Ostend Manifesto]].]]
==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 [[United States Ambassador to Russia|ambassador to Russia]] from 1832 to 1834.
With his original party of choice, the Federalists, long defunct, Buchanan was elected as a [[History of the United States Democratic Party|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 [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Committee on Foreign Relations]] (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth Congresses).
[[Image:James-Buchanan-old.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Portrait of Buchanan as a younger man.]]
After the death of Supreme Court Justice [[Henry Baldwin (judge)|Henry Baldwin]] in 1844, Buchanan was nominated (and refused the nomination) by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court (the seat was filled by [[Robert Cooper Grier]]).
Buchanan served as [[United States Secretary of State|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 1852, Buchanan was named president of the Board of Trustees of [[Franklin and Marshall College]] in his hometown of [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]. He served in this capacity until 1866.[http://library.fandm.edu/archives/timeline/timeline19thc.html]
He served as [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|minister to the Court of St. James's]] (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]].
[[Image:Buch poster.jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[Chromolithography|Chromolithograph]] campaign poster for James Buchanan]]
==Election of 1856==
{{main|United States presidential election, 1856}}
The Democrats nominated Buchanan in [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]] largely because he was in [[England]] during the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act|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 [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|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 of the United States|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.{{clr}}
==Presidency 1857–1861==
===The Dred Scott case===
[[Image:2003001r.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Inauguration of James Buchanan, [[March 4]], [[1857]].]]
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 v. Sandford|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]]. 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."<ref> Stampp (1990) p. 48</ref>
===Financial Panic===
[[Image:Buchanan Cabinet.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''President Buchanan and his Cabinet''<br>From left to right: [[Jacob Thompson]], [[Lewis Cass]], [[John B. Floyd]], James Buchanan, [[Howell Cobb]], [[Isaac Toucey]], [[Joseph Holt]] and [[Jeremiah S. Black]], (c. [[1859]])]]
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===
{{main|Utah War}}
After his inauguration, 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 lost a plurality in the House in [[1856]], 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 Democrats prevailed on the floor of Congress.
To make matters worse, Buchanan was dogged by the partisan [[The Covode Committee|Covode committee]], which was investigating the administration for evidence of impeachable offenses.
[[Image:BreckTT.jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[John C. Breckinridge]], [[Vice President of the United States]] under Buchanan.]]
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 [[Southern United States|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.
[[Image:eagle.JPG|thumb|right|225px|Editorial cartoon in [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] newspapers, [[1861]].]]
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 Adams Dix|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, South Carolina|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.
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."<ref>Baker, Jean H., ''James Buchanan'', New York: Henry Holt, 2004, pg 140</ref>
===Administration and Cabinet===
[[Image:jb15.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Official [[White House]] portrait of James Buchanan]]
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Buchanan
|President=James Buchanan
|President start=1857
|President end=1861
|Vice President=[[John C. Breckinridge]]
|Vice President start=1857
|Vice President end=1861
|State=[[Lewis Cass]]
|State start=1857
|State end=1860
|State 2=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
|State start 2=1860
|State end 2=1861
|War=[[John B. Floyd]]
|War start=1857
|War end=1860
|War 2=[[Joseph Holt]]
|War start 2=1860
|War end 2=1861
|Treasury=[[Howell Cobb]]
|Treasury start=1857
|Treasury end=1860
|Treasury 2=[[Philip Francis Thomas|Philip F. Thomas]]
|Treasury start 2=1860
|Treasury end 2=1861
|Treasury 3=[[John Adams Dix|John A. Dix]]
|Treasury date 3=1861
|Justice=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
|Justice start=1857
|Justice end=1860
|Justice 2=[[Edwin M. Stanton]]
|Justice start 2=1860
|Justice end 2=1861
|Post=[[Aaron V. Brown]]
|Post start=1857
|Post end=1859
|Post 2=[[Joseph Holt]]
|Post start 2=1859
|Post end 2=1860
|Post 3=[[Horatio King]]
|Post date 3=1861
|Navy=[[Isaac Toucey]]
|Navy start=1857
|Navy end=1861
|Interior=[[Jacob Thompson]]
|Interior start=1857
|Interior end=1861
}}
===Supreme Court appointments===
Buchanan appointed the following Justice to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
*'''[[Nathan Clifford]]''' – [[1858]]
===States admitted to the Union===
*'''[[Minnesota]]''' – [[May 11]], [[1858]]
*'''[[Oregon]]''' – [[February 14]], [[1859]]
*'''[[Kansas]]''' – [[January 29]], [[1861]]
[[Image:King the Vice President.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[William R. King|William Rufus DeVane King]], thirteenth [[Vice President of the United States]]. A friend of James Buchanan with whom he shared his home.]]
==Personal relationships==
{{mergefrom|Sexuality of James Buchanan|date=February 2008}}
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 colleague 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, suggesting 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 soon after died; 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]].<ref name="AH">{{cite journal |author=Klein, Philip Shriver |journal=American Heritage Magazine |title=The Lost Love of a Bachelor President |date=December 1955 |volume=7 |issue=1 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1955/1/1955_1_20.shtml |accessdate=2007-06-18 }}</ref> He is also related to a Mcfeaters family.
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."<ref name="AH" /> The Coleman family became bitter towards Buchanan, and denied him a place at Ann's funeral.<ref>University of Virginia: Miller Center of Public Affairs: James Buchanan: Life Before the Presidency</ref> 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.<ref name="AH" />
For fifteen years in [[Washington, D.C.]], prior to his presidency, Buchanan lived with his close friend, Alabama Senator [[William Rufus King]]<ref>Klein, Philip S., ''President James Buchanan: A Biography'', Newtown, CT: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 111 </ref>. King became [[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."<ref name="Baker">Baker, Jean H.; ''James Buchanan''; Henry Holt and Company; 2004; pages 25-26</ref><ref>Boller, Paul F., ''Not So!'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pg 75</ref> 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 the length and intimacy of surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship",<ref name="Baker" /> and Buchanan wrote of his "communion" with his housemate <ref>Steve Tally discusses King and Buchanan's relationship in more depth in his book Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle--The Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers Who Made It to Vice President</ref>. Such expression, however, was not necessarily unusual amongst men at the time. Though the circumstances surrounding Buchanan and King's close emotional ties have led some to speculate that he was America's first [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] president, there is currently no evidence that King and Buchanan had a sexual relationship.<ref name="Baker" />
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."<ref>Klein, Philip, ''President James Buchanan: A Biography'', University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 156</ref><ref>Curtis, George Ticknor, ''Life of James Buchanan'', New York: Harper's, 188, 1:519</ref>
==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 78 at his home at [[Wheatland (Lancaster)|Wheatland]]. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery, in Lancaster. On the day before his death, he predicted that "history will vindicate my memory." Nevertheless, historians continue to emphasize his failure to deal with secession. The policy of appeasement practiced by Buchanan and his predecessor, Franklin Pierce, toward the pro-slavery lobby is often criticized. 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.
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 [http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/buchanansbirthplace.aspx complemented an earlier monument], constructed in 1907–08 and dedicated in 1911, on the site of Buchanan's birthplace in [[Buchanan's Birthplace State Park|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 [[Freemasonry#Degrees|Grand Master]] of the [[Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania]].
Three counties are named in his honor: [[Buchanan County]] in [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], and [[Virginia]].
Historians in 2006 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made.<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. historians pick top 10 presidential errors |work=Associated Press |publisher=CTV |date=2006-02-18 |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060218/presidential_errors_060218/20060218?hub=World }}</ref> James Buchanan's [[Historical rankings of United States Presidents|average historical ranking]] by scholars considering presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults (such as corruption), place him among the two or three worst Presidents in history.
==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
* [[Allan Nevins|Nevins, Allan]]. ''The Emergence of Lincoln'' 2 vols. (1960) highly detailed narrative of his presidency
* Nichols, Roy Franklin; ''The Democratic Machine, 1850–1854'' (1923), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1112776 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 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24268497 online version]
* [[John Updike|Updike, John]] ''Buchanan Dying'' (1974). ISBN 0-8117-0238-3
===Primary sources===
* Buchanan, James. '' [http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/title/0010.htm Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion]'' (1866)
==References==
{{portalpar|Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Small Red Rose.JPG}}
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
{{CongBio|B001005}}
*[http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/buchanan Extensive essay on James Buchanan and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/buchanan.html Inaugural Address]
*[http://tompaine.com/Archive/scontent/2458.html The Other Buchanan Controversy]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-1.html First State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-2.html Second State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-3.html Third State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-4.html Fourth State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.americanpresident.org/history/jamesbuchanan University of Virginia article: Buchanan biography]
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jb15.html White House Biography]
*[http://www.wheatland.org/ Wheatland]
*[http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B96-16-36620125&view=toc ''Mr. Buchanans Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion''. President Buchanans memoirs.]
