Presidency of James Buchanan
's tenure as the 15th president of the United States began on March 4, 1857, and ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, took office after defeating the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, former President Millard Fillmore, in the 1856 presidential election. He declined to seek re-election and was succeeded by Republican Abraham Lincoln.
Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party at its 1856 convention, where he defeated both the incumbent President Franklin Pierce and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Despite his long experience in government, Buchanan was unable to calm the growing sectional crisis that would divide the nation at the close of his term. Prior to taking office, Buchanan lobbied the Supreme Court to issue a broad ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford. Though Buchanan hoped that the Court's ruling would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, Buchanan's support of the ruling deeply alienated many Northerners. Buchanan also joined with Southern leaders in attempting to gain the admission of Kansas to the Union as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution. In the midst of the growing chasm between slave states and free states, the Panic of 1857 struck the nation, causing widespread business failures and high unemployment.
Tensions over slavery continued to the end of Buchanan's term. Buchanan had promised in his inaugural address to serve just one term, and with the ongoing national turmoil over slavery and the nature of the Union, there was a deep yearning for fresh leadership within the Democratic Party. Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln, running on a platform devoted to keeping slavery out of all Western territories, defeated the splintered Democratic Party and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell to win the 1860 election. In response to Lincoln's victory, seven Southern states declared their secession from the Union. Buchanan refused to confront the seceded states with military force, but retained control of Fort Sumter. However, in its last two months the Buchanan Administration took a much stiffer anti-Confederate position, as Southerners resigned. The president announced that he would do all within his power to defend Fort Sumter, thereby rallying Northern support. Key anti-Confederate leaders included the new Attorney General Edwin Stanton and the new Secretary of War Joseph Holt. The secession crisis culminated in the outbreak of the American Civil War shortly after Buchanan left office. Historians condemn him for not forestalling the secession of Southern states or addressing the issue of slavery. He is consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents in American history, often being ranked as the worst president.
Election of 1856
After Franklin Pierce won the 1852 presidential election, Buchanan agreed to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Buchanan's service abroad conveniently placed him outside of the country while a debate over the Kansas–Nebraska Act roiled the nation. While Buchanan did not overtly seek the 1856 Democratic presidential nomination, he deliberately chose not to discourage the movement on his behalf, something that was well within his power on many occasions. The 1856 Democratic National Convention met in June 1856, writing a platform that largely reflected Buchanan's views, including support for the Fugitive Slave Law, an end to anti-slavery agitation, and U.S. "ascendancy in the Gulf of Mexico." Buchanan led on the first ballot, boosted by the support of powerful Senators John Slidell, Jesse Bright, and James A. Bayard, who presented Buchanan as an experienced leader who could appeal to the North and South. President Pierce and Senator Stephen A. Douglas also sought the nomination, but Buchanan was selected as the Democratic presidential nominee on the seventeenth ballot of the convention. He was joined on the Democratic ticket by John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky.By 1856, the Whig Party, which had long been the main opposition to the Democrats, had collapsed. Buchanan faced not just one but two candidates in the general election: former Whig President Millard Fillmore ran as the American Party candidate, while John C. Frémont ran as the Republican nominee. Much of the private rhetoric of the campaign focused on unfounded rumors regarding Frémont—talk of him as president taking charge of a large army that would support slave insurrections, the likelihood of widespread lynchings of slaves, and whispered hope among slaves for freedom and political equality.
Adhering to precedent, Buchanan did not himself campaign, but he wrote letters and pledged to uphold the Democratic platform. In the election, Buchanan carried every slave state except for Maryland, as well as five free states, including his home state of Pennsylvania. He won 45 percent of the popular vote and 174 electoral votes, compared to Frémont's 114 electoral votes and Fillmore's 8 electoral votes. In his victory speech, Buchanan denounced Republicans, calling the Republican Party a "dangerous" and "geographical" party that had unfairly attacked the South. President-elect Buchanan would also state, "the object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government."
Inauguration
Buchanan was inaugurated as the nation's 15th president on March 4, 1857, on the East Portico of the United States Capitol. Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the Oath of office. This is the first inauguration ceremony known to have been photographed. In his inaugural address, Buchanan committed himself to serving only one term. He also spoke critically about the growing divisions over slavery and its status in the territories, stating,Furthermore, Buchanan argued that a federal slave code should protect the rights of slave owners in any federal territory. He alluded to a pending Supreme Court case, Dred Scott v. Sandford, which he stated would permanently settle the issue of slavery.
Buchanan already knew the outcome of the case and had even played a part in its disposition. Associate Justice Robert C. Grier leaked the decision of the "Dred Scott" case early to Buchanan. In his inaugural address Buchanan declared that the issue of slavery in the territories would be "speedily and finally settled" by the Supreme Court. According to historian Paul Finkelman:
Buchanan already knew what the Court was going to decide. In a major breach of Court etiquette, Justice Grier, who, like Buchanan, was from Pennsylvania, had kept the President-elect fully informed about the progress of the case and the internal debates within the Court. When Buchanan urged the nation to support the decision, he already knew what Taney would say. Republican suspicions of impropriety turned out to be fully justified.
Historians agree that the address was a major disaster for Buchanan as the Dred Scott decision dramatically inflamed tensions leading to the Civil War. In 2022 historian David W. Blight argues that the year 1857 was, "the great pivot on the road to disunion...largely because of the Dred Scott case, which stoked the fear, distrust and conspiratorial hatred already common in both the North and the South to new levels of intensity."
Administration
As his inauguration approached, Buchanan sought to establish a harmonious cabinet that would not fall victim to the in-fighting that had plagued Andrew Jackson's top officials. One of his closest advisers—who was named ambassador to Britain—was Jehu Glancy Jones.Buchanan sought to be the clear leader of the cabinet, and chose men who would agree with his views. Anticipating that his administration would concentrate on foreign policy and that Buchanan himself would largely direct foreign policy, he appointed the aging Lewis Cass as Secretary of State. Cass would become marginalized in Buchanan's administration, with Buchanan and Assistant Secretary of State John Appleton instead directing foreign affairs. In filling out his cabinet, Buchanan chose four Southerners and three Northerners, one of whom was Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey, widely considered to be a "doughface", or Southern-sympathizer. Aside from the nearly-senile Cass, only Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black lacked partiality towards the South, but Black despised abolitionists and free-soilers.
Battling Stephen Douglas of Illinois
Buchanan's appointment of Southerners and Southern sympathizers alienated many in the North, and his failure to appoint any followers of Stephen Douglas divided the party. Though Buchanan owed his nomination to Douglas's decision to withdraw from consideration at the 1856 Democratic convention, he disliked Douglas personally. He favored Jesse D. Bright, who hoped to unseat Douglas as the leader of the Midwestern Democrats. Outside of the cabinet, Buchanan left in place many of Pierce's appointments but removed a disproportionate number of Northerners who had ties to Pierce or Douglas. Buchanan quickly alienated his vice president, Breckinridge, who played little role in the Buchanan administration.Buchanan and his allies in Congress worked systematically to undermine Douglas. By 1860 they had weakened his influence in the party; they had stripped away his patronage and removed him from the powerful chairmanship of the Committee on Territories. He was much weaker inside the Senate than before. Nevertheless, Douglas had a powerful base outside Washington in the northern wing of the Democratic Party that was increasingly hostile to the president and his southern supporters. Douglas's debates with Lincoln in 1858 drew national attention, with Democrats reading the debates and hailing Douglas as the victor, allowing him to emerge as the favorite to win the party nomination for president in 1860.