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James Buchanan Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) 15th President 1857–1861 Democrat Vice President: John C. Breckinridge

James Buchanan in my mind should be given a D- for his horrific attempt at being a president, especially during such a crucial time in our history. He did not see the trouble that faced our country in a time of crisis, ignored the fact that the country was falling apart and never touched on the issue of slavery that was tearing the country apart. He failed at being a successful president and put off a war that should have been fought under him.

It seemed that Buchanan's goal for his presidency was not to deal with the separation of the country and stay away from the issue of slavery as much as possible. He was a northerner, but was also very sympathetic from the south. He had feelings for both sides and did not want to be responsible for the tearing apart of the country. He started by wanting to quickly dismiss the Kansas fiasco by just accepting Kansas as a slave state. This did not go over and Kansas remained a territory. He later also denied the states their right to secede from the country. He tried his best to stop the abolitionist (whom he despised) and he did his best to favor the southern slave holders.

The relationship between Congress and Buchanan was a terrible one. The first two years the House had a Democratic majority and his second two it was a Republican majority. In the Senate there was a Democratic Majority, but the ratio did get closer the last two years of the presidency. There was a lot more problems between Buchanan and Congress after the shift in party majority. And though political parties did matter, the issues at this time were mostly between the north and south. The north (mostly republican) would vote bills through the House and they would be stopped either by the South (mostly Democratic) or by President Buchanan. No bills were ever get passed, especially any bills about slavery, and Congress hit a dry spot under Buchanan and that was not a good thing.

There were not many positive things that happened under Buchanan. The best thing did by his administration and congress was the excepting of three states into the Union, Minnesota, Oregon and Kansas. On the contrary Buchanan made many unhealthy choices that had quite a few negative outcomes. The worst choice was the approval of the Lecompton Constitution of Kansas. This started a chain reaction of disapproval from many people, especially the northerners who were very opposed to the constitution. The heated fights that rose up because of the mess in Kansas was what truly should have been the start of the civil war. Buchanan ignored an issue that helped start one of the bloodiest wars in history and one that tore the Union apart. Perhaps if the issue had been dealt with at the time the civil war would have been less intense.

How Buchanan dealt with the Kansas mess had the worst outcome. Tension had been building up between both sides and after the attacks in Kansas tensions sky rocketed. Buchanan tried his best to ignore the situation and let the congress and states battle it out themselves. This was not the best thing. He should have at least tried to referee the fight that was brewing. If there had been some intervention the war may have been prevented. Congress was desperate to keep the Union together and Buchanan didn't seem to care as much. He also tried to play sides especially when he said that states could not legally succeed from the Union, but the Government could not legally stop them either. He seemed to have no clue what was going on, and acted like he was living in his own world which wasn't one that was falling apart.

The country was much worse off after Buchanan tried his hand at running the country. He defiantly deserves a D-, but because there was something that was done under his administration that was slightly good he did not outright fail. There were some many better things that could have been done to handle the Union falling apart, but Buchanan did not even notice. He sat back as tensions rose and watched as the ties of the Union slowly feel apart. Then when the big result came and the nation divided, Buchanan's time was up and he left the country torn.

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