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James Buchanan, Jr. (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) Democrat In office: March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 Vice President: John C. Breckinridge

In reviewing James Buchanan’s presidency, I have determined that he deserved a D due to his indolence and inability to act during a crucial time in American history, blind to one of the most pressing issues that plagued the U.S. – slavery. Buchanan intended to sit out the crisis by maintaining a sectional balance in his appointments, while his country was being torn apart at the seams. Through his financial mismanagement during the Panic of 1857, his loss of almost all of the arsenals and forts in seceded states, and stooping low enough to offer patronage appointments and even cash bribes in exchange for votes on the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas, Buchanan truly left the country in utter disarray before leaving office. James Buchanan’s main goal was to essentially stay out of the separation of the country, and refuse to handle anything with slavery, which he did rather well. Even though from the North, Buchanan personally favored slave owners' rights and he sympathized with the slave-expansionists who coveted Cuba. Historian Kenneth Stamp has since elaborated that “he was the consummate 'doughface,' a northern man with southern principles." Buchanan once stated that the "great object" of his administration would be "to arrest, if possible, the agitation of the Slavery question in the North and to destroy sectional parties. Should a kind Providence enable me to succeed in my efforts to restore harmony to the Union, I shall feel that I have not lived in vain". As readily apparent, he did not succeed in his goal and rather stood back and did nothing. He truly was a man who said he believed in one idea or group, but actually thought or acted completely differently. Buchanan had a horrendous relationship with the House and Senate, and even with his own political party. Throughout his administration congress was split, the Republicans having a majority in the House the first two years and then the Democrats having the majority the last two years; the Senate was democratic throughout. The process of passing bills in President Buchanan’s period was atrocious, seeing that he (or the Senate) would block any bills coming from the House and visa versa. Through his attempt at passing the Lecompton Constitution he struggled with Stephen A. Douglas in 1859-1860 for management of the Democrats, and eventually Buchanan lost control of the substantially weakened party. Although many negative things arose from Buchanan, there was one positive outcome of his presidency. During his time in office three states were accepted into the Union – Oregon, Minnesota, and Kansas. However, out of all the negative decisions of his presidency the worst was his endorsement of the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas. His views on this issue strained his relationship with Congress, and garnered much disapproval from the population. The tensions that arose from the Lecompton Constitution were some of the most palpable precursors to the Civil War. Due to Buchanan’s incompetence towards this issue it lead to its overdevelopment. In many ways, this pressing issue should have been handled during his presidency, and not after. In analyzing the effects of Buchanan’s actions, there are not many decisions that he made to interpret. However, his lack of decisions most definitely affected the rest of America, because his policy of inactivity prolonged the commencement of the Civil War. The war and its effects could have been much different if they started years earlier, when the views, arguments and battles weren’t as heated. The country was ridiculously worse off when James Buchanan left office compared to when he entered it. He deserves a D- because he did get 3 more states into the Union, but other than that he essentially failed. Buchanan was pretty much an invisible president, not doing anything when it came to the important matters and trying to further his own “doughfaced” agenda. When his time in office was up, he went back to Wheatland, with the country in shambles. The following cartoon sums up Buchanan nicely:

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