James Buchanan was born into a Pennsylvania family in 1791. He graduated from Dickinson College and was a gifted debater and well-read in the law. He was elected five times to the House of Representatives, then after being Minister to Russia, served for a decade in the Senate. He became President Polk’s Secretary of State and Pierce’s Minister to Great Britain.
In Buchanan's Inaugural, the now-President referred to the territorial question arising in the United States 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 delivered the Dred Scott decision, stating that Congress had no constitutional power to revoke people of their property rights in slaves in the territories. Southerners were happy, but the decision was not received well in the North.
Buchanan tried to end the troubles in Kansas by urging that the state be admitted as a slave state. While Buchanan used his Presidential authority to achieve this goal, he further angered the Republicans and ignored members of his own party. Kansas stayed a territory.
Buchanan reverted to a policy of inactivity that continued until he left office. In March 1861 he retired to his Pennsylvania home Wheatland–where he died seven years later–leaving his successor to resolve the frightful issue facing the Nation.
Fun Facts:
- He was the only president who never married.
- He was once offered a seat on the Supreme Court.
- One of his goals was to buy Cuba from Spain, but he never succeeded.
James Buchanan:
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