James Buchanan, Jr.
| James Buchanan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 15th President of the United States | |
|
In office March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 |
|
| Vice President | John C. Breckinridge |
| Preceded by | Franklin Pierce |
| Succeeded by | Abraham Lincoln |
| United States Minister to the United Kingdom | |
|
In office August 23, 1853 – March 15, 1856 |
|
| President | Franklin Pierce |
| Preceded by | Joseph Reed Ingersoll |
| Succeeded by | George M. Dallas |
| 17th United States Secretary of State | |
|
In office March 10, 1845 – March 7, 1849 |
|
| President |
James K. Polk Zachary Taylor |
| Preceded by | John C. Calhoun |
| Succeeded by | John M. Clayton |
|
United States Senator from Pennsylvania |
|
|
In office December 6, 1834 – March 5, 1845 |
|
| Preceded by | William Wilkins |
| Succeeded by | Simon Cameron |
| United States Minister to Russia | |
|
In office January 4, 1832 – August 5, 1833 |
|
| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | John Randolph |
| Succeeded by | Mahlon Dickerson |
| Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary | |
|
In office March 5, 1829 – March 3, 1831 |
|
| Preceded by | Philip Pendleton Barbour |
| Succeeded by | Warren R. Davis |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 4th district |
|
|
In office March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1831 |
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| Preceded by | James S. Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | William Hiester |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 3rd district |
|
|
In office March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823 |
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| Preceded by | Jacob Hibshman |
| Succeeded by | Daniel H. Miller |
| Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives | |
|
In office 1814–1816 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 23, 1791 Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 1, 1868 (aged 77) Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place |
Woodward Hill Cemetery Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Dickinson College |
| Profession | |
| Religion | Presbyterianism |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch | Pennsylvania Militia |
| Years of service | 1814 |
| Rank | Private |
| Unit | Henry Shippen's Company, 1st Brigade, 4th Division |
| Battles/wars | |
| The Buchanan Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Name | Term |
| President | James Buchanan | 1857–1861 |
| Vice President | John C. Breckinridge | 1857–1861 |
| Secretary of State | Lewis Cass | 1857–1860 |
| Jeremiah S. Black | 1860–1861 | |
| Secretary of Treasury | Howell Cobb | 1857–1860 |
| Philip Francis Thomas | 1860–1861 | |
| John Adams Dix | 1861 | |
| Secretary of War | John B. Floyd | 1857–1860 |
| Joseph Holt | 1860–1861 | |
| Attorney General | Jeremiah S. Black | 1857–1860 |
| Edwin M. Stanton | 1860–1861 | |
| Postmaster General | Aaron V. Brown | 1857–1859 |
| Joseph Holt | 1859–1860 | |
| Horatio King | 1861 | |
| Secretary of the Navy | Isaac Toucey | 1857–1861 |
| Secretary of the Interior | Jacob Thompson | 1857–1861 |
James Buchanan, Jr. (/bjuːˈkænən/; April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States (1857–61), serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor, and the last president born in the 18th century. Beginning in the 1820s, he represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, then served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He emerged as one of the most prominent Democrats of the 1840s and 1850s, serving as Secretary of State under President James K. Polk and as Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Franklin Pierce.
Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party in the 1856 presidential election, on a ticket with former Kentucky Representative John C. Breckinridge. He defeated both the incumbent President Pierce and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas to win the nomination. Throughout most of Pierce's presidency, Buchanan had been stationed in London as minister to the Court of St James's and so was not involved in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had further divided the country along sectional lines. His subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race against Republican John C. Frémont and Know-Nothing Millard Fillmore. Shortly after taking office, Buchanan lobbied the Supreme Court to issue a broad ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford. He allied with the South in attempting to gain the admission of Kansas to the Union as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution. In the process, he alienated both Republican abolitionists and Northern Democrats, most of whom supported the principle of popular sovereignty in determining a new state's slaveholding status. He was often called a "doughface," a Northerner with Southern sympathies, and he fought with Douglas, the leader of the popular sovereignty faction, for control of the Democratic Party. In the midst of the growing sectional crisis, the Panic of 1857 struck the nation.
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