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**__James Buchanan__ **


 * //Lifetime: April 23, 1791, at Cove Gap, Pennsylvania – June 1, 1868 //**
 * //Political Party: Democratic //**
 * //Term: March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 //**
 * //Vice President: John Cabell Breckinridge //**

James Buchanan deserves a D for his single term serving as President of the United States. He did not achieve many things during his term as president and many criticize him for just allowing states such as South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama to secede from the Union without trying to create a plan to stop them. On the other hand, he did settle disputes with the Mormons, but that was one good thing in a sea of many bad things.

Buchanan’s two main goals as president were to strengthen his Democratic Party and to reduce the sectional opposition that was growing in the country as the time of his presidency. He was extremely unsuccessful in consolidating his party as shown in the evidence of the 1860 election. The Democrats actually split into two different “parties” and each nominated their own candidate, Stephen Douglas for the North and John Breckinridge (Buchanan’s VP) for the South. These differences were actually sectional issues and therefore also show that he was not able to achieve his second goal either. After Lincoln was elected as president in 1860, seven states seceded from the Union ultimately showing that Buchanan ultimately failed in reaching his goal. Plus, he did not try to solve the secession issue, so it eventually led to what became the largest internal clash of American history: the Civil War. Clearly, one can see that his goals were certainly not met.

James Buchanan had a mostly bad relationship with his Congress. The Senate always enjoyed the majority of Democrats during Buchanan’s term; however, the House of Representatives had a majority of Democrats only in the first two years (1857-1859), and then there was a majority of Republicans in the last years of his term (1859-1861). Despite the fact that his party had majorities in Congress most of the time, he still managed to have Congress against him because of all the sectional issues that were occurring at the time. Though he was from the north, he typically sided with the South ideals, but never seemed to satisfy the South’s (or North’s) wants no matter what he did. It especially upset the Northern Congressmen when Buchanan took the South’s side of the slavery in Kansas issue. He supported a constitution that did not even reflect the wants of the people in that area. Buchanan did veto 7 bills, one of which being a free homestead act, that passed through Congress, but no bills of importance became laws whilst he was in office.

The most positive outcome of Buchanan’s administration was his settlement with the Mormons in Salt Lake City, Utah. Started in 1830 and led by Brigham Young at the time, they had escaped to the west due to the increase of hostility towards them in the east in the 1840’s. They ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah where they set up a religiously run government, but people in surrounding areas frowned upon their integrating religion with economics and their polygamy (marriage of more than one wife). The federal government tried to intervene by sending troops and attempting to force a governor upon their city, which erupted in fighting and casualties. President Buchanan continued the policy by sending 2,500 troops to the city, but the Mormons, by this point, had enough. After fleeing from Salt Lake City, instead of surrendering, they said they would demolish the city. Because of this threat, Buchanan decided to make a compromise with the Mormons. The agreement, being that the Utah Territory would be ruled by Washington in the civil aspect and the Mormons in the religious, was made between Buchanan’s friend Thomas Kane and Brigham Young. Buchanan thus created peace between the United States government and Mormons, who had been at battle for about 20 years.

The most negative outcome of Buchanan’s administration was his acts of influencing decisions of the Supreme Court and the people. The Dred Scott case determined by the Supreme Court was, in fact, influenced by James Buchanan. This verdict, in turn, upset the northern abolitionist movement since it declared slaves as property and established that slaves did not have basic civil rights as in suing. On the contrary, it supported the South’s ideas about blacks and slave and made it “right” in their mind. Moreover, it repealed the beloved Missouri Compromise of 1820, which really angered the Northerners. Clearly, this decision deepened the growing division between the North and South. Buchanan also influenced the minds of the people by endorsing the Lecompton Constitution made for Kansas, which he supported to keep the votes of proslavery southerners. He continued to back the constitution and try to get Congress to approve Kansas as a slave state even though many people in the state (then territory) of Kansas opposed it. He was henceforth extending separation of the North and South beliefs by siding with the South on both of these examples. This ultimately led to the Civil War due to its long-term effects on the sections of the Union.

The decision made by Buchanan that most influenced the future of the country was his lack of effort in trying to stop the southern states that were seceding from the Union at the time. Many argue this was an awful choice on his part and that he should have done something, but we don’t know how the people of America would have reacted to this strong assertion of power. Therefore, Buchanan might actually have done what was in the best interest of the country at the time. Basically, the lack of taking action led to the Civil War, which as most people know ended slavery and began the rights of blacks in American history. Evidently, this impacted future President Abraham Lincoln, because he then had to deal with uprisings and being the head commander of the war. It also affected America in general in the respect that it headed the culture in a different direction of equality and civil rights.

The country was most likely better off without Buchanan being president. Despite the fact he settled the Mormon issues, he didn’t really contribute much else to the great nation except the sectional issues that ended up causing the Civil War. In his case, the bad decisions he made definitely outweighed the good ones and therefore he deserved a D.

__Bibliography __

"American President: James Buchanan: Domestic Affairs." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. []. Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents) //. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print. "James Buchanan — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts." //The History Channel — Home Page//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

"James Buchanan." //Tulane University//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. []. "The James Buchanan Administration." //Presidential Administration Profiles for Students//. Online Edition. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. <[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/]>.

"Presidential Vetoes, 1789–2008 — Infoplease.com." //Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. []. Top of FormBottom of Form  Picture: []