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=__**James Buchanan**__= =**Born: April 23, 1791 Died: June 1, 1868**= =**Political Party: Democrat**= =**Term in Office: March 4, 1857-1861**= =**Vice President: John Breckinridge**=

During Buchanan's presidency, he tried to maintain peace between the North and South, which just caused more problems. When the Southern State's declared their secession, he reasoned that this was illegal, and that war was also illegal. Therefore, he did nothing about it. In addition, Buchanan did not do a good job handling the Panic of 1857. For these reasons, Buchanan deserves a D- for his term as President.

One of Buchanan's main goals as President was sectional peace. Obviously, this wasn't accomplished seeing as seven states seceded while he was President. Buchanan also wanted the people to "accept constitutional law as the Supreme Court interpreted it". However, this was not accomplished. For example, after the Supreme Court came out with a ruling of the Dred Scott case, this created problems in the North. He also wanted to strengthen the Democratic party, which instead, the Republican party seemed to get stronger.

The main issue that Buchanan and Congress did not agree on was Kansas. He wanted Congress to accept the Lecompton Constitution, which would put Kansas as a slave state. However, Stephen Douglas didn't agree. Furthermore, Buchanan wanted to send troops to Mexico to avoid problems there. But Congress was hung up on the Harper's Ferry incident with John Brown. On another note, at the beginning of his Presidency, the House of Representatives were Democrat, but in the second half, they were mainly Republican. In the Senate however, they were mainly Democrats the whole Presidency. Buchanan vetoed the Homestead Bill, passed by Congress, which which would provide free land to settlers. Total, Buchanan vetoed 7 bills during his Presidency.

James Buchanan really didn't have any event that was positive. However, he wanted to please everyone and had good goals as President. He wanted to avoid secession, but he just acted in the wrong way which actually provoked it. Buchanan had good intentions, and wanting to keep people happy. But, he didn't succeed in doing these things.

His most negative outcome was him not doing anything to avoid secession. He didn't want secession by any means. But he believed war and secession were both illegal, and therefore remained inactive allowing seven states to secede from the Union during his Presidency. If Buchanan would have just supported one side instead of doing nothing, those states might not have seceded, and there might not have been a Civil War.

Buchanan's decision to try and keep peace between both the North and South by not picking sides, had the greatest influence on future generations of people. Buchanan's Presidency was one of the early factors that caused this Civil War. His decision to not do anything and allow those seven states to secede, ultimately led to the Civil war, amoung other things. The Civil War would later cause major economic crisis', the abolition of slavery, and major events that we learn about today.

At the end of Buchanan's Presidential term, the Country was way worse off. Seven states had seceeded from the Union, and the Civil War started soon after. Buchanan neglected to solve the conflicts between the North and South. The North and South disliked each other a lot more at the end of his term, compared to before he became President. For these reasons, James Buchanan deserves a D- for his term as President.

//**Sources**//: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Washington-Johnson/Buchanan-James.html http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:ABjbHW9hdycJ:www.tulane.edu/~latner/Buchanan.html+goals+of+james+buchanan&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us**
 * http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesbuchanan