“I had hoped for the nomination in 1844, again in 1848, and even in 1852, but now I would hesitate to take it. Before many years abolitionists will bring war upon this land. It may come during the next presidential term.”—President James Buchanan
These were the words of the 15th American president, James K. Buchanan, during the tumultuous 1850s. Before taking office, Buchanan had over forty years of political experience at both the state and federal levels, yet he is often regarded as the worst presidential leader in American history. Born in 1791 to a well-to-do Pennsylvania family, he was the son of an Irish immigrant. After graduating from Dickinson College with honors, he excelled in debating the law. At the start of his career, the United States fought Britain in the War of 1812, during which Buchanan served in a cavalry unit near Baltimore. He later returned to Pennsylvania, established a law practice, and served in the legislature for five years.
In 1820, Buchanan was elected to five terms in Congress, gained respect for his constitutional knowledge, and was appointed to the House Judiciary Committee. Originally a Federalist, he supported Democrat Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1824. When President John Quincy Adams won that controversial race, Jackson believed Buchanan had opposed his candidacy in Congress. Still, Jackson later selected him as minister to Russia, and in 1834 Buchanan was elected to the Senate for an eleven-year term. After becoming president in 1844, James K. Polk appointed Buchanan as Secretary of State. Buchanan oversaw negotiations with England during the Oregon Crisis, establishing the border at the 49th parallel, and witnessed the U.S. victory over Mexico and the annexation of vast southwestern territories.
By 1852, Buchanan sought the presidency but failed to win the nomination. President Franklin Pierce later appointed him ambassador to England. The 1850s were marked by rising sectional tensions, and Americans watched violence erupt in Kansas between free-state and slave-state supporters. During Buchanan’s 1856 presidential run, the nation was shocked by the brutal caning of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks. The country faced deepening challenges with few solutions to ease the divide. Although Buchanan won the election, he carried only four northern states and barely secured Pennsylvania. He viewed abolitionists as agitators responsible for escalating the crisis, arguing that slavery consumed too much of the government’s time. “Most happy will it be for the country,” he claimed, “when the public mind shall be diverted from this question.”
As president-elect, Buchanan followed the Supreme Court’s deliberations in the Dred Scott case and was informed by two justices that the Court would not restrict slavery’s expansion. The decision enraged northerners, particularly abolitionists, because it ruled that Black Americans had no constitutional rights and were considered property. Buchanan welcomed the ruling, believing it would “speedily and finally” settle the issue. Instead, the crisis worsened, and he soon suffered a serious health ailment—possibly arsenic poisoning—that left him severely ill. The New York Times even ran the headline “Narrow Escape of the President Elect from a Violent Death.” In his inaugural address, fully supporting the Court’s ruling, Buchanan told Americans that slavery in the states was “beyond the reach of any human power except that of the respective States themselves.”
Believing slavery to be a constitutional property-rights issue, Buchanan hoped the Court’s decision would end the national debate. He supported Kansas’s admission as a slave state, reasoning that its expansion would ease tensions. In his first State of the Union Address, he insisted that forcing Kansas to adopt or reject slavery against popular sentiment would only “continue and exasperate the existing agitation.” Meanwhile, rising Republican leader Abraham Lincoln argued that slavery should not be permitted to expand into new territories. In 1859, southern states even met in Vicksburg to discuss reopening the foreign slave trade.
On October 17, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a brief seizure of the Harpers Ferry arsenal, intending to arm enslaved people for future revolts. Colonel Robert E. Lee and a detachment of Marines retook the arsenal and captured Brown. Buchanan viewed the raid as confirmation that northern abolitionist “troublemakers” sought to destabilize the nation. After serving one term, Buchanan watched as Lincoln was elected president in 1860. Immediately afterward, seven southern states announced their secession. Unlike George Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion or Andrew Jackson during the Nullification Crisis, Buchanan refused to use force.
Although the Constitution allowed the federal government to suppress domestic rebellion, Buchanan would not act against the South. He remained hesitant in the White House, fearful that any escalation would spark war, and longed to return home to Pennsylvania. Lincoln, meanwhile, could not act for five months as he awaited inauguration. In his final address, Buchanan argued that slavery was a state issue and suggested that secession resulted from northern interference: “…As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them…”
Where Buchanan was conflicted and passive, Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union. When they finally met, Buchanan told the incoming president, “If you are as happy entering the presidency as I am in leaving it, then you are truly a happy man.” Despite more than forty years of public service, Buchanan left office as a seasoned politician who refused to use his authority to halt secession or prevent the nation’s slide into civil war.