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James Buchanan
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Aaron V. Brown
Aaron Venable Brown (August 15, 1795 – March 8, 1859) was a Governor of Tennessee and Postmaster General in the Buchanan administration. He was also the law partner of James K. Polk.
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union, ending slavery, and rededicating the nation to nationalism, equal rights, liberty and democracy. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, he was mostly self-educated and became a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts at a seat in the United States Senate. He was an affectionate, though often absent, husband, and father of four children.
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Alexander Stephens
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Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). He was military governor of pre-admission Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. A polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the 1820s and 1830s, his political ambition combined with widening political participation, shaping the modern Democratic Party.
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Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death and was the founder of Salt Lake City and the first governor of Utah Territory, United States. Brigham Young University was named in his honor.
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Daniel H. Miller
Daniel H. Miller (died 1846) was a Jacksonian member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
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Daniel Sturgeon
Daniel Sturgeon (October 27, 1789 – July 3, 1878) was an American physician, banker and Democratic party politician from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He served in both houses of the state legislature and represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.
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Edwin M. Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War from 1862-1865. Stanton's effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory.
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Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869), an American politician and lawyer, was the 14th President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He has been the only President from New Hampshire and the first to have been born in the 19th century.
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George M. Dallas
George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864) was a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and the 11th Vice President of the United States, serving under James K. Polk.
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Hans Schuler
Hans K. Schuler (May 25, 1874 - March 30, 1951) was a German-born American sculptor and monument maker. He was the first American sculptor ever to win the Salon Gold Medal. His works are in several important museum collections, and he also created many public monuments, mostly for locations in Maryland and in the Washington, D.C., area. For over a quarter of a century he served as president of the Maryland Institute College of Art.
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Harriet Lane
Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston (May 9, 1830 – July 3, 1903), niece of lifelong bachelor United States President James Buchanan, acted as First Lady of the United States from 1857 to 1861. She was one of the few women to hold the position of First Lady while not being married to the President.
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Horatio King
Horatio King (June 21, 1811 – May 20, 1897) was Postmaster General of the United States under James Buchanan.
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Howell Cobb
(Thomas) Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American political figure. A Southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and Speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851. He also served as a Secretary of Treasury under President James Buchanan (1857–1860) and the 40th Governor of Georgia (1851–1853).
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Isaac Toucey
Isaac Toucey (November 15, 1792 July 30, 1869) was an American statesman who served as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, Attorney General of the United States and the 18th Governor of Connecticut.
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Jacob Hibshman
Jacob Hibshman (January 31, 1772 – May 19, 1852) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
http://wn.com/Jacob_Hibshman -
Jacob Thompson
Jacob Thompson (May 15, 1810 – March 24, 1885) was a lawyer and politician who served as United States Secretary of the Interior from 1857 to 1861.
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James Garfield
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James K. Polk
James Knox Polk ( ) (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th President of the United States (1845–1849).
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James S. Mitchell
James S. Mitchell (1784–1844) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
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James W. Loewen
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John Adams Dix
John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 April 21, 1879) was an American politician from New York. He served as Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Senator, and the 24th Governor of New York. He was also a Union major general during the Civil War.
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John B. Floyd
John Buchanan Floyd (June 1, 1806 – August 26, 1863) was the 31st Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of War, and the Confederate general in the American Civil War who lost the crucial Battle of Fort Donelson.
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John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Kentucky and was the 14th Vice President of the United States, to date the youngest vice president in U.S. history, inaugurated at age 36.
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John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was the seventh Vice President of the United States and a leading Southern politician from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun, a brilliant orator and writer, began his political career as a nationalist and proponent of protective tariffs; later, he was a proponent of free trade, states' rights, limited government, and nullification. Calhoun built his reputation as a political theorist by his redefinition of republicanism to include approval of slavery and minority rights. His redefinition was widely accepted in the South and rejected in the North at the time. His defense of slavery became defunct, but his concept of concurrent majority, whereby a minority has the right to object to or perhaps even veto hostile legislation directed against it, has been incorporated into the American value system.
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John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890), was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of president of the U.S., and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform opposing slavery. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder. It remains in use, and he is sometimes called The Great Pathfinder. During the American Civil War he was given command of the armies in the west but made hasty decisions (such as trying to abolish slavery without consulting Washington), and was relieved. He retired to California, where he was bogged down with lawsuits over land claims.
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John Covode
John Covode (March 17, 1808 – January 11, 1871) was a United States Congressman and abolitionist.
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John J. Crittenden
John Jordan Crittenden (September 10, 1787 July 26, 1863) was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and twice served as United States Attorney General – in the administrations of William Henry Harrison and Millard Fillmore. He was also the 17th governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislature. Although frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. presidency, he never consented to run for the office.
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John Tyler
John Tyler, Jr. (March 29, 1790 January 18, 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845) and the first to succeed to the office following the death of a predecessor.
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John Updike
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic.
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Joseph Hemphill
Joseph Hemphill (January 10, 1770 – May 29, 1842) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
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Joseph Holt
General Joseph Holt (January 6, 1807 – August 1, 1894) was a leading member of the Buchanan administration and was Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, most notably during the Lincoln assassination trials.
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Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782 – June 17, 1866) was an American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan. He was the losing nominee of the Democratic Party for president in 1848. Cass was nationally famous as a leading spokesman for the controversial Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which would have allowed voters in the territories to determine whether to make slavery legal instead of having Congress decide.
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Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the 10th Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson (1829–1831). He was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British descent—his family was Dutch. He was the first president to be born an American citizen, his predecessors having been born British subjects before the American Revolution. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch. Moreover, he was the first president from New York.
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Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office. He became the second Vice President to assume the presidency after the death of a sitting president when he succeeded Zachary Taylor, who died of acute gastroenteritis. Fillmore was never elected president. After serving out Taylor's term, he failed to gain the nomination of the Whigs for president in the 1852 presidential election, and, four years later, in the 1856 presidential election, he again failed to win election as the Know Nothing Party and Whig candidate.
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Nathan Clifford
Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist.
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Pierre Soulé
Pierre Soulé (August 31, 1801 – March 26, 1870) was a U.S. politician and diplomat from Louisiana during the mid-19th century. He is best known for his role in writing the Ostend Manifesto, which was written in 1854 as part of an attempt to annex Cuba to the United States. The Manifesto was roundly denounced, especially by anti-slavery elements, and Soulé himself came under severe attack.
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Robert J. Walker
Robert John Walker (July 19, 1801 – November 11, 1869) was an American economist and statesman.
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Samuel McKean
Samuel McKean (April 7, 1787 – December 14, 1841) was an American merchant and politician from Burlington, Pennsylvania. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1815 to 1819. He was in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1829 to 1830.
