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James Buchanan Born: April 23, 1791 Died: June 1, 1868 Term as President: 1857-1861 Vice President: John Breckinridge Political Party: Democrat

While researching and reading events that took place during James Buchanan’s term as president, I came up with the conclusion that he deserves a D for his efforts. Buchanan’s little involvement in the Dred Scott case, the financial crash of 1857, and his plans for foreign affairs and little about his own country is what leaves Buchanan with the grade of a D. Buchanan’s goals as president were focused more on the annexation of Cuba (foreign affairs) then his own country which was dealing with many problems at the time of his presidency. Control of Central America seemed to have his eye. Britain was also looking at Cuba and Central America as well during this time. I believe that by him having his focus mostly on Central America and not on his own country really hurt him as a president. The relationship he had with the Congress was not a good one. He vetoed the Homestead Act that Congress wanted passed after the Financial Crash of 1857 which would have sold acres of public lands to citizens for 25 cents an acre. Buchanan’s confusing view on slavery also confused the Congress and the people. He would say he was against slavery but then also state that nowhere in the Constitution did it say that slavery was against the law. In general Buchanan was not a very popular President. The most positive outcome for President Buchanan was his dealings with Britain on the Cuba issue. By not allowing Britain to take over Cuba he helped the United States out. Breaking out into a war with Britain wouldn’t of been a good decision at the time because so many other issues were going on for American dealing with the North and South starting to separate at this time. Buchanan didn’t need another problem on his shoulders. Negatively, there were a lot of things James Buchanan did wrong in my eyes. First of all, his belief that slavery was a wrong thing was contradicted when he had little involvement in the Dred Scott case. I believe he lost a lot of support from many of his followers by not stating his opinion on this issue. In general Buchanan as president did little for the United States. I feel that he mostly watched all the problems pass right by him. More involvement in the States dividing would have been a good decision for Buchanan. His wait and see policy was no help helping preventing the war from happening. Buchanan’s little involvement in the splitting of the North and South has the most impact on America’s future today. By Buchanan allowing the states to split and not trying many ways to keep them together, he eventually led America to a war between each other. This is a huge impact that he made, although once again it was a bad decision. Buchanan’s continuous neglect for his own country in issues dealing with slavery, a war that was about to break out, and more focus on Cuba during his presidency is why he deserves a D for his efforts. I believe as President you are required to do so much more than he proved to have done while he was in office. Hurting your country, more than helping it is not something you want to have accomplished as a president. Sources: [] [] []