*[http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/Buchanan.html James Buchanan at tulane.edu]
*{{gutenberg author | id=James_Buchanan | name=James Buchanan}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [[United States House Committee on the Judiciary#Chairmen since 1813|House Judiciary Committee]]|years=1829 – 1831}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Warren R. Davis]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John C. Calhoun]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Secretary of State]]|years=March 10, 1845 – March 7, 1849}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John M. Clayton]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Franklin Pierce]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the United States]]|years=March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Abraham Lincoln]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Franklin Pierce]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|Democratic Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Stephen A. Douglas]]<br />[[John C. Breckinridge]]¹}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Martin Van Buren]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Oldest living United States president|Oldest U.S. President still living]]|years=July 24, 1862 – June 1, 1868}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Millard Fillmore]]}}
{{s-ref|The Democratic party split in 1860, producing two presidential candidates. Douglas was nominated by Northern Democrats; Breckinridge was nominated by Southern Democrats.}}
{{USpresidents}}
{{USDemPresNominees}}
{{USSecState}}
{{USSenPA}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Buchanan, James
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= fifteenth [[President of the United States]], [[Lawyer]], [[Diplomat]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= 1791-4-23
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Mercersburg]], [[Pennsylvania]]
|DATE OF DEATH= 1868-06-1
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, James}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Secretaries of State]]
[[Category:Union political leaders]]
[[Category:United States Senators from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1852]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:Mormonism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Federalists]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:Americans of Scots-Irish descent]]
[[Category:Deaths from respiratory failure]]
[[Category:1791 births]]
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:Utah War]]
[[Category:Dickinson College alumni]]
[[ang:James Buchanan]]
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[[zh:詹姆斯·布坎南]]
{{Infobox_President
| name = James Buchanan
| image = James Buchanan.jpg
| order = 15th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start = [[March 4]], [[1857]]
| term_end = [[March 4]], [[1861]]
| predecessor = [[Franklin Pierce]]
| successor = [[Abraham Lincoln]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1791|4|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mercersburg]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1868|06|1|1791|04|23}}
| death_place = [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
| spouse = None ([[Bachelor]])
| occupation= [[Lawyer]], [[Diplomat]]
| alma_mater =[[Dickinson College]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| vicepresident = [[John C. Breckinridge]]
| religion = [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]]
| signature = James Buchanan Signature.png
| order2 = 17th [[United States Secretary of State]]
| term_start2 = [[March 10]], [[1845]]
| term_end2 = [[March 7]], [[1849]]
| president2= [[James K. Polk]]
| predecessor2 = [[John C. Calhoun]]
| successor2 = [[John M. Clayton]]
| order3= [[United States Senator]] <br> from [[Pennsylvania]]
| term_start3= [[December 6]], [[1834]]
| term_end3= [[March 5]], [[1845]]
| predecessor3= [[William Wilkins (U.S. Senator)|William Wilkins]]
| successor3= [[Simon Cameron]]
|}}
'''James Buchanan, Jr.'''<ref>[http://www.dkrause.com/americana/presidents/buchanan-james/ James Buchanan Jr<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ([[April 23]], [[1791]] – [[June 1]], [[1868]]) was the fifteenth [[President of the United States]] (1857–1861). To date he is the only President from [[Pennsylvania]] and the only President never to marry. As president he was a "[[doughface]]" who battled [[Stephen A. Douglas]] for control of the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]]. 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. Taking his own advice, he did nothing.
==Early career==
Buchanan was a Representative and a [[United States Senate|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 Speer 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]].<ref>Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". </ref> 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 Party|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]].
[[Image:ASGOROAB.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''A Serviceable Garment or Reverie of a Bachelor''<br>An 1856 cartoon depicts Buchanan sitting in his room examining the "[[Cuba]]" patch he has sewn on his jacket. As [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|Minister to Britain]], he pressed unsuccessfully for the purchase of Cuba in what is known as the [[Ostend Manifesto]].]]
==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 [[United States Ambassador to Russia|ambassador to Russia]] from 1832 to 1834.
With his original party of choice, the Federalists, long defunct, Buchanan was elected as a [[History of the United States Democratic Party|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 [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Committee on Foreign Relations]] (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth Congresses).
[[Image:James-Buchanan-old.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Portrait of Buchanan as a younger man.]]
After the death of Supreme Court Justice [[Henry Baldwin (judge)|Henry Baldwin]] in 1844, Buchanan was nominated (and refused the nomination) by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court (the seat was filled by [[Robert Cooper Grier]]).
Buchanan served as [[United States Secretary of State|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 1852, Buchanan was named president of the Board of Trustees of [[Franklin and Marshall College]] in his hometown of [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]. He served in this capacity until 1866.[http://library.fandm.edu/archives/timeline/timeline19thc.html]
He served as [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|minister to the Court of St. James's]] (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]].
[[Image:Buch poster.jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[Chromolithography|Chromolithograph]] campaign poster for James Buchanan]]
==Election of 1856==
{{main|United States presidential election, 1856}}
The Democrats nominated Buchanan in [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]] largely because he was in [[England]] during the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act|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 [[U.S. presidential election, 1856|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 of the United States|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.{{clr}}
==Presidency 1857–1861==
===The Dred Scott case===
[[Image:2003001r.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Inauguration of James Buchanan, [[March 4]], [[1857]].]]
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 v. Sandford|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]]. 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."<ref> Stampp (1990) p. 48</ref>
===Financial Panic===
[[Image:Buchanan Cabinet.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''President Buchanan and his Cabinet''<br>From left to right: [[Jacob Thompson]], [[Lewis Cass]], [[John B. Floyd]], James Buchanan, [[Howell Cobb]], [[Isaac Toucey]], [[Joseph Holt]] and [[Jeremiah S. Black]], (c. [[1859]])]]
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===
{{main|Utah War}}
After his inauguration, 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 lost a plurality in the House in [[1856]], 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 Democrats prevailed on the floor of Congress.
To make matters worse, Buchanan was dogged by the partisan [[The Covode Committee|Covode committee]], which was investigating the administration for evidence of impeachable offenses.
[[Image:BreckTT.jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[John C. Breckinridge]], [[Vice President of the United States]] under Buchanan.]]
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 [[Southern United States|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.
[[Image:eagle.JPG|thumb|right|225px|Editorial cartoon in [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] newspapers, [[1861]].]]
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 Adams Dix|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, South Carolina|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.
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."<ref>Baker, Jean H., ''James Buchanan'', New York: Henry Holt, 2004, pg 140</ref>
===Administration and Cabinet===
[[Image:jb15.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Official [[White House]] portrait of James Buchanan]]
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Buchanan
|President=James Buchanan
|President start=1857
|President end=1861
|Vice President=[[John C. Breckinridge]]
|Vice President start=1857
|Vice President end=1861
|State=[[Lewis Cass]]
|State start=1857
|State end=1860
|State 2=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
|State start 2=1860
|State end 2=1861
|War=[[John B. Floyd]]
|War start=1857
|War end=1860
|War 2=[[Joseph Holt]]
|War start 2=1860
|War end 2=1861
|Treasury=[[Howell Cobb]]
|Treasury start=1857
|Treasury end=1860
|Treasury 2=[[Philip Francis Thomas|Philip F. Thomas]]
|Treasury start 2=1860
|Treasury end 2=1861
|Treasury 3=[[John Adams Dix|John A. Dix]]
|Treasury date 3=1861
|Justice=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
|Justice start=1857
|Justice end=1860
|Justice 2=[[Edwin M. Stanton]]
|Justice start 2=1860
|Justice end 2=1861
|Post=[[Aaron V. Brown]]
|Post start=1857
|Post end=1859
|Post 2=[[Joseph Holt]]
|Post start 2=1859
|Post end 2=1860
|Post 3=[[Horatio King]]
|Post date 3=1861
|Navy=[[Isaac Toucey]]
|Navy start=1857
|Navy end=1861
|Interior=[[Jacob Thompson]]
|Interior start=1857
|Interior end=1861
}}
===Supreme Court appointments===
Buchanan appointed the following Justice to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
*'''[[Nathan Clifford]]''' – [[1858]]
===States admitted to the Union===
*'''[[Minnesota]]''' – [[May 11]], [[1858]]
*'''[[Oregon]]''' – [[February 14]], [[1859]]
*'''[[Kansas]]''' – [[January 29]], [[1861]]
[[Image:King the Vice President.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[William R. King|William Rufus DeVane King]], thirteenth [[Vice President of the United States]]. A friend of James Buchanan with whom he shared his home.]]
==Personal relationships==
{{mergefrom|Sexuality of James Buchanan|date=February 2008}}
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 colleague 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, suggesting 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 soon after died; 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]].<ref name="AH">{{cite journal |author=Klein, Philip Shriver |journal=American Heritage Magazine |title=The Lost Love of a Bachelor President |date=December 1955 |volume=7 |issue=1 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1955/1/1955_1_20.shtml |accessdate=2007-06-18 }}</ref> He is also related to a Mcfeaters family.