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Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799 – June 26, 1889) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War. After making his fortune in railways and banking, he turned to a life of politics. He became a U.S. senator in 1845 for the state of Pennsylvania, succeeding James Buchanan. Originally a Democrat, he failed to secure a nomination for senator from the Know-Nothing party, and joined the People's Party, the Pennsylvania branch of what became the Republican Party. He won the Senate seat in 1857, and became one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the presidential election of 1860.
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Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed series of debates. He was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short of stature but was considered by many a "giant" in politics. Douglas was well-known as a resourceful party leader, and an adroit, ready, skillful tactician in debate and passage of legislation.
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Stephen Douglas
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The Times
The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785, when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.
http://wn.com/The_Times -
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) His last name is, according to Roosevelt himself, "pronounced as if it was spelled 'Rosavelt.' That is in three syllables. The first syllable as if it was 'Rose.'" ; An [http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/record.cfm?recordid=509 Audio recording] in which Roosevelt pronounces his own last name distinctly. To listen at the correct speed, slow the recording down by 20%. Retrieved on July 12, 2007. ) was the 26th President of the United States. He is noted for his energetic personality, range of interests and achievements, leadership of the Progressive Movement, and his "cowboy" image and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party of 1912. Before becoming President (1901–1909) he held offices at the municipal, state, and federal level of government. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician.
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Thomas L. Kane
Thomas Leiper Kane (January 27, 1822 – December 26, 1883) was an American attorney, abolitionist, and military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saint movement and served as a Union Army colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War. He received a brevet promotion to major general for gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg.
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Warren R. Davis
Warren Ransom Davis (May 8, 1793 – January 29, 1835) was an American attorney and Representative from South Carolina's sixth Congressional district from 1827-35.
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William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States and later the 10th Chief Justice of the United States. He is the only person to have served in both offices.
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William Rufus King
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Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786 – May 29, 1866) was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852.
http://wn.com/Winfield_Scott
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Alabama
Alabama () is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland waterways. The state ranks 23rd in population with almost 4.6 million residents in 2006.
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Baltimore, Maryland
http://wn.com/Baltimore_Maryland -
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba (; , ) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos.
http://wn.com/Cuba -
Donegal
Donegal, usually referred to as Donegal Town (; ) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" (i.e. the Vikings).
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James Buchanan Hotel
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan_Hotel -
Kansas
Kansas () is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."
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Maryland
Maryland () is an American state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maryland has the highest median household income of any state, with a median income of $70,545. Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution, and three nicknames for it, the Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State are occasionally used.
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Mercersburg
http://wn.com/Mercersburg -
Meridian Hill Park
Meridian Hill Park, also known unofficially as Malcolm X Park, is located in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights in the United States. The 12 acres (49,000 m²) of landscaped grounds are maintained by the National Park Service as part of Rock Creek Park, but are not contiguous with the main part of that park. Meridian Hill Park is bordered by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW.
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Minnesota
Minnesota () is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.27 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.
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New York
New York (; locally or ) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the north and west, and Quebec to the north. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
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Oregon
Oregon ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843; the Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. Salem is the state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 30th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 582,130 (2009 estimate) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area.
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Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania () is a U.S. state and Commonwealth located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to the east. The state's four most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg.
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Philadelphia
Philadelphia () is the largest city in Pennsylvania, sixth-most-populous city in the United States and the fifty-first most populous city in the world.
http://wn.com/Philadelphia -
South Carolina
South Carolina () is a state in the United States that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named by British King Charles II in honor of his father Charles I of England, as Carolus is Latin for Charles. South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede from the Union and was the founding state of the Confederate States of America. According to an estimate by the United States Census Bureau, the state's population in 2009 was 4,561,242 and ranked 24th among the U.S. states. South Carolina contains 46 counties and its capital is Columbia.
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Tennessee
Tennessee () is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,214,888, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144. Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902. Nashville has the state's largest metropolitan area, at 1,521,437 people.
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Texas
Texas () is the second-largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.
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United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
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Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. (), formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. Article One of the United States Constitution provides for a federal district, distinct from the states, to serve as the permanent national capital. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the federal territory until an act of Congress in 1871 established a single, unified municipal government for the whole District. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C. The city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington, which is located on the country's Pacific coast.
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White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of every U.S. President since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.
http://wn.com/White_House
- 49th parallel north
- Aaron V. Brown
- Abraham Lincoln
- Alabama
- Alexander Stephens
- Allan Nevins
- American Civil War
- American flag
- Andrew Jackson
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Bleeding Kansas
- Brigham Young
- Coin
- conservative
- Court of St. James's
- Cuba
- Daniel H. Miller
- Daniel Sturgeon
- Dickinson College
- Diplomat
- Divine Providence
- Donegal
- doughface
- Dragoon
- Edwin M. Stanton
- Federalist Party
- Female hysteria
- Fort Sumter
- Franklin Pierce
- Freemason
- Freemasonry
- George M. Dallas
- Hans Schuler
- Harriet Lane
- Homosexuality
- Horatio King
- Howell Cobb
- impeachment
- iron
- Isaac Toucey
- Jacob Hibshman
- Jacob Thompson
- James Buchanan Hotel
- James Garfield
- James H. Peck
- James K. Polk
- James S. Mitchell
- James W. Loewen
- Jeremiah S. Black
- John Adams Dix
- John B. Floyd
- John C. Breckinridge
- John C. Calhoun
- John C. Frémont
- John Catron
- John Covode
- John J. Crittenden
- John M. Clayton
- John Tyler
- John Updike
- John Y. Mason
- Joseph Hemphill
- Joseph Holt
- Kansas
- Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Know-Nothing
- laudanum
- Lawyer
- Lewis Cass
- log cabin
- Mahlon Dickerson
- Manifest Destiny
- Martin Van Buren
- Maryland
- Masonic
- Mercersburg
- Meridian Hill Park
- Millard Fillmore
- Minnesota
- Mormons
- Nathan Clifford
- nationalism
- nationalization
- New York
- obiter dictum
- Oregon
- Oregon Treaty
- Ostend Manifesto
- Panic of 1819
- Panic of 1857
- Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia
- Pierre Soulé
- Plurality (voting)
- popular sovereignty
- Presbyterianism
- Presidential Dollar
- Robert Cooper Grier
- Robert J. Walker
- Roger B. Taney
- Samuel McKean
- Simon Cameron
- Slave Power
- South Carolina
- Star of the West
- Stephen A. Douglas
- Stephen Douglas
- Steve Tally
- Tennessee
- Texas
- the Covode Committee
- The Times
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Thomas Corwin
- Thomas L. Kane
- Tulane University
- U.S. Congress
- U.S. Constitution
- United States
- United States Senate
- Utah Territory
- Utah War
- Vice President
- War of 1812
- Warren R. Davis
- Washington, D.C.
