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James Buchanan Term: 1857-1861 Political Party: Democrat Vice President: John C. Breckinridge

James Buchanan can be thought of as one of the worst presidents in American history.With his lack of involvment in seccession the country started dividing, and he severly broke his relationship with the people and Congress. Buchanan could be given the grade of a D+ for his presidency.

One of the goals of Buchanan was to annex Cuba. When he heard of the British interest of Cuba he immediatley went to defend them however his motives were more selfish than necessary. With Cuba so close to America, if the British got control of Cuba they could interfere with American naval routes and trade. Wanting to keep Cuba, Buchanan sent troops to Cuba to take it for himself. However this goal was somewhat of a failure because he was unable to annex Cuba, but he did keep the British from taking control.

Buchanan's relationship with Congress was a little shaky. As a Democrat he wanted to keep the Democratic party very strong in Congress and with the Republicans just forming he did not see them as much of a threat. However the Republican party spread extremely fast and soon took the majority of the House of Representatives. When Republicans took over the House every important bill they passed still fell to the very Democratic Senate or a Presidential veto. There were then major tensions between the Republicans and Democrats of Congress, and the President was then disliked by most people in the Congress.

Sadly, Buchanan really did not have a decision that produced a very postive outcome. The closest thing to a positive outcome was the issue over Cuba. Making sure Britian did not gain control helped the British not destroy America's economy and therefore engage in another war. Unfortuantley that is about the only thing that has even a little bit of a positive side to it.

Amoung the many negative decisions the worst has to be his decision to do nothing. During this time period many of the Southern states were threatening to secede from the rest of the Union. he did not see seccession as a big deal and just assumed that it would never happen. When asked any type of territorial question he would simply answer that the Supreme Court is handling it. He claimed that the states had no legal rights to secede and assumed a compromise would occur. He therefore did nothing even though secessionist leaders did not want to compromise. The Kansas issue was also a big problem during his presidency. He decided that the best way to end all the troubles was to urge Kansas to be allowed into the UNion as a slave state. With this he again angered the Republicans and the Northern states in general.

The decision to pretty much allow the states to secede did not so much affect future presidents, but it did effect America's future. With a total of 7 states seceding from the Union during his presidency the country was finally split into two different sections. Each elected their own president and set their own standards of living. With this fianl straw drawn the Civil War ended up breaking out throughout the whole country and lasted for many years. if Buchanan would have chosen a side, either the north or the south, secession maybe would not have happened, which means there would have never been a Civil War in America.

After Buchanan finally left office the country was worse off then it was before he ever entered the White House. With his decisions to not prevent secession and with the way he handled Kansas the country finally split and the Union looked like it was coming to an end. All of these negative outcomes brings reasonable belief to give James Buchanan a D+ for his presidency.

Sources: "James Buchanan." The White House. 17 Mar. 2010.  "James Buchanan." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 17 Mar. 2010. []