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."<ref name="AH" /> The Coleman family became bitter towards Buchanan, and denied him a place at Ann's funeral.<ref>University of Virginia: Miller Center of Public Affairs: James Buchanan: Life Before the Presidency</ref> 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.<ref name="AH" />
For fifteen years in [[Washington, D.C.]], prior to his presidency, Buchanan lived with his close friend, Alabama Senator [[William Rufus King]]<ref>Klein, Philip S., ''President James Buchanan: A Biography'', Newtown, CT: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 111 </ref>. King became [[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."<ref name="Baker">Baker, Jean H.; ''James Buchanan''; Henry Holt and Company; 2004; pages 25-26</ref><ref>Boller, Paul F., ''Not So!'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pg 75</ref> 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 the length and intimacy of surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship",<ref name="Baker" /> and Buchanan wrote of his "communion" with his housemate <ref>Steve Tally discusses King and Buchanan's relationship in more depth in his book Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle--The Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers Who Made It to Vice President</ref>. Such expression, however, was not necessarily unusual amongst men at the time. Though the circumstances surrounding Buchanan and King's close emotional ties have led some to speculate that he was America's first [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] president, there is currently no evidence that King and Buchanan had a sexual relationship.<ref name="Baker" />
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."<ref>Klein, Philip, ''President James Buchanan: A Biography'', University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962, pg 156</ref><ref>Curtis, George Ticknor, ''Life of James Buchanan'', New York: Harper's, 188, 1:519</ref>
==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 78 at his home at [[Wheatland (Lancaster)|Wheatland]]. He was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery, in Lancaster. On the day before his death, he predicted that "history will vindicate my memory." Nevertheless, historians continue to emphasize his failure to deal with secession. The policy of appeasement practiced by Buchanan and his predecessor, Franklin Pierce, toward the pro-slavery lobby is often criticized. 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.
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 [http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/buchanansbirthplace.aspx complemented an earlier monument], constructed in 1907–08 and dedicated in 1911, on the site of Buchanan's birthplace in [[Buchanan's Birthplace State Park|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 [[Freemasonry#Degrees|Grand Master]] of the [[Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania]].
Three counties are named in his honor: [[Buchanan County]] in [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], and [[Virginia]].
Historians in 2006 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made.<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. historians pick top 10 presidential errors |work=Associated Press |publisher=CTV |date=2006-02-18 |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060218/presidential_errors_060218/20060218?hub=World }}</ref> James Buchanan's [[Historical rankings of United States Presidents|average historical ranking]] by scholars considering presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults (such as corruption), place him among the two or three worst Presidents in history.
==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
* [[Allan Nevins|Nevins, Allan]]. ''The Emergence of Lincoln'' 2 vols. (1960) highly detailed narrative of his presidency
* Nichols, Roy Franklin; ''The Democratic Machine, 1850–1854'' (1923), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=1112776 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 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24268497 online version]
* [[John Updike|Updike, John]] ''Buchanan Dying'' (1974). ISBN 0-8117-0238-3
===Primary sources===
* Buchanan, James. '' [http://deila.dickinson.edu/theirownwords/title/0010.htm Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion]'' (1866)
==References==
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{{reflist}}
==External links==
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{{Commons}}
{{CongBio|B001005}}
*[http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/buchanan Extensive essay on James Buchanan and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/buchanan.html Inaugural Address]
*[http://tompaine.com/Archive/scontent/2458.html The Other Buchanan Controversy]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-1.html First State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-2.html Second State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-3.html Third State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/buchanan-4.html Fourth State of the Union Address of James Buchanan]
*[http://www.americanpresident.org/history/jamesbuchanan University of Virginia article: Buchanan biography]
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jb15.html White House Biography]
*[http://www.wheatland.org/ Wheatland]
*[http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B96-16-36620125&view=toc ''Mr. Buchanans Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion''. President Buchanans memoirs.]
*[http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/Buchanan.html James Buchanan at tulane.edu]
*{{gutenberg author | id=James_Buchanan | name=James Buchanan}}
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<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Buchanan, James
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= fifteenth [[President of the United States]], [[Lawyer]], [[Diplomat]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= 1791-4-23
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Mercersburg]], [[Pennsylvania]]
|DATE OF DEATH= 1868-06-1
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, James}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Secretaries of State]]
[[Category:Union political leaders]]
[[Category:United States Senators from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1852]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:Mormonism-related controversies]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Federalists]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:Americans of Scots-Irish descent]]
[[Category:Deaths from respiratory failure]]
[[Category:1791 births]]
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:Utah War]]
[[Category:Dickinson College alumni]]
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[[yi:זשעימס ביוקענען]]
[[zh:詹姆斯·布坎南]]