- White House
- William Howard Taft
- William Rufus King
- Winfield Scott
Buchanan, James Filmography
- N-Secure (2010)
- Cigarette Girl (2009)
- 100 Lives (2009)
- The Glass (2009)
- Chance Encounter (2008)
- Nothing But the Truth (2008)
- Distortion (2007)
- The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
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American Presaident #15: James Buchanan (1857-1861)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:43
- Published: 16 Sep 2010
- Uploaded: 15 Nov 2011
- Author: paradenews
The American President series profiles the 15th president, James Buchanan. (c) 2000 Kunhardt Productions, Inc.
http://wn.com/American_Presaident_#15_James_Buchanan_1857-1861
President James Buchanan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:07
- Published: 29 Jan 2010
- Uploaded: 06 Sep 2011
- Author: commander97
Historical look a US Presidents with your host Sam Schechter
http://wn.com/President_James_Buchanan
Daring to Be Different: Reflections on the Life and Work of James Buchanan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:35
- Published: 13 Apr 2009
- Uploaded: 22 Nov 2011
- Author: GMUArchives
Last fall the staff of SC&A had the opportunity to produce a short film about economist James Buchanan for the annual lecture series bearing his name. The film is titled Daring to Be Different: Reflections on the Life and Work of James Buchanan and runs about eight minutes. It was made with cooperation from The Center for Study of Public Choice and the Buchanan House. Set against an original score, the film features photographs, video images and interview clips, and attempts a concise retelling of Buchanans life and major achievements. SC&A staff collected oral history interviews from notable economists such as Donald Beaudreaux, Peter Boettke and Thomas Borcherding.
http://wn.com/Daring_to_Be_Different_Reflections_on_the_Life_and_Work_of_James_Buchanan
James Buchanan on Chicago School Thinking: Old and New
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 76:04
- Published: 22 Jun 2010
- Uploaded: 22 Nov 2011
- Author: UniversityofRichmond
James M. Buchanan, distinguished professor emeritus, George Mason University and Virginia Polytechnic and State University, discusses "Chicago School Thinking: Old and New" at the Summer Institute for the History of Economic Thought at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. June 2, 2010
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan_on_Chicago_School_Thinking_Old_and_New
Gay President
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:29
- Published: 14 Feb 2008
- Uploaded: 08 Dec 2011
- Author: runawaybox
youtube.com A salute to President James Buchanan on President's Day weekend.
http://wn.com/Gay_President
James Buchanan
Quick facts for the busy YouTube viewer. (Inspired by a recent trip to the Hall of Presidents in Walt Disney World)
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan
Friedrich Hayek and James Buchanan: Pattern Prediction and Scientism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:16
- Published: 30 Nov 2010
- Uploaded: 02 Dec 2011
- Author: FreeToChooseNetwork
In this Free To Choose Network archival footage, Friedrich Hayek and James Buchanan discuss one of the most important theoretical problems of economics. Drawing from insights in biology and beyond, both seem to think that current economic theory is rife with problems. Those problems terminate in missing the Austian insight. If they are right, much of today's economics is mere scientism.
http://wn.com/Friedrich_Hayek_and_James_Buchanan_Pattern_Prediction_and_Scientism
Walter Williams and James Buchanan - Zero-sum Demogogues
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:14
- Published: 25 Mar 2011
- Uploaded: 02 Dec 2011
- Author: FreeToChooseNetwork
In this exclusive Free To Choose Network video, George Mason University economics professors Walter Williams and James Buchanan (Nobel Laureate) discuss the zero-sum fallacy of wealth creation (and the demogoguery that's built upon it). They wonder how you can teach people the basic insight that wealth has to be created -- that is, that riches can only come into existence if people serve each through productive effort and exchange.
http://wn.com/Walter_Williams_and_James_Buchanan__Zero-sum_Demogogues
A Look at the James Buchanan Home
Here is a look at the outside of James Buchanan's home in Lancaster, PA. Buchanan, our 15th president is largely believed to be our worst president (despite what the tour guides here tell you) as he preceded the Civil War.
http://wn.com/A_Look_at_the_James_Buchanan_Home
Walter Williams and James Buchanan - Democracy is Nothing Sacrosanct
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:49
- Published: 11 Dec 2010
- Uploaded: 24 Nov 2011
- Author: FreeToChooseNetwork
In this exclusive archival video from Free To Choose Network, Walter Williams and James Buchanan discuss the loss of the "Constitutional attitude" among people and politicians -- as well as the importance of checks on majoritarian rule.
http://wn.com/Walter_Williams_and_James_Buchanan__Democracy_is_Nothing_Sacrosanct
Walter Williams and James Buchanan - The Constitution's Erosion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:51
- Published: 24 Nov 2010
- Uploaded: 24 Nov 2011
- Author: FreeToChooseNetwork
In this exclusive Free To Choose Network video, Nobel laureate James Buchanan and Professor Walter Williams discuss the erosion of the US Constitution. The basic function of the constitution is to provide the rules within which economic and social actors operate. Sadly, a series of unfortunate events have caused the dissolution of those rules, as well as the checks on power they encoded.
http://wn.com/Walter_Williams_and_James_Buchanan__The_Constitution's_Erosion
James Buchanan's Grave - Lancaster, PA
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:20
- Published: 17 Jun 2008
- Uploaded: 31 Aug 2010
- Author: taxbastard
James Buchanan's grave at Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster, PA on 10/3/2007.
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan's_Grave__Lancaster,_PA
James Buchanan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:56
- Published: 16 Feb 2010
- Uploaded: 08 Jan 2011
- Author: aaldawrogers
kurtshistoricsites.com James Buchanan, one of America's forgotten presidents, is interred in Lancaster's Woodward Hill Cemetery. To find out the burial sites of the USA's other late leaders, visit my website.
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan
Economists on the Financial Crisis
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 54:13
- Published: 19 Jan 2010
- Uploaded: 27 Sep 2011
- Author: UniversityofRichmond
The Jepson School of Leadership Studies hosted the summer Institute for the Preservation of the Study of the History of Economics Adam Smith program June 19 - 22, 2009. As part of that James Buchanan, distinguished professor emeritus, George Mason University and Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University discussed "Why Economists Have So Little to Say on the Crisis." June 19, 2009
http://wn.com/Economists_on_the_Financial_Crisis
2010 James Buchanan Proof Presidential Dollar Roll
For More Info or to Buy Now: www.hsn.com Add to this year's presidential coins with the 2010 James Buchanan Proof Presidential Dollar Roll. Buchanan, our 15th president, is on the third presidential dollar being issued in 2010. You... Prices shown on the previously recorded video may not represent the current price. View hsn.com to view the current selling price. HSN Item #950616
http://wn.com/2010_James_Buchanan_Proof_Presidential_Dollar_Roll
James Buchanan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Published: 06 Apr 2010
- Uploaded: 03 Oct 2010
- Author: NeverWriteANewOne
Political Science Project
http://wn.com/James_Buchanan
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Abridged Episode 6
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:56
- Published: 16 Jul 2009
- Uploaded: 15 Nov 2011
- Author: PhilRyanBob
In this episode, you learn three things. Former President James Buchanan is a Badass, Kyon has super powers, and Yuki is a no nonsense girl (*snappin' figas in a Z FOR-MAY-SHUN). I'm Sorry that this episode took so long to come out (TWSS). My Uncle's Auto Repair Garage burnt down 3 weeks ago, and I wanted to help him out how ever I could. That's why the episode is 3 weeks late. I hope you like it. This time the editing took 15 hours. And I'm not even joking. So Tomorrow I'll be sleeping all day. So Leave me a lot of constructive criticism so I could read it Friday.
http://wn.com/The_Melancholy_of_Haruhi_Suzumiya_Abridged_Episode_6
against the state (3): decision theory
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:42
- Published: 01 Jun 2008
- Uploaded: 27 Sep 2011
- Author: crispytheok
volume 3 of my attacks on the arguments for the legitimacy of government, from my book "against the state: an intreoduction to anarchist political theory." this one is about the economic "decision theory" approach of james buchanan and others. and yes that is my seven-year-old daughter jane running around behind me in her underwear. (she was outside playing in the hose.) i hate it when children act like children!
http://wn.com/against_the_state_3_decision_theory
Past Presidents
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Published: 03 May 2007
- Uploaded: 29 Nov 2011
- Author: speculativebubble
Can you recognize all the presidents? Full size pictures here: www.speculativebubble.com George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James Knox Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses Simpson Grant Rutherford Birchard Hayes James Abram Garfield Chester Alan Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren Gamaliel Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Clark Hoover Franklin Delano Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight David Eisenhower John Fitzgerald Kennedy Lyndon Baines Johnson Richard Milhous Nixon Gerald Rudolph Ford James Earl Carter, Jr. Ronald Wilson Reagan George Herbert Walker Bush William Jefferson Clinton George Walker Bush
http://wn.com/Past_Presidents
From "In Search of the Great Beast"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:10
- Published: 15 Jan 2010
- Uploaded: 05 Dec 2011
- Author: RunninSkared
From Excerpt from: www.aleister-crowley-666.com more info from www.rense.com "... Venice needed England to war with Spain to keep the money rolling in. They were the CIA of their day. So why did I start this with Pauline Pierce, you ask? Pauline Pierce, after sexcapades with Aleister Crowley, gave birth to Barbara Pierce who became Barbara Bush, who gave birth to none other than, George VV Bush, Aleister's grand-son. Barbara Pierce is a descendant of President Franklin Pierce, Sr (not a Freemason), who is a descendant of Thomas Percy who tried to blow up the Parliament and King James I. Franklin Pierce lost favor over wanting to keep slavery alive and was replaced by James Buchanan (Freemason) who is a descendant of James I and both James are accused of being homosexual."
http://wn.com/From_In_Search_of_the_Great_Beast
This Guy Knows All 44 US Presidents In Order!!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:48
- Published: 21 Sep 2010
- Uploaded: 11 Dec 2011
- Author: HowieReportingLive
Damian Can Name all 44 US Presidents By Memory In The Order They Took Office. I Definitely Can't Do This! Have You Ever Tried? Comment Below... Here's The Order In Which They Were Inaugurated. Check If Damian Is Right: 1st President - George Washington 2nd John Adams 3rd Thomas Jefferson 4th James Madison 5th James Monroe 6th John Quincy Adams 7th Andrew Jackson 8th Martin Van Buren 9th William Henry Harrison 10th John Tyler 11th James K. Polk 12th Zachary Taylor 13th Millard Fillmore 14th Franklen Pierce 15th James Buchanan 16th Abraham Lincoln 17th Andrew Johnson 18th Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 19th Rutherford B. Hayes 20th James A. Garfield 21st Chester A. Arthur 22nd Grover Cleveland 23rd Benjamin Harrison 24th Grover Cleveland 25th William McKinley 26th Theodore Roosevelt 27th William Howard Taft 28th Woodrow Wilson 29th Warren G. Harding 30th Calvin Coolidge 31st Herbert Hoover 32nd Franklin D. Roosevelt 33rd Harry S. Truman 34th Dwight D. Eisenhower 35th John F. Kennedy 36th Lyndon B. Johnson 37th Richard M. Nixon 38th Gerald R. Ford 39th Jimmy Carter 40th Ronald Reagan 41st George Bush 42nd Bill Clinton 43rd George W. Bush 44th Barack H. Obama Thanks For Watching! Follow Me On Twitter: www.Twitter.com
http://wn.com/This_Guy_Knows_All_44_US_Presidents_In_Order!!
Stateless - Running Out (With Lyrics)
Stateless - Running Out da Stateless (!k7 Records) 2007 Songwriters: Sturdy, James; Buchanan-Dunlop, Rod; Alcock, Chris Jams; Taylor, Jon; Roberts, Gerard; Can you lie still without making a sound? Pacified hell, just don't scratch the surface Away, away, you're running out, you're running out You're running out, you're running out How long before you crack? How long before you turn back? She knows you too well, she'll watch your every move Better to not know than to endure this silence Always, always How long before you crack? How long before you turn back? Your ground will fall from under your feet Your sky will crumble in, you will be swallowed alive You're running out, you're running out How long before you crack? How long before you turn back? How long before you crack? How long before you turn back? You turn back You turn back You turn back
http://wn.com/Stateless__Running_Out_With_Lyrics
The decline of Bureaucratic Elites and the Rise of Thatcherism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:37
- Published: 16 Aug 2008
- Uploaded: 12 Dec 2011
- Author: UnitedBritannia
Political journalist and documentarian Adam Curtis examines some of the key intellectual theories at the heart of Thatcherism and explores the political circumstances of the late 1970's that led to Mrs. Thatcher's election victory. Also includes a brief look at how the BBC sitcom "Yes, Minister" might be considered a form of political propoganda for the Thatcher revolution. Taken from the multi-award winning documentary "The Trap: What Happened to our Dream of Freedom". Note: Features the New Order song "Age of Consent" from the 1983 LP "Power, Corruption and Lies"
http://wn.com/The_decline_of_Bureaucratic_Elites_and_the_Rise_of_Thatcherism
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The Examiner
While this author was on vacation this past weekend, it has been decided that a belated birthday celebration is in order for the presidents. And what a better way to celebrate by honoring one of our nation’s most unknown, and least successful presidents, James Buchanan. Believe it or not, there is a...
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James Buchanan's Activist Blunder
06 Jan 2011
The New York Times
Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. Tags: abraham lincoln, james buchanan, South Carolina, the civil war President James Buchanan’s critics rightly condemned him during the secession crisis of 1860-’61 — but they did so for exactly the wrong reason. The naysayers blasted the...
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LA Daily News
By Susan Abram, Staff WriterPosted: 01/01/2011 03:29:04 PM PSTUpdated: 01/01/2011 04:04:03 PM PST Laterisa Johnson Buchanan holds her New Year's Day baby, James Edward Buchanan III, who was born at 2:17 a.m. at 6 pounds 11 ounces at Providence Tarzana Medical Center....
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The Examiner
(Sarasota, FL) The race for Florida’s 13th Congressional District seat is between two-time Republican incumbent Vern Buchanan and Democrat James T. Golden, a former Bradenton City Councilman. The 13th congressional district encompasses all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee County, and most of Manatee...
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Work day scheduled at James Buchanan Cemetery
27 Aug 2010
Nashville Tennessean
TOTAL ELEMENTS IN ARRAY: 5 TOTAL CHARACTERS IN ARRAY: 456 TOTAL CHARACTERS IN PAGES: LAST PAGE CONTAINS: 456 -->--> Volunteers can help clear the fence line outside the James Buchanan Cemetery, 2910 Elm Hill Pike, on Saturday, Sept. 11. Work will start around 7 a.m., but interested volunteers...
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James Buchanan coin to be unveiled in Lancaster
12 Aug 2010
The Examiner
Comments LANCASTER, Pa. (Map, News) - The U.S. Mint is coming to Lancaster to unveil a new dollar-coin commemorating former President James Buchanan. It will be the 15th coin in the presidential $1 coin program. Mint officials will be doing the ceremonial coin launch later this month at Wheatland,...
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Yahoo Daily News
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 – WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The 15th coin release in the United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Program will go into circulation on August 19, 2010. The design on this Presidential $1 Coin honors James Buchanan, our Nation's 15th President. The United...
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| Coordinates | 4°54′″N80°31′″N |
|---|---|
| Name | James Buchanan |
| Office | 15th President of the United States |
| Vicepresident | John Breckinridge |
| Term start | March 4, 1857 |
| Term end | March 4, 1861 |
| Predecessor | Franklin Pierce |
| Successor | Abraham Lincoln |
| Ambassador from2 | United States |
| Country2 | the United Kingdom |
| President2 | Franklin Pierce |
| Term start2 | 1853 |
| Term end2 | 1856 |
| Predecessor2 | Joseph Ingersoll |
| Successor2 | George Dallas |
| Office3 | 17th United States Secretary of State |
| Term start3 | March 10, 1845 |
| Term end3 | March 7, 1849 |
| President3 | James K. Polk |
| Predecessor3 | John Calhoun |
| Successor3 | John Clayton |
| Jr/sr4 | United States Senator |
| State4 | Pennsylvania |
| Term start4 | December 6, 1834 |
| Term end4 | March 5, 1845 |
| Predecessor4 | William Wilkins |
| Successor4 | Simon Cameron |
| Ambassador from5 | United States |
| Country5 | Russia |
| President5 | Andrew Jackson |
| Term start5 | January 4, 1832 |
| Term end5 | August 5, 1833 |
| Predecessor5 | John Randolph |
| Successor5 | Mahlon Dickerson |
| State6 | Pennsylvania |
| District6 | 4th |
| Term start6 | March 4, 1823 |
| Term end6 | March 4, 1831 |
| Predecessor6 | James Mitchell |
| Successor6 | William Hiester |
| State7 | Pennsylvania |
| District7 | 3rd |
| Term start7 | March 4, 1821 |
| Term end7 | March 4, 1823 |
| Predecessor7 | Jacob Hibshman |
| Successor7 | Daniel Miller |
| Birth date | April 23, 1791 |
| Birth place | Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death date | June 01, 1868 |
| Death place | Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | Dickinson College |
| Profession | LawyerDiplomat |
| Religion | Presbyterianism |
| Signature | James Buchanan Signature2.svg |
| Signature alt | Cursive signature in ink |
| Branch | Volunteer |
| Battles | War of 1812 }} |
James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 June 1, 1868, ) was the 15th President of the United States (1857–1861). He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century.
Buchanan (often called Buck-anan by his contemporaries) was a popular and experienced state politician and a successful attorney before his presidency. He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate, and served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He also was Secretary of State under President James K. Polk. After turning down an offer for an appointment to the Supreme Court, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Minister to the United Kingdom, in which capacity he helped draft the controversial Ostend Manifesto.
Buchanan was nominated in the 1856 election. Throughout most of Franklin Pierce's term he was stationed in London as a Minister to the Court of St. James's and therefore was not caught up in the crossfire of sectional politics that dominated the country. Buchanan was viewed by many as a compromise between the two sides of the slavery question. His subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race with John C. Frémont and Millard Fillmore. As President, he was often called a "doughface", a Northerner with Southern sympathies, who battled with Stephen A. Douglas for the control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan's efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South alienated both sides, and the Southern states declared their secession in the prologue to the American Civil War. Buchanan's view of record was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal. Buchanan, first and foremost an attorney, was noted for his mantra, "I acknowledge no master but the law."
When he left office, popular opinion had turned against him, and the Democratic Party had split in two. Buchanan had once aspired to a presidency that would rank in history with that of George Washington. However, his inability to impose peace on sharply divided partisans on the brink of the Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst Presidents. Buchanan biographer Philip Klein puts these rankings into context: "Buchanan assumed leadership ... when an unprecedented wave of angry passion was sweeping over the nation. That he held the hostile sections in check during these revolutionary times was in itself a remarkable achievement. His weaknesses in the stormy years of his presidency were magnified by enraged partisans of the North and South. His many talents, which in a quieter era might have gained for him a place among the great presidents, were quickly overshadowed by the cataclysmic events of civil war and by the towering Abraham Lincoln."
Early life
James Buchanan, Jr., was born in a log cabin in Cove Gap (now James Buchanan Birthplace State Park), Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1791, to James Buchanan, Sr. (1761–1833), a well-to-do businessman, and Elizabeth Speer (1767–1833). His parents were both of Scots-Irish descent, the father having emigrated from Donegal, Ireland in 1783. He was the second of eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. Buchanan had six sisters and four brothers, only one of whom lived past 1840.In 1797, the family moved to nearby Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The home in Mercersburg was later turned into the James Buchanan Hotel.
Buchanan attended the village academy and later Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Expelled at one point for poor behavior, after pleading for a second chance, he graduated with honors on September 19, 1809. Later that year, he moved to Lancaster, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. A dedicated Federalist, he initially opposed the War of 1812 because he believed it was an unnecessary conflict. When the British invaded neighboring Maryland, he joined a volunteer light dragoon unit and served in the defense of Baltimore.
An active Freemason during his lifetime, he was the Master of Masonic Lodge #43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Political career
Buchanan began his political career in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814–1816, serving as a Federalist. He was elected to the 17th United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1821 – March 4, 1831), serving as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary in the 21st United States Congress. In 1830, he was among the members appointed by the House to conduct impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri, who was ultimately acquitted. Buchanan did not seek reelection, and from 1832 to 1834 he served as Minister to Russia.With the Federalist Party 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 to accept President Polk's nomination of him as Secretary of State. He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations (24th through 26th Congresses).
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin in 1844, Buchanan was nominated by President Polk to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court. He declined that nomination because he felt compelled to complete his collaboration on the Oregon Treaty negotiations. The seat was filled by Robert Cooper Grier.
Buchanan served as Secretary of State under James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849, despite objections from Buchanan's rival, Vice President George Dallas. In this capacity, he helped negotiate the 1846 Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary of the western U.S. No Secretary of State has become President since James Buchanan, although William Howard Taft, the 27th 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, and he served in this capacity until 1866, despite a false report that he was fired.
He served as minister to the Court of St. James's (Britain) from 1853 to 1856, during which time he helped to draft and then signed, with Pierre Soulé and John Mason, a memorandum that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. This document proposed the purchase from Spain of Cuba, then in the midst of revolution and near bankruptcy, declaring the island "as necessary to the North American republic as any of its present ... family of states." Against Buchanan's recommendation, the final draft of the Manifesto suggested that "wresting it from Spain" if Spain refused to sell would be justified "by every law, human and Divine." The Manifesto, generally considered a blunder overall, was never acted upon but weakened the Pierce administration and support for Manifest Destiny.
Presidential election of 1856
The Democrats nominated Buchanan ("Old Public Functionary") in 1856. He had been in England during the Kansas-Nebraska debate and thus remained untainted by either side of the issue. Pennsylvania, which had three times failed Buchanan, now gave its full support in its state convention. Though he never formally threw his hat into the ring, it is apparent from all his correspondence, that he was aware of the distinct possibility of his nomination by the Democratic convention in Cincinnati, even before heading home at the finish of his work as Minister to England. Dr. Jonathan Foltz told Buchanan in November 1855: "The people have taken the next presidency out of the hands of the politicians...the people and not your political friends will place you there." While Buchanan did not overtly seek the office, he most deliberately chose not to discourage the movement on his behalf, something that was well within his power on many occasions.
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. Buchanan remains the most recent of the two Democrats (the other being Martin Van Buren) to succeed a fellow Democrat to the Presidency by election in his own right. President-elect Buchanan stated about the growing schism in the country: "The object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government". He set about this initially 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 had hinted to Buchanan what the decision would be.
Presidency 1857–1861
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," and proclaimed that when the decision came he would "cheerfully submit, whatever this may be." Two days later, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Dred Scott Decision, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to exclude slavery in the territories. Part of Taney's written judgment has been characterized as obiter dictum—statements commonly made by a jurist that are not central to the decision in the case. Such comments delighted Southerners and incited anger in the North.Buchanan, in his view, preferred to see the territorial question resolved by the Supreme Court. He had written to Justice John Catron in January 1857, inquiring about the outcome of the case and suggesting that a broader decision would be more prudent. Catron, who was from Tennessee, replied on February 10 that the Supreme Court's southern majority would decide against Scott, but would likely have to publish the decision on narrow grounds if there was no support from the Court's northern justices—unless Buchanan could convince his fellow Pennsylvanian, Justice Robert Cooper Grier, to join the majority. Buchanan then wrote to Grier and successfully prevailed upon him, allowing the majority leverage to issue a broad-ranging decision that transcended the specific circumstances of Scott's case to declare the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. The correspondence was not public at the time; however, at his inauguration, Buchanan was seen in whispered conversation with Chief Justice Roger B. Taney; when the decision was issued two days later, Republicans began spreading word that Taney had then told Buchanan what the forthcoming result would be. Abraham Lincoln denounced him as an accomplice of the Slave Power, which Lincoln saw as a conspiracy of slaveowners to seize control of the federal government and nationalize slavery.
Chaos in Kansas
In 1854 President Pierce faced massive violence in Kansas, dubbed Bleeding Kansas by the Republican Party. During its development in the Pierce administration, Kansas saw escalating violence and political fraud between abolitionist and proslavery factions of settlers. The proslavery settlers decided to establish a seat of government in Lecompton, while the abolitionists organized a rival government in Topeka. Nevertheless, to achieve statehood the territory needed to submit to Washington one state constitution adopted by all Kansans. Toward this end, Buchanan appointed Robert Walker as Governor and dispatched him to the territory. It was Walker's mission to reduce the divisiveness and ensure a fair and full vote by all the people in forming a constitution. Walker acted poorly in tamping down the partisanship. The result was a census and vote corrupted by partisans on both sides. Kansans thus adopted the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution which was rejected by the anti-slavery forces.Buchanan's goal was the legal admission of Kansas to the United States and the end of dueling governments in the territory. He threw the support of his administration behind congressional approval of the proslavery Lecompton Constitution. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, denounced Lecompton and the battle over Kansas escalated into a battle over the control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan made every effort, legal or not, to defeat Douglas and secure Congressional approval for Kansas statehood, offering favors, patronage appointments and even cash in exchange for votes. The Lecompton bill passed through the House, but it was blocked by Douglas. 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 Democratic party in 1857–60, with Buchanan using his patronage powers and Douglas rallying the popular base. Douglas emerged victorious, and Buchanan was reduced to a narrow base of southern supporters.
Buchanan's political views
Buchanan considered the essence of good self-government to be founded on restraint. The constitution he considered to be "...restraints, imposed not by arbitrary authority, but by the people upon themselves and their representatives... In an enlarged view, the people's interests may seem identical, but "to the eye of local and sectional prejudice, they always appear to be conflicting ... and the jealousies that will perpetually arise can be repressed only by the mutual forbearance which pervades the constitution."
One of the greatest issues of the day was tariffs. Buchanan condemned both free trade and prohibitive tariffs, since either would benefit one section of the country to the detriment of the other. As the Senator from Pennsylvania, he thought: "I am viewed as the strongest advocate of protection in other states, whilst I am denounced as its enemy in Pennsylvania."
Buchanan, like many of his time, was torn between his desire to expand the country for the benefit of all and his insistence on guaranteeing to the people settling the expanded areas their rights, including slavery. On territorial expansion, he said, "What, sir! Prevent the people from crossing the Rocky Mountains? You might just as well command the Niagara not to flow. We must fulfill our destiny." On the resulting spread of slavery, through unconditional expansion, he stated: "I feel a strong repugnance by any act of mine to extend the present limits of the Union over a new slave-holding territory." For instance, he hoped the acquisition of Texas would "be the means of limiting, not enlarging, the dominion of slavery."
Nevertheless, in deference to the intentions of the typical slaveholder, he was quick to provide the benefit of much doubt. 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".
Historian Kenneth Stampp wrote: "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 in 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." In the northern anti-slavery idiom of his day, Buchanan was often considered a "doughface", a northern man with southern principles.
The President, however, also felt that "this question of domestic slavery is the weak point in our institutions, touch this question seriously ... and the Union is from that moment dissolved. Although in Pennsylvania we are all opposed to slavery in the abstract, we can never violate the constitutional compact we have with our sister states. Their rights will be held sacred by us. Under the constitution it is their own question; and there let it remain."
Buchanan was irked that the abolitionists were preventing the solution to the slavery problem. He stated, "Before [the abolitionists] commenced this agitation, a very large and growing party existed in several of the slave states in favor of the gradual abolition of slavery; and now not a voice is heard there in support of such a measure. The abolitionists have postponed the emancipation of the slaves in three or four states for at least half a century."
Buchanan's disinterest in educational issues was demonstrated by his veto of a bill passed by Congress to create more colleges, for he believed that "there were already too many educated people." In fact, the bill he vetoed was a ruse for a federal land donation act designed to benefit Rep. John Covode's railroad company, and fashioned to appear as a land grant for new agricultural colleges.
Near the end of his administration he had a serious exchange with the Rev. William Paxton. After what Paxton described as quite a probative discussion, Buchanan said, " Well, sir ... I hope I am a Christian. I have much of the experience you have described, and as soon as I retire, I will unite with the Presbyterian Church."
Paxton asked why he delayed, to which he replied, "I must delay for the honor of religion. If I were to unite with the church now, they would say 'hypocrite' from Maine to Georgia."
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 began in summer of that year, brought on mostly by the people's over-consumption of goods from Europe to such an extent that the Union's specie was drained off, overbuilding by competing railroads, and rampant land speculation in the west. Most of the state banks had overextended credit, to more than $7.00 for each dollar of gold or silver. The Republicans considered the Congress to be the culprit for having recently reduced tariffs.Buchanan's response, outlined in his first Annual Message to Congress, was "reform not relief." While the government was "without the power to extend relief,", it would continue to pay its debts in specie, and while it would not curtail public works, none would be added. He urged the states to restrict the banks to a credit level of $3 to $1 of specie, and discouraged the use of federal or state bonds as security for bank note issues. The economy did eventually recover, though many Americans suffered as a result of the panic. The South, due to an agriculture-based economy, was considered to have been less severely affected than the North, where manufacturers were hardest hit. Buchanan, by the time he left office in 1861, had accumulated a federal deficit of $17 million.
Utah War
In March 1857, Buchanan received conflicting reports from federal judges in the Utah Territory that their offices had been disrupted and they had been driven from their posts by the Mormons. He knew that the Pierce administration had refused to facilitate Utah's being granted statehood and the Mormons feared the loss of their property rights. Accepting the wildest rumors and believing the Mormons to be in open rebellion against the United States, Buchanan sent the Army in November of that year to replace Brigham Young as Governor with the non-Mormon Alfred Cumming. While the Mormons' defiance of federal authority in the past had become traditional, some question whether Buchanan's action was a justifiable or prudent response to uncorroborated reports. Complicating matters, Young's notice of his replacement was not delivered because the Pierce administration had annulled the Utah mail contract. After Young reacted to the military action by mustering a two-week expedition destroying wagon trains, oxen and other Army property, Buchanan dispatched Thomas L. Kane as a private agent to negotiate peace. The mission succeeded, the new governor was shortly placed in office, and the Utah War ended. The President granted amnesty to all inhabitants who would respect the authority of the government, and moved the federal troops to a non-threatening distance for the balance of his administration.
Partisan deadlock
The division between northern and southern Democrats allowed the Republicans to win a plurality in the House in the election of 1858. Their control of the chamber allowed the Republicans to block most of Buchanan's agenda (including his proposals for expansion of influence in Central America, and for the purchase of Cuba). Buchanan thought the ideologies of the United States would bring peace and prosperity to these neighboring lands as they had in the Northwest and that without U.S. influence, the major European powers would intervene. The imperative of safe and speedy travel from east to west was of strategic importance to the country. These goals would not be reached. Buchanan, in turn, vetoed six substantial pieces of Republican legislation, causing further hostility between Congress and the White House.In March 1860 the House created the Covode Committee to investigate the administration for evidence of offenses, some impeachable, such as bribery and extortion of Congressmen in exchange for their votes. The Committee for its part was nakedly partisan, with three Republicans and one Democrat, and Buchanan's enemy John Covode as chairman; the group leaked damaging information about the President without affording him the chance to testify or respond officially; the committee was unable to establish grounds for impeaching Buchanan, but its final report in June exposed corruption and abuse of power among members of his Cabinet. In several incidents, the Buchanan administration assisted the Committee in exposing and correcting abuses during the investigation. Republican operatives distributed thousands copies of the Covode Committee report throughout the nation as campaign material in that year's presidential election.
Disintegration: election of 1860
Sectional strife rose to such a pitch that the Democratic Party's national convention in 1860 led directly to a schism in the Party. Buchanan played little part at the national convention, meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. The southern wing walked out of the convention and nominated its own candidate for the presidency, incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge. Another faction nominated former Speaker of the House John Bell, who took no position on slavery; his only focus was on saving the Union. The remainder of the party finally nominated Buchanan's archenemy, Stephen Douglas. For his part, President Buchanan supported Breckenridge's candidacy. When the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, it was a near certainty that he would be elected.As early as October, the army's Commanding General, Winfield Scott, warned Buchanan that Lincoln's election would likely cause at least seven states to secede. He also recommended to Buchanan that massive amounts of federal troops and artillery be deployed to those states to protect federal property, although he also warned that few reinforcements were available (Congress had since 1857 failed to heed both men's calls for a stronger militia and had allowed the Army to fall into deplorable condition.) Buchanan, however, distrusted Scott (the two had long been political adversaries) and ignored his recommendations. After Lincoln's election, Buchanan directed War Secretary Floyd to reinforce southern forts with such provisions, arms and men as were available; however, Floyd convinced him to revoke the order.
With Lincoln's victory, talk of secession and disunion reached a boiling point. Buchanan was forced to address it in his final message to Congress. Both factions awaited news of how Buchanan would deal with the question. In his message, Buchanan denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the federal government legally could not prevent them. He placed the blame for the crisis solely on "intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery in the Southern States", and suggested that if they did not "repeal their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments ... the injured States, after having first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance to the Government of the Union." Buchanan's only suggestion to solve the crisis was "an explanatory amendment" reaffirming the constitutionality of slavery in the states, the fugitive slave laws, and popular sovereignty in the territories. His address was sharply criticized both by the north, for its refusal to stop secession, and the south, for refuting its right to secede. Five days after the address was delivered, Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb resigned, feeling that his views and the President's had become irreconcilable.
Efforts were made by statesmen such as Sen. John J. Crittenden, Rep. Thomas Corwin, and former president John Tyler to negotiate a compromise to stop secession, with Buchanan's support; all failed. Failed efforts to compromise were also made by a group of governors meeting in New York. Buchanan employed a last-minute tactic, in secret, to bring a solution. He attempted in vain to procure President-elect Lincoln's call for a constitutional convention or national referendum to resolve the issue of slavery. Lincoln declined.
South Carolina declared its secession on December 20, 1860, followed by six other slave states, and, by February 1861, they had formed the Confederate States of America. As Scott had surmised, the secessionist governments declared eminent domain over federal property within their states; Buchanan and his administration took no action to stop the confiscation of government property.
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." The new cabinet advised Buchanan to request from Congress the authority to call up militias and give himself emergency military powers, and this he did, on January 8, 1861. Nevertheless, by that time Buchanan's relations with Congress were so strained that his requests were rejected out of hand.
Fort Sumter
Before Buchanan left office, all arsenals and forts in the seceding states were lost (except Fort Sumter, off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, and three island outposts in Florida), and a fourth of all federal soldiers surrendered to Texas troops. Knowing that secessionist fervor was strongest in South Carolina, Buchanan made a quiet pact with South Carolina's legislators that he would not reinforce the Charleston garrison in exchange for no interference from the state. However, Buchanan did not inform the Charleston commander, Major Robert Anderson, of the agreement, and on December 26 Anderson violated it by moving his command to Fort Sumter. Southerners responded with a demand that Buchanan remove Anderson, while northerners demanded support for the commander. On December 31, in an apparent panic and without consulting Anderson, Buchanan ordered reinforcements.On January 5, Buchanan sent civilian steamer Star of the West to carry reinforcements and supplies to Fort Sumter, which was located in Charleston harbor, a conspicuously visible spot in the Confederacy. On January 9, 1861, South Carolina state batteries opened fire on the ship, which returned to New York. Buchanan was again criticized both north (for lack of retaliation against the hostile South Carolina batteries) and south (for attempting to reinforce Fort Sumter), further alienating both factions. Paralyzed, Buchanan made no further moves either to prepare for war or to avert it.
On Buchanan's final day as president, March 4, 1861, he remarked to the incoming Lincoln, "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man."
James Buchanan's presidential cabinet
| 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 |
| Treasury start 2 | 1860 |
| Treasury end 2 | 1861 |
| Treasury 3 | John Adams 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 }} |
Judicial appointments
Buchanan appointed one Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, Nathan Clifford. Buchanan appointed only seven other Article III federal judges, all to United States district courts. He also appointed two Article I judges to the United States Court of Claims.
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, one of Buchanan's colleagues from the House of Representatives. Buchanan spent little time with her during the courtship: he was extremely busy with his law firm and political projects during the Panic of 1819, which took him away from Coleman for weeks at a time. Conflicting rumors abounded, suggesting that he was marrying her for her money, because his own family was less affluent, or that he was involved with other women. Buchanan never publicly spoke of his motives or feelings, but letters from Ann revealed she was paying heed to the rumors.After Buchanan paid a visit to the wife of a friend, Ann broke off the engagement. She died soon afterward, on December 9, 1819. The records of a Dr. Chapman, who looked after her in her final hours, and who said just after her death that this was "the first instance he ever knew of hysteria producing death", reveal that he theorized, despite the absence of any valid evidence, the woman's demise was caused by an overdose of laudanum, a concentrated tincture of opium.
His fiancée's death struck Buchanan a terrible blow. In a letter to her father, which was returned to him unopened, Buchanan wrote "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." The Coleman family became bitter towards Buchanan and denied him a place at Ann's funeral. Buchanan vowed he would never marry, though he continued to be flirtatious. Some pressed him to seek a wife; in response, Buchanan said, "Marry I could not, for my affections were buried in the grave." He preserved Ann Coleman's letters, keeping them with him throughout his life; at his request, they were burned upon his death.
For fifteen years in Washington, D.C., before his presidency, Buchanan lived with his close friend, Alabama Senator William Rufus King. King became Vice President under Franklin Pierce. He became ill and died shortly after Pierce's inauguration, four years before Buchanan became President. Buchanan's and King's close relationship prompted Andrew Jackson to call King "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy", while Aaron V. Brown spoke of the two as "Buchanan and his wife." Some of the contemporary press also speculated about Buchanan's and King's relationship. The two men's nieces destroyed their uncles' correspondence, leaving some questions about their relationship; but the length and intimacy of surviving letters illustrate "the affection of a special friendship", and Buchanan wrote of his "communion" with his housemate. In May 1844, during one of King's absences that resulted from King's appointment as minister to France, Buchanan wrote to a Mrs. Roosevelt, "I am now 'solitary and alone', having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, 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."
Circumstances surrounding Buchanan's and King's close emotional ties have led to speculation that Buchanan was homosexual. Buchanan's correspondence during this period with Thomas Kittera, however, mentions his romance with Mary K. Snyder. In Buchanan's letter to Mrs. Francis Preston Blair, he declines an invitation and expresses an expectation of marriage. The only President to remain a bachelor, Buchanan turned to Harriet Lane, an orphaned niece, whom he had earlier adopted, to act as his official hostess.
Legacy
In 1866 Buchanan published Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, the first published presidential memoir, in which he defended his actions; the day before his death he predicted that "history will vindicate my memory". Buchanan died June 1, 1868, at the age of 77 at his home at Wheatland and was interred in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
Nevertheless, historians continue to criticize Buchanan for his unwillingness or inability to act in the face of secession. Historians in both 2006 and 2009 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made. Historical rankings of United States Presidents, considering presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults, consistently place Buchanan among the least successful presidents. In an academic poll of 47 British academics specialising in American history and politics in 2011 it was reported that he came last (40th). They "were asked to rate the performance of every president from 1789 to 2009 (excluding William Henry Harrison and James Garfield, who both died shortly after taking office) in five categories:vision/agenda-setting, domestic leadership, foreign policy leadership, moral authority and positive historical significance of their legacy". James K. Polk confided to his diary: "Mr. Buchanan is an able man, but is in small matter without judgment and sometimes acts like an old maid."
In somewhat of a contradiction to modern historians and pollsters however, the following prominent observation was made near the end of Buchanan's administration: :We must retrench the extravagant list of magnificent schemes which received the sanction of the Executive ... the great Napoleon himself, with all the resources of an empire at his sole command, never ventured the simultaneous accomplishments of so many daring projects. The acquisition of Cuba ... ; the construction of a Pacific Railroad ... ; a Mexican protectorate, the international preponderance in Central America, in spite of all the powers of Europe; the submission of distant South American states; ... the enlargement of the Navy; a largely increased standing Army ... what government on earth could possibly meet all the exigencies of such a flood of innovations?
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.thumb|250px|Buchanan memorial, Washington, D.C. 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 Stony Batter, Pennsylvania. Part of an memorial site, the earlier monument is a 250-ton pyramid structure designed to show the original weathered surface of the native rubble and mortar.
Three counties are named in his honor: Buchanan County, Iowa, Buchanan County, Missouri, and Buchanan County, Virginia. Another in Texas was christened in 1858 but renamed Stephens County, after the newly elected Vice President of the Confederate States of America, Alexander Stephens, in 1861.
See also
Bibliography
excerpt and text search;Primary sources Buchanan, James. Fourth Annual Message to Congress. (1860, December 3).
References
Further reading
External links
;Primary sources
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