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James Buchanan April 23, 1791-June 1, 1868 Democratic Party 1 Term of Office: March 4, 1857 - March 3, 1861 Vice President: John C. Bre ckinridge

James Buchanan has been called by many a failure as a President. Buchanan deserves an F as President for this and many other reasons. He failed to help the country with the issue of slavery, and during his Presidential term, the rift between the North and the South got worse and he did nothing to help. He got into disagreements with fellow Democrats which also weakened the country and basically sucked at life.

Buchanan's goals should have been to keep the Union together as much as possible and address the major issues going on in the nation, but apparently his only goal was to not do anything he should have to help. He believed that the slavery issue should be decided by popular sovereignty, and never really made a stand on the issue. He endorsed the proslavery document, the "Lecompton Constitution," even though it was only supported by a minority of whites. When he was challenged on this issue, it simply made him look stupid. However, he did try to not make decisions that were too harsh, although that proved to be disasterous for his party.

Buchanan was considered a democrat, yet sided with both sides, specifically the South. This angered the North and the rest of his party, which split halfway through his presidency. The relationship between Buchanan and Congress was very poor. Buchanan and the Congress tried to pass bills, but they never got passed because the entire country and congress alike was split into North and South, and neither would side with the other for anything. This was not completely Buchanan's fault, although he didn't do anything to try to fix the problem.

Basically the only thing that could be considered good for the nation during Buchanan's Presidency was the admittance of Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas. Buchanan had to deal with the Panic of 1857 and didn't do anything for the people of the North who were suffering. He was not a good leader, and his speeches only caused more panic for the people. He said that the Southern states were not allowed to seceed from the Union, although he made no motion to stop them; he sat back and prayed for a compromise. He hid behind the law and didn't even attempt to stop the South or try to resolve the issues.

President Buchanan's term caused hardship for future Presidents, especially Lincoln, who had to deal with the mess of the Civil War, which could have been prevented if it wasn't for Buchanan's inability to lead.

Buchanan completely deserves the grade of an F as President because he did nothing to help the country. The one and only good thing he did was mindless, and led to other disagreements anyway. He only added to the nation's problems and didn't do anything to try to stop or even talk about the problems the nation was having. He did nothing good for our country, and failed as a President.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesbuchanan/ http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/buchanan/essays/biography/4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan