Title: Notes
Text:
Buchanan, James (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 in 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.
III POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC CAREER
A State 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 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.
C United States Senator
After returning to the United States in 1833, Buchanan was elected to the U.S.
Senate (the upper chamber of the Congress of the United States) by the
Pennsylvania legislature. He told the legislators that it was “the only public position I
desire to occupy.” He became a leading spokesman for the Democratic Party in the
Senate and consistently supported the policies of Jackson and, later, of President
Martin Van Buren. Van Buren offered him an appointment as U.S. attorney general
in 1839, but Buchanan refused. Instead he remained in the Senate where, after
1841, he opposed the Whig Party administrations of William Henry Harrison and
John Tyler.
At this time, Buchanan took his stand on slavery, the most controversial issue of the
day. He maintained that slavery was morally wrong, but he also believed that the
federal government had an obligation to protect it in the Southern states where it
already existed. In this view he differed from the abolitionists, who demanded an
end to slavery and whom he despised as fanatics. Buchanan tolerated the existence
of slavery on the grounds that the Constitution of the United States permitted it.
Therefore, he argued, it was the duty of the federal government to protect the
institution of slavery wherever it existed in the country.
D Secretary of State
In the election year of 1844, Buchanan hoped to receive the Democratic nomination
for president. He was disappointed when James Knox Polk was nominated instead,
but he supported Polk in his successful campaign. After taking office, Polk
appointed Buchanan as secretary of state. Buchanan had been reelected to the
Senate, but he resigned to accept the new post in 1845. Buchanan made significant
contributions to U.S. foreign affairs, particularly with regard to two major problems
facing the country: the Oregon boundary claim and the dispute with Mexico over
Texas.
D1 Oregon Boundary Claim
An agreement between the United States and Britain, the Convention of 1818, had
provided for joint occupation of the Oregon country. Within a few years, however,
many Americans began to demand that the U.S. government claim all of the territory
north to the latitude of 54º40', even if it meant war with Britain. One of Polk's most
effective campaign slogans had been “54-40 or fight!” Buchanan showed diplomatic
skill in negotiating a compromise treaty that gave the United States most of the
territory south of 49º north latitude.
D2 Texas Question
In the dispute with Mexico, Buchanan carried out the president's orders that the U.S.
envoy to Mexico take a firm stand. Buchanan wrote the instructions for the envoy,
John Slidell. Slidell was instructed to insist that Mexico recognize the annexation of
its former province, Texas, and that it pay certain long-standing claims of United
States citizens. As payment for the claims, Slidell was told to press for the Mexican
territory lying between Texas and the Pacific Ocean. The American demands were
not met, and soon afterward the Mexican War broke out in 1846.
D3 Cuba
While secretary of state, Buchanan also tried to further one of his favorite projects,
the purchase of Cuba from Spain. Spain turned down his offer of $120 million.
However, for the remainder of his public career, Buchanan continued to urge that the
United States acquire Cuba.
E Diplomatic Representative to Britain
Ostend Manifesto This cartoon shows American diplomat James Buchanan,
second from right, being held up by robbers who quote the Ostend Manifesto as
justification for taking his belongings. The manifesto was a dispatch, signed by
Buchanan and other United States diplomats, declaring that the U.S. had the right to
take Cuba from Spain by force if Spain refused to sell it. The manifesto was leaked
to the press and used by the Republican Party as a campaign weapon against
Buchanan’s Democratic Party. Buchanan later became the 15th president of the
United States.CORBIS-BETTMANN
When Polk's administration ended, Buchanan retired to his home at Wheatland, a
country mansion outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He worked unsparingly to win the
presidential nomination in 1852 and was the leading contender at the Democratic
national convention that year. But the weary, deadlocked delegates nominated
Franklin Pierce for president on the 49th ballot. In 1853 President Pierce appointed
Buchanan as U.S. envoy to Britain.
The following year Secretary of State William L. Marcy instructed Buchanan to meet
with the envoy to Spain, Pierre Soulé, and the envoy to France, John Y. Mason. The
envoys met at Ostend (Oostende), Belgium, and later at Aachen, Germany, and
exchanged views on the best way to convince Spain to sell Cuba to the United
States. They drafted their recommendations in a diplomatic dispatch that became
known as the Ostend Manifesto. It declared that if Spain refused to sell Cuba, “then,
by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain if we
possess the power.” Word of the Ostend Manifesto reached the American press
and became an effective campaign document against the Democratic Party. It was
an explosive issue because Cuba, if it became a U.S. possession, would
presumably be admitted to the Union as a slave state.
F Election of 1856
Campaign Cartoon, 1856 This cartoon from the 1856 United States presidential
campaign criticizes Buchanan’s support of the Kansas-Nebraska act, a law that
created the territories of Nebraska and Kansas and allowed them each to decide
the legality of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska act effectively caused the Border War,
during which the Border Ruffians, a proslavery group, conducted raids into Kansas,
terrorizing and murdering antislavery settlers. Kansas State Historical Society,
Topeka, Kansas
Buchanan returned from his diplomatic post in London to take part in the
Democratic national convention of 1856. His political strength was formidable. He
had become well known because of the many high offices he had held. Because he
had been abroad, Buchanan had not been involved in the dispute over the
controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened new territories in the
West to slavery. Other leading Democrats, especially Senator Stephen A. Douglas
of Illinois, were no longer considered potential presidential candidates because they
had supported the act. Buchanan had the full backing of his home state,
Pennsylvania, then the second largest state in the Union. Moreover, his record of
compromise on the slavery issue made him acceptable to the South.
Campaign Poster, 1856 This campaign poster shows the 1856 Democratic ticket:
James Buchanan for president and John C. Breckinridge for vice president.
Buchanan defeated Republican opponent John C. Frémont and Know-Nothing
opponent Millard Fillmore in the election.Archive Photos
Aided by the strong and skillful support of his Southern backers, Buchanan gained
the Democratic nomination. He campaigned on a conservative platform, stressing
his belief that Congress should not interfere with slavery in the territories. His major
opponent was John C. Frémont, the first presidential candidate of the newly
organized Republican Party. Frémont campaigned on the principle that Congress
should prohibit slavery in the territories. A third candidate was Millard Fillmore, a
former president and now the candidate of the American Party.
Although the combined popular vote of his two opponents was greater than his own,
Buchanan won the election. He polled 174 electoral and 1,832,955 popular votes,
compared to 114 electoral and 1,339,932 popular votes for Frémont and 8 electoral
and 871,731 popular votes for Fillmore. Buchanan owed his election to the support
he received from the South and from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and
California. John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky became Buchanan's vice president.
IV PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
HISTORIC DOCUMENTS
Buchanan's Inaugural Address
When United States President James Buchanan delivered his inaugural address on
March 4, 1857, the nation was in the midst of a debate over slavery that centered on
whether to permit slavery in the new Western territories. Buchanan declared that
each state or territory should decide whether to accept slavery. He hoped that an
upcoming decision by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case would put to rest
the question of slavery, but the court’s proslavery opinion only further enraged
Northern abolitionists. In his speech, Buchanan also advocated using the Treasury
surplus that existed at the time to decrease public debt and to build up the Navy.
A Panic of 1857
Harriet Lane United States President James Buchanan never married, so his niece
Harriet Lane served as hostess in the White House during his term as president,
from 1857 to 1861.CORBIS-BETTMANN
During Buchanan's administration the country suffered a short but severe economic
depression. The South escaped the worst effects of the so-called Panic of 1857,
and this convinced many Southerners of the superiority of their slave-supported
economic system. Senator James Hammond of South Carolina claimed
triumphantly, “Cotton is King.” The panic heightened the conflict between the North
and South.
HISTORIC DOCUMENTS
"Cotton Is King"
In 1857 Kansas, then a territory, was about to be admitted to the Union as a new
state. If it were admitted under the Lecompton Constitution, drawn up that year
largely by proslavery forces, the new state would have permitted slavery. Senator
Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat from Illinois, had said he would support the
Lecompton Constitution if it were truly the will of the people of Kansas. In this
speech given in 1858, James Hammond, Democratic senator from South Carolina,
defends the creation of the Lecompton Constitution and the institution of slavery.
Hammond first addresses Douglas and then turns to address New York Senator
William H. Seward, a Republican. Hammond touts the power of the Southern,
slavery-based economic system, declaring, “You dare not make war on cotton.…
Cotton is king.”
B Slavery Controversy
The most important issue during Buchanan's presidency was the growing division
between the North and the South over slavery. On this issue, Buchanan followed the
recommendations of the members of his Cabinet, who supported the South.
Although he defended the rights of the states and declared that continued agitation
by abolitionists would justify secession, at the same time he believed in the Union
and sought to prevent secession. His general policy for resolving the conflict was
one of compromise and conciliation, and he hoped that by these means the
question could be settled peacefully. Unfortunately his efforts at compromise were
inadequate, and he only aggravated an already explosive situation.
B1 The Dred Scott Decision
Only two days after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court of the United
States handed down its decision in the Dred Scott Case, which Buchanan in his
inaugural speech had predicted would lay to rest the question of slavery in the
territories. It did not do so. The case was a test of congressional power to restrict
slavery. One of the chief questions was whether Scott, a black slave, had become a
free man when his owner took him to reside in a territory (Minnesota) where
Congress had barred slavery. The answer, in the opinion by Chief Justice Roger B.
Taney (each justice wrote a separate opinion), was no, because slaves were
property and the U.S. Constitution forbade Congress to deprive persons of their
property without due process of law.
This answer did not settle the political and moral questions. The Republican Party
vigorously attacked the decision and the court. Many antislavery Democrats
deserted the Democratic Party, leaving it more in the hands of proslavery elements
than it had been before. The decision made the breach between North and South
wider, and thus brought the nation closer to war.
B2 Lecompton Constitution
Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas could be organized as a slave or free
territory, depending on the choice of its settlers. When the act passed in 1854,
settlers on both sides of the issue moved to Kansas to influence the vote. The
antislavery forces formed a legislature in Topeka, Kansas, while those favoring
slavery made their capital at Lecompton. Both Buchanan and his predecessor,
President Pierce, recognized the proslavery territorial legislature in Lecompton as
the legitimate government. When the proslavery body drafted its so-called
Lecompton Constitution and submitted it to Congress for statehood in 1857,
Buchanan pressed for its acceptance, even after the constitution failed a popular
vote in Kansas. Douglas protested bitterly that the president was trying to override
the will of the people. In an effort to compromise, Congress decided to admit
Kansas if another popular vote was taken and the constitution ratified. The vote was
taken, the constitution was rejected again, and Kansas remained a territory for the
time being.
Meanwhile, the rift between Buchanan and Douglas was putting great strain on the
Democratic Party. Buchanan tried in 1858 to block Douglas's candidacy for
reelection to the Senate, but offered to reconcile if Douglas would stop attacking
him. Douglas reluctantly agreed, and got the nomination. He then went on a
campaign tour that included a series of debates with his opponent, Abraham
Lincoln. Douglas believed that his position was more popular in the North than
Buchanan's, and began to criticize the president again. He spent almost as much
time criticizing Buchanan as he did answering Lincoln. Douglas won reelection, but
the debates made Lincoln a well-known spokesman for the Republican Party.
B3 John Brown's Raid
Harpers Ferry Insurrection In 1859, during the administration of United States
President James Buchanan, white abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the U.S.
arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia). In this sketch, U.S.
Marines storm the arsenal, which was eventually recaptured. Brown, who had hoped
to spur a slave revolt, was later convicted of treason and hanged.Corbis
In 1859 an event occurred in Virginia that made many people see the use of force
as inevitable. Radical abolitionist John Brown, who had become a fugitive for
leading a guerrilla band in Kansas (Buchanan had put a price on his head of $250),
had conceived a plot to establish a stronghold and refuge for escaped slaves in the
Appalachian Mountains. He needed weapons. On October 16, 1859, with 18 men,
he seized the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia), and occupied
the U.S. arsenal there. He expected to be joined by other followers, but instead the
arsenal was surrounded by the local militia. The militia kept Brown and his men
pinned down until a troop of U.S. Marines, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, attacked
and captured them with much bloodshed.
Within six weeks Brown was tried for criminal conspiracy, murder, and treason. He
used the trial as a platform for his views, stating eloquently that his action was
ordained by God. Brown was convicted and was hanged on December 2, 1859. He
immediately became a martyr to the abolitionists, and to the South he was a symbol
of the chaos that could occur if the blacks were not held firmly in check.
C Election of 1860
The Buchanan-Douglas enmity continued into the presidential election year of 1860,
when it had serious consequences for the Democrats. The party nominated
Douglas for president at its national convention. However, because the party would
not adopt a proslavery platform, most of the Southern Democrats walked out and
held a separate convention of their own. They nominated Buchanan's vice president,
John C. Breckinridge, for president. The Republicans nominated Lincoln, who was
now a national figure, and adopted a platform opposing the spread of, but not
seeking to abolish, slavery. A fourth party, the Constitutional Union Party, nominated
John Bell of Tennessee on a platform of simply preserving the Union.
Buchanan refused to support Douglas. The resulting split in the Democratic vote
gave Lincoln a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote, and
he was elected. Despite the moderation of the Republicans' antislavery stand,
Southerners had warned that if a Republican became president, they would break
away. Within days of the election, Southern legislatures were considering
secession.
D Secession
In his last annual message to Congress, December 3, 1860, the president blamed
the abolitionists and the North's unrelenting agitation against the South for the
critical condition of the nation. He contended that the South asked only to be let
alone to manage its own affairs. Secession, he insisted, was not a remedy.
But it was too late. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina held a state convention
and voted to secede from the Union. Mississippi followed on January 9, 1861;
Florida on January 10; Alabama on January 11; Georgia on January 19; and
Louisiana on January 26. On February 4 delegates from these states met in
Montgomery, Alabama, and formed what they declared was a new nation—the
Confederate States of America, also called the Confederacy.
As the states of the Deep South seceded, Buchanan found himself at a loss to stop
them. He was firmly convinced that any violence toward the South would only
precipitate war. A policy of compromise, he believed, would see the nation through
the secession crisis. So determined was he that his administration not risk a civil
war by committing an overt act that he did nothing. His policy of inaction toward the
seceded states averted war for the remainder of his administration, giving various
compromise efforts a chance to develop. His policy also offered the incoming
Republicans an opportunity to work out their own plans of conciliation, should that be
their intention. Avoiding any recognition of the Confederacy, he made no
commitments that would seriously embarrass his successor, Lincoln, who the nation
assumed would try to preserve the Union.
Meanwhile, Buchanan's Cabinet began to dissolve. Secretary of State Lewis Cass
of Michigan resigned because of the president's passive policy toward the South.
The Southern members—Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb, a Georgian;
Secretary of War John B. Floyd, a Virginian; and Secretary of the Interior Jacob
Thompson, a Mississippian—also left and were replaced by strong Unionists.
In January 1861 Buchanan sent a merchant vessel, Star of the West, to Charleston,
South Carolina, with supplies for a federal fortress in the harbor, Fort Sumter. Upon
arrival there, the ship was fired on by Confederate shore guns and was forced to
withdraw. All the while the president eagerly waited for the expiration of his term on
March 4.
As Buchanan left office, the crisis was acute. He had permitted the Confederates to
occupy the federal forts, arsenals, and navy yards and to take U.S. government
property within the seceded states. He did nothing because, as he later explained in
his published defense, he had inadequate military forces and personnel. Some
army officers and enlisted men had seceded with their states. A good number of
regiments and companies were stationed on the nearly inaccessible Western
frontier. Although Buchanan's policy was criticized, it was continued without change
by President Lincoln until April 12, 1861, when the Confederate guns fired on Fort
Sumter itself. Lincoln defined this action as an insurrection that had to be met with
force.
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