James Buchanan

Article Outline

Introduction; Early Life; Political and Diplomatic Career; President of the United States; Last Years

Diplomatic Representative to Britain

When Polk's administration ended, Buchanan retired to his home at Wheatland, a country mansion outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He worked unsparingly to win the presidential nomination in 1852 and was the leading contender at the Democratic national convention that year. But the weary, deadlocked delegates nominated Franklin Pierce for president on the 49th ballot. In 1853 President Pierce appointed Buchanan as U.S. envoy to Britain.

The following year Secretary of State William L. Marcy instructed Buchanan to meet with the envoy to Spain, Pierre Soulé, and the envoy to France, John Y. Mason. The envoys met at Ostend (Oostende), Belgium, and later at Aachen, Germany, and exchanged views on the best way to convince Spain to sell Cuba to the United States. They drafted their recommendations in a diplomatic dispatch that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. It declared that if Spain refused to sell Cuba, “then, by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain if we possess the power.” Word of the Ostend Manifesto reached the American press and became an effective campaign document against the Democratic Party. It was an explosive issue because Cuba, if it became a U.S. possession, would presumably be admitted to the Union as a slave state.

Election of 1856

Buchanan returned from his diplomatic post in London to take part in the Democratic national convention of 1856. His political strength was formidable. He had become well known because of the many high offices he had held. Because he had been abroad, Buchanan had not been involved in the dispute over the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened new territories in the West to slavery. Other leading Democrats, especially Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, were no longer considered potential presidential candidates because they had supported the act. Buchanan had the full backing of his home state, Pennsylvania, then the second largest state in the Union. Moreover, his record of compromise on the slavery issue made him acceptable to the South.

Aided by the strong and skillful support of his Southern backers, Buchanan gained the Democratic nomination. He campaigned on a conservative platform, stressing his belief that Congress should not interfere with slavery in the territories. His major opponent was John C. Frémont, the first presidential candidate of the newly organized Republican Party. Frémont campaigned on the principle that Congress should prohibit slavery in the territories. A third candidate was Millard Fillmore, a former president and now the candidate of the American Party.

President of the United States

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Panic of 1857

During Buchanan's administration the country suffered a short but severe economic depression. The South escaped the worst effects of the so-called Panic of 1857, and this convinced many Southerners of the superiority of their slave-supported economic system. Senator James Hammond of South Carolina claimed triumphantly, “Cotton is King.” The panic heightened the conflict between the North and South.

Slavery Controversy

The most important issue during Buchanan's presidency was the growing division between the North and the South over slavery. On this issue, Buchanan followed the recommendations of the members of his Cabinet, who supported the South. Although he defended the rights of the states and declared that continued agitation by abolitionists would justify secession, at the same time he believed in the Union and sought to prevent secession. His general policy for resolving the conflict was one of compromise and conciliation, and he hoped that by these means the question could be settled peacefully. Unfortunately his efforts at compromise were inadequate, and he only aggravated an already explosive situation.

The Dred Scott Decision

Only two days after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in the Dred Scott Case, which Buchanan in his inaugural speech had predicted would lay to rest the question of slavery in the territories. It did not do so. The case was a test of congressional power to restrict slavery. One of the chief questions was whether Scott, a black slave, had become a free man when his owner took him to reside in a territory (Minnesota) where Congress had barred slavery. The answer, in the opinion by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (each justice wrote a separate opinion), was no, because slaves were property and the U.S. Constitution forbade Congress to deprive persons of their property without due process of law.