BUCHANAN, JAmF.s ( 1791-1868 ) The fifteenth President of the United States (1857 1861). lie was horn near Mercershurg, April 23, 1791, graduated at Dickinson College in 1809, was educated for the bar, and began to practice law in Lancaster, Pa., in 1812. Though a professed Federalist, he served as a private in the second war with England. In 181 t, as also in 1815. lie was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and in 1820 was elected to Congress. where lie served through five terms. In 1828 lie favored Jackson for President, and in the Congress of 1829-1831 made important proposals as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.
After leaving Congress he was sent by Jackson as Minister to Russia, where he concluded the first commercial treaty between the two coun tries, securing valuable privileges in the Black and Baltic seas. Returning home iu 1833, he was in the following year chosen to the United States Senate, to which he was twice reelected. lie uniformly supported Jackson. especially in the latter's claim that as President he had power to remove executive officers without reference to the Senate, and in his financial measures.
When it was proposed to exclude from Con gress petitions for the abolition of slavery. Bu chanan upheld the right of petition, but declared that Congress had no control over slavery in the States, and that petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia should he uniformly rejected. He favored the hill prohib iting the use of the mails for the distribution of abolitionist literature. Ile supported the 'ex punging resolution' of senator Benton, and in the affair of the American claims on France he supported Jackson's emphatic demand for payment, and his implied threat of war in case of a persistent refusal on the part of the French Government. During Van Buren's administra tion Buchanan supported the independent treas ury scheme and favored the preemption of public lands.
He sustained the veto power under Tyler, and opposed the ratification of the Ashburton Treaty, which settled the dispute concerning the northeastern boundary. When the question of the annexation of Texas came to the Senate, Bu chanan was the only member of the Senate Com mittee of Foreign Affairs to report in favor of annexation. He had declined the office of At torney-General in 1839, and in 1844 was men tioned for the Presidency. Finally lie left the Senate in 1845 to become Polk's Secretary of State. In this capacity he had to deal with the northwestern boundary question, whence arose the famous partisan cry "54° 40' or fight." Both England and the United States had for mally claimed the territory between the Pacific Coast and the Rocky Mountains up to the Rus sian boundary, but after much negotiation the line of 49° was agreed upon. During the war with Mexico Buchanan was successful in avoid ing or preventing the interference of other na tions. He was in private life during the discus sion and adoption of the Compromise .Measures of 1850, but fully approved them. When Pierce became President, in 1853, Buchanan was sent as Minister to Great Britain. where he was en gaged in endeavors to settle a series of questions concerning Central American affairs. With .1. Y. •Alason and Pierre Souh% he signed the Ostend IV a nifesto (q. v.), recommending the acquisition of Cuba. but although the measure was so evi dently pro-slavery in tendency and unjust to Spain that it met with the disapproval of Marcy, the Secretary of State. nevertheless it helped Bu chanan to gain the Democratic nomination for President. while his absence in England during the Kansas-Nebraska excitement was also in his favor, and he was nominated in ISMI. The elec toral vote was: For Buchanan. 174: for John C. 1.'rinont (f.andidate of the newly organized Re publican Party), 114; for :Millard Fillmore (Native American). 8. The popular vote was: Buehanan, 1,838.169; FrCmiont, 1.341.264; Fill
more, 874,534; majority against Buchanan, 377, 629: plurality for him, 496.905. He had the votes of every slaveholding State except Mary land, which went for Fillmore. The vote also gave Buchanan Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California. and New Jersey. In the executive chair he was uniformly subservient to Southern politicians. and allowed their threats of seces sion to influence his actions. Among other acts of his administration were the temporary sup pression of the Mormon troubles and the vetoing of the Homestead Bill. Alter Lincoln's election Buchanan was more than ever anxious to sti fle the slavery discussion, and in his last mes sage to Congress pointedly charged the North with having brought about the existing crisis in na tional affairs by a discussion which had "pro duced its malign influence on the slaves, and in spired them with a vague idea of freedom." While holding that the States had no right to secede, he weakly added that the nation had no power to prevent it ; for it could not employ force, he said, except upon the demand of the lawful authorities of the State, and in South Carolina no such authority then existed. A few days later he was confronted by commissioners from South Carolina (that State having passed an act of se cession on December 20. 1860), who came to de mand the surrender by the President to the seceded State of all public property, and to ne gotiate for the continuance of "peace and amity between that Commonwealth and the Government at Washington." His reply was that he had no power. and could only refer the matter to Con ferees; he could only receive them as "private gentlemen of the highest character," and treat respectfully such propositions as they might make. He did, however. decline to accede to their demand for the removal of the troops from -Charleston Harbor. The Cabinet was immediately reorganized. Cass was Secretary of State, but resigned when the President refused to order re inforcements to the Charleston forts; the Sec retary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior had already gone, and the Secretary of War also resigned. Under the influence of the reorganized Cabinet. including J. S. Black. John A. Dix, J. Holt. and E. M. Stanton, Buchanan displayed less timidity, attempted a reinforce of 'Sumter, refused to surrender the United States property to South Carolina, and announced his intention to protect it it assailed, measures which gained for his administration, during its last months, more of the confidence of the nation. After the accession of Lincoln 3.1r. Buchanan wrote to John A. Dix: "The present administration had no alternative but to accept the war initiated by South Carolina or the South ern Confederacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man, and it ought to be sustained at all hazards." Buchanan's administration was marked by con siderable activity in diplomatic affairs. He se cured a satisfactory commercial treaty with China and the recognition by England of the rights of neutral ships. Relations with Mexico continued to be important as well as unsatisfac tory. In his attitude toward the struggle in Kansas and his action upon the Lecomptun Con stitution (q. v.) Buehanan subjected himself to severe criticism. Shortly after his retirement, he published what may be termed a defense, en titled .11r. Buchanan's drninistra tion on the Eve of the Rebellion (New York, 1866). The chief authority for his life is the Memoir by George 'Ticknor Curtis (2 vols., New York, 1883). In 1888 the messages of Mr. Buchanan were col lected and published by J. Buchanan Henry, with an appendix containing a number of letters from members of his Cabinet at the close of his Presi dential term (New York, 1888). He died in Lancaster, Pa., June I, 1868. See UNITED