How James Buchanan Became President
Pennsylvania-born James Buchanan graduated from Dickinson College with honors on September 19, 1809, after having previously been expelled from the college for bad behavior. Upon graduation, he moved to Lancaster, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. When war broke out, Buchanan believed it was an unnecessary conflict, but when the British invaded Maryland, he joined a volunteer light dragoon unit as a private and served in the defense of Baltimore. Buchanan is the only president with military experience who was never an officer.
Buchanan began his political career towards the end of the war. He was elected to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814 to 1816 as a member of the Federalist Party. He was later elected to five terms in the US House of Representative from March 4, 1821 to March 4, 1831, and served as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. In 1830, he conducted impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri. Peck was charged with abuse of the contempt power, but was ultimately acquitted. Buchanan did not seek reelection and from 1832 to 1833 he was appointed to the post of Minister (Ambassador) to Russia by Andrew Jackson.
In 1834 Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to fill a United States Senate vacancy. He was reelected in 1837 and 1843. While in the senate he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations from 1836 to 1841. Buchanan resigned in 1845 to serve as Secretary of State by President James K. Polk.
When Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin died in 1844, Polk offered Buchanan the vacant post, but Buchanan declined. Buchanan served as Secretary of State under Polk from 1845 to 1849 over the objections of Buchanan's political rival, Vice President George Dallas. While serving in this post, he negotiated the 1846 Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary of the western United States. Buchanan is the last Secretary of State to become President (though William Howard Taft often served as Acting Secretary of State when Theodore Roosevelt was President.)
In 1853 Franklin Pierce named Buchanan as minister to the Court of St. James's in London and Buchanan held the post throughout the Pierce administration. In that capacity he helped to draft a memorandum that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. This document proposed the purchase of Cuba from Spain. But Buchanan objected to the final draft of the Manifesto which suggested that Cuba be taken by force if Spain refused to sell it. Word of the Manifesto cost the Pierce administration support.
Buchanan's absence from the country during the Kansas-Nebraska debate and the conflict in "Bleeding Kansas" protected him from being tainted politically from the controversy. He was viewed as a viable candidate for the Presidency by Democrats, who selected him as their Presidential candidate in the 1856 election.
In the election Buchanan was aided by the fact that the Whig Party was badly divided over the issue of slavery. Former president Millard Fillmore ran as a candidate for the "Know-Nothing" Party, while abolitionist John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican candidate for president. Buchanan won the election, capturing 174 electoral votes to 114 for Frémont and 8 (the state of Maryland) for Fillmore. He received 45.3% of the populate vote. Frémont received 33.1% and Fillmore garnered 21.5%.
Buchanan imagined himself about to embark on a Presidency as great as that of George Washington. He certainly had a wealth of experience that amply qualified him for the office. But his presidency would end up as perhaps the worst ever. Buchanan was unwilling to take decisive action in the face of secession, seeing himself as powerless to do anything about it. On Buchanan's final day as president, March 4, 1861, he remarked to his successor Abraham Lincoln: "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man."
Buchanan began his political career towards the end of the war. He was elected to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1814 to 1816 as a member of the Federalist Party. He was later elected to five terms in the US House of Representative from March 4, 1821 to March 4, 1831, and served as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. In 1830, he conducted impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri. Peck was charged with abuse of the contempt power, but was ultimately acquitted. Buchanan did not seek reelection and from 1832 to 1833 he was appointed to the post of Minister (Ambassador) to Russia by Andrew Jackson.
In 1834 Buchanan was elected as a Democrat to fill a United States Senate vacancy. He was reelected in 1837 and 1843. While in the senate he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations from 1836 to 1841. Buchanan resigned in 1845 to serve as Secretary of State by President James K. Polk.
When Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin died in 1844, Polk offered Buchanan the vacant post, but Buchanan declined. Buchanan served as Secretary of State under Polk from 1845 to 1849 over the objections of Buchanan's political rival, Vice President George Dallas. While serving in this post, he negotiated the 1846 Oregon Treaty establishing the 49th parallel as the northern boundary of the western United States. Buchanan is the last Secretary of State to become President (though William Howard Taft often served as Acting Secretary of State when Theodore Roosevelt was President.)
In 1853 Franklin Pierce named Buchanan as minister to the Court of St. James's in London and Buchanan held the post throughout the Pierce administration. In that capacity he helped to draft a memorandum that became known as the Ostend Manifesto. This document proposed the purchase of Cuba from Spain. But Buchanan objected to the final draft of the Manifesto which suggested that Cuba be taken by force if Spain refused to sell it. Word of the Manifesto cost the Pierce administration support.
Buchanan's absence from the country during the Kansas-Nebraska debate and the conflict in "Bleeding Kansas" protected him from being tainted politically from the controversy. He was viewed as a viable candidate for the Presidency by Democrats, who selected him as their Presidential candidate in the 1856 election.
In the election Buchanan was aided by the fact that the Whig Party was badly divided over the issue of slavery. Former president Millard Fillmore ran as a candidate for the "Know-Nothing" Party, while abolitionist John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican candidate for president. Buchanan won the election, capturing 174 electoral votes to 114 for Frémont and 8 (the state of Maryland) for Fillmore. He received 45.3% of the populate vote. Frémont received 33.1% and Fillmore garnered 21.5%.
Buchanan imagined himself about to embark on a Presidency as great as that of George Washington. He certainly had a wealth of experience that amply qualified him for the office. But his presidency would end up as perhaps the worst ever. Buchanan was unwilling to take decisive action in the face of secession, seeing himself as powerless to do anything about it. On Buchanan's final day as president, March 4, 1861, he remarked to his successor Abraham Lincoln: "If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man."