James Buchanan: Difference between revisions
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{{Villain Infobox | {{Villain Infobox | ||
|name=James Buchanan | |name=James Buchanan | ||
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|fullname=James Buchanan Jr. | |fullname=James Buchanan Jr. | ||
|alias=President Buchanan <br> The Worst President in America | |alias=President Buchanan <br> The Worst President in America | ||
|occupation= | |occupation=President of the United States (1857 - 1861)<br>U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1853 - 1856)<br>U.S. Secretary of State (1845 - 1849)<br>U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1834 - 1845) | ||
|origin=Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, United States|crimes=[[Xenophobia]]<br>[[Negrophobia]]<br>Corruption<br>Blackmail<br>Abuse of power<br>[[Slavery]]<br>[[Hate speech]]<br>[[Racism]]<br>[[Defamation]]<br>[[Authoritarianism]]<br>[[War crimes]] | |origin=Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, United States|crimes=[[Xenophobia]]<br>[[Negrophobia]]<br>Corruption<br>Blackmail<br>Abuse of power<br>[[Slavery]]<br>[[Hate speech]]<br>[[Racism]]<br>[[Defamation]]<br>[[Authoritarianism]]<br>[[War crimes]] | ||
|goals=Prevent the [[American Civil War]]<br>Remain in office by any means necessary<br>Preserve Slavery (All failed) | |goals=Prevent the [[American Civil War]]<br>Remain in office by any means necessary<br>Preserve Slavery (All failed) | ||
|type of villain=Corrupt President}} | |type of villain=Corrupt President}} | ||
{{Quote|I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed, and, whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.|Buchanan in a speech to Congress, January 8, 1861}} | |||
''James Buchanan Jr.''' (April 23, 1791 - June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States from 1857-1861. He had previously served as [[James K. Polk]]'s Secretary of State from 1845 to 1849 and was a representative from Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1831. He was also Ambassador to Russia when [[Andrew Jackson]] was president. An advocate for state's rights and slavery, Buchanan was known to be a doughface and infamously failed to prevent secession that led to the [[American Civil War]]. At the age of 77, he died of pneumonia and respiratory failure on June 1, 1868. | |||
He is generally regarded as one of the worst presidents in American history. | |||
==Biography== | |||
Buchanan was a prominent lawyer in Pennsylvania and won his first election to the state's House of Representatives as a Federalist. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1820 and retained that post for five terms, aligning with [[Andrew Jackson]]'s Democratic Party. Buchanan served as Jackson's minister to Russia in 1832. | |||
He | He won the election in 1834 as a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and continued in that position for 11 years. He was appointed to serve as President [[James K. Polk]]'s secretary of state in 1845, and eight years later was named as President [[Franklin Pierce]]'s minister to the United Kingdom. | ||
Beginning in 1844, Buchanan became a regular contender for the Democratic party's presidential nomination. He was finally nominated in 1856