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President James Buchanan

President James Buchanan

Male 1791 - 1868  (77 years)  Submit Photo / DocumentSubmit Photo / Document    Has more than 100 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name James Buchanan 
    Prefix President 
    Birth 23 Apr 1791  Cove Gap, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 1 Jun 1868  Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial 4 Jun 1868  Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Initiatory (LDS) 19 Oct 1932  SLAKE Find all individuals with events at this location 
    FamilySearch ID LRPG-9W3 
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID I169648  mytree
    Last Modified 25 Feb 2024 

    Father James Buchanan,   b. 1761, Rathmelton, County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jun 1821, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 60 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Speer,   b. 17 Mar 1767, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 May 1833, Greensburg, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 66 years) 
    Marriage 16 Apr 1788  Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F42552  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 23 Apr 1791 - Cove Gap, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsChristening - - Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1 Jun 1868 - Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 4 Jun 1868 - Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsInitiatory (LDS) - 19 Oct 1932 - SLAKE Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States (1857-1861), ser v ed immediately prior to the American Civil War. He remains the only Pre si dent to be elected from Pennsylvania and to remain a lifelong bachelor .

      Tall, stately, stiffly formal in the high stock he wore around his jowl s , James Buchanan was the only President who never married.

      Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan grasped inadequatel y t he political realities of the time. Relying on constitutional doctrin es t o close the widening rift over slavery, he failed to understand tha t th e North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored th e South . Nor could he realize how sectionalism had realigned political p arties : the Democrats split; the Whigs were destroyed, giving rise to th e Repub licans.

      Born into a well-to-do Pennsylvania family in 1791, Buchanan, a gradua t e of Dickinson College, was gifted as a debater and learned in the law.

      He was elected five times to the House of Representatives; then, afte r a n interlude as Minister to Russia, served for a decade in the Senate . H e became Polk’s Secretary of State and Pierce’s Minister to Great Bri tain . Service abroad helped to bring him the Democratic nomination in 18 56 be cause it had exempted him from involvement in bitter domestic contr oversi es.

      As President-elect, Buchanan thought the crisis would disappear if he ma i ntained a sectional balance in his appointments and could persuade th e pe ople to accept constitutional law as the Supreme Court interpreted i t. Th e Court was considering the legality of restricting slavery in th e territ ories, and two justices hinted to Buchanan what the decision wou ld be.

      Thus, in his Inaugural the President referred to the territorial questi o n as “happily, a matter of but little practical importance” since the S up reme Court was about to settle it “speedily and finally.”

      Two days later Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Dred Scott dec i sion, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to deprive pe rs ons of their property rights in slaves in the territories. Southerner s we re delighted, but the decision created a furor in the North.

      Buchanan decided to end the troubles in Kansas by urging the admissio n o f the territory as a slave state. Although he directed his Presidenti al a uthority to this goal, he further angered the Republicans and aliena ted m embers of his own party. Kansas remained a territory.

      When Republicans won a plurality in the House in 1858, every significa n t bill they passed fell before southern votes in the Senate or a Presid en tial veto. The Federal Government reached a stalemate.

      Sectional strife rose to such a pitch in 1860 that the Democratic Part y s plit into northern and southern wings, each nominating its own candid at e for the Presidency. Consequently, when the Republicans nominated Abr aha m Lincoln, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be elected eve n tho ugh his name appeared on no southern ballot. Rather than accept a R epubli can administration, the southern “fire-eaters” advocated secession .

      President Buchanan, dismayed and hesitant, denied the legal right of sta t es to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not pre ve nt them. He hoped for compromise, but secessionist leaders did not wan t c ompromise.

      Then Buchanan took a more militant tack. As several Cabinet members resi g ned, he appointed northerners, and sent the Star of the West to carry r ei nforcements to Fort Sumter. On January 9, 1861, the vessel was far awa y.

      Buchanan reverted to a policy of inactivity that continued until he le f t office. In March 1861 he retired to his Pennsylvania home Wheatland–w he re he died seven years later–leaving his successor to resolve the frig htf ul issue facing the Nation.