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== = James Buchanan =

April 23, 1791 - June 1, 1868

 * Political Party:** Democratic
 * Terms:** (1) March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861
 * Vice President:** John C. Breckinridge

Throughout the presidency Buchanan seemed to try and avoid any sort of confrontation and did not step up and take action when it was needed. At the beginning he completely avoided one of the biggest issues in the history of our country by stating that slavery should be dealt with by the states. He can deserve nothing higher than an F as he let those states secede, did not do very much as a president should at his time, and was never liked or trusted by the people.

President Buchanan was elected at a crucial time in the country's history as it was about to enter a civil war and the conflicts had already begun and he did nothing to stop them. His goals were to stop sectionalism and to uphold the rights of all individuals. While he accomplished the second, which did not take much doing, he completely allowed sectionalism to increase to the point that the Confederacy was created during his term. Another one of his goals was to just keep a balance, between slavery supporters and abolitionists. This is did not do very well as the country became more split than ever throughout his time as president.

During his presidency he had a democratic majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Even though they should have had a good relationship and agree on most topics, Buchanan and Congress did not get along and he had an especially bad relationship with Stephen Douglas. Throughout the issues with Kansas and their territorial constitution he went against all of Congress to agree with the passing of the document. This was very hypocritical as he had strongly believed in popular sovereignty as only a small amount of people in Kansas agreed with the constitution. It was eventually changed and Kansas was admitted as a free state. Another major step against his previous opinions that completely disagreed with what happened through Kansas was Buchanan agreeing with the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. This said that first slaves were not citizens and therefore could not sue their owners, but also said Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and slavery could not be banned in new states, which is what happened in Kansas.

There are no positive outcomes of Buchanan's presidency. Those issues that he could have made a choice for the better he did nothing and everything the people opposed he supported. As in the Panic of 1857 as many people suffered Buchanan did nothing and waiting for it to pass. Although this was one of his only decisions that did not leave the country worse off as they got through it. He could not calm the country after John Brown attacked Harper's ferry and said that the only people who could solve the problem was the people.

The most negatively impacting issue of his presidency was that he never did anything. He never took a side as he was trying to keep the country united but this ended up backfiring as the country grew apart more and more as he couldn't make decisions. In the Dred Scott case he did not take a stand but simply agreed and moved on. The same with the Kansas issue whatever was thrown at him he said yes and then forgot about it. The country looks towards their president to take action to better the country, but Buchanan was just a sitting duck who did not help the country.

His actions or non-actions impacted the country to a great degree. By not fixing the issue that were there at the beginning of his presidency he allowed the country to continue spiraling down into such a ditch that only a war could fix the issues. If Buchanan would have taken a stand and tried to change opinions and views we could have avoided the war and all those deaths. His presidency set an example of how a president should not act and how they need to take action on everything even if it may be controversial. He did not leave a good legacy behind, but was luckily followed by one of the greatest presidents of all time who cleaned up the country.

After Buchanan's presidency the country was in such bad shape and had never been that low before. It was on the verge of the bloodiest war in United States history and some states had left the union. No other time in history had any state not agreed with the government so much that it left. By doing very little he gave the southern states that pushed they needed to leave the union. Buchanan if he didn't say the people knew that he could not wait to be done his term of presidency.

Works Cited

"American President: James Buchanan: Domestic Affairs." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. .

"James Buchanan - Fifteenth President of the United States." //All Biographies//. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. .

"James Buchanan." //American History and World History at Historycentral.com the largest and most complete history site on the web//. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. .

//The Complete Book of US Presidents//. XII ed. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.