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=**James Buchanan**= April 23, 1791-June 1, 1868 Democrat Vice President: John C. Breckinridge Term: 1857-1861

James Buchanan was one of America's least accomplished presidents. He did not help our nation when we were in a crisis, he did not bring up the issue of slavery because he knew it would lead to a war, and never tried to bring the states back into the Union. For this, Buchanan deserves an F for his presidency.

Buchanan's goals for his presidency was to keep him and his administration under the Lecompton Constitution and not try to bring the states back into the Union. The Lecompton Constitution stated that people were not allowed to vote for the constitution either "with slavery" or "without slavery." Although Buchanan was a northerner who opposed slavery, he tried to reason with the South as well. He felt that constitutionally he had to admit Kansas as a slave state. Congress rejected the constitution and from there, those opposed to slavery eventually led to the admittance of Kansas as a free state in 1861. When seven states left the union in 1860, Buchanan knew that secession was illegal but said that the government could not force any state to remain in the Union. Buchanan accomplished his goal of not influencing the states to stay in the Union when they seceeded.

Because Buchanan was a democrat but still reasoned with the South, this upset many of his fellow Democrats. This led to a division of the Democratic party and merely broke the tie that was holding the Union together. The majority of Congress was Democrats until the split of this party. Under the question of Kansas being a slave state or not, Buchanan urged the admission as Kansas as a slave state but Congress was opposed because the people of Kansas did not have a chance to vote for it.

During his presidency, Buchanan barely accomplished anything. The only thing that helped our nation was the admittance of Minnesota, Oregon and Kansas into the Union. Minnesota was admitted in 1858, Oregon in 1859 and Kansas in 1861. However, this also led to the worst outcome during his presidency. There was great debate over whether Kansas should be admitted as a slave or free state. This issue eventually led to the split of the Democrats. Also, during his presidency, he was faced with the panic of 1857. The panic caused an economic depression that lasted until the Civil War. The panic was caused by the overexpansion of the railroad, rapid growth of state banks under weak banking laws, the end of the Crimean war, and the drop in price of Gold in California. This depression really affected the North and West while the South was merely unhurt. Buchanan did not do anything to help the people who suffered during the depression.

Our nation was much better without having Buchanan as a president. He did not do anything to benefit our nation, other than admit three states into the Union which could have been done by any other president. Buchanan divided our nation more than it already was. Buchanan did nothing to help the panic of 1857 and he did not bring up the issue of slavery because he feared it would lead to a war. Buchanan deserves an F for his presidency because he did not do anything to better our nation.

DeGregorio, William A. __The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents.__

http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/civwar/buchanan.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesbuchanan/