James Buchanan

Democrat James “Old Buck” Buchanan came to the presidency after fulfilling several other roles. The congressman and senator from Pennsylvania traveled extensively as the minister to Russia (under President Jackson), secretary of state (under President Polk), and minister to Great Britain (under President Pierce). Unfortunately, his diplomatic experience abroad did little to strengthen his effectiveness on the domestic front. Two days after Buchanan’s inauguration in 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott case that African Americans could never be U.S. citizens and that the federal government could not prohibit the practice of slavery in any territory. Buchanan subsequently moved to admit Kansas into the Union as a slave state, but failed upon facing considerable uproar from anti-slavery Northerners. Following Republican Abraham Lincoln’s narrow victory in the 1860 federal election, Buchanan did little to prevent the first seven Southern states from seceding. The Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, only a few weeks after he had left office.