 1791 - 1868 (77 years) Submit 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  |
| Christening |
Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
1 Jun 1868 |
Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Burial |
4 Jun 1868 |
Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
19 Oct 1932 |
SLAKE |
| FamilySearch ID |
LRPG-9W3 |
| Person ID |
I169648 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
James Buchanan, b. 1761, Rathmelton, County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland d. 11 Jun 1821, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States (Age 60 years) |
| Mother |
Elizabeth Speer, b. 17 Mar 1767, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States d. 24 May 1833, Greensburg, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, United States (Age 66 years) |
| Marriage |
16 Apr 1788 |
Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Family ID |
F42552 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 23 Apr 1791 - Cove Gap, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States |
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 | Christening - - Upper West Conococheague Presbyterian Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States |
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 | Death - 1 Jun 1868 - Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
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 | Burial - 4 Jun 1868 - Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 19 Oct 1932 - SLAKE |
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| 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.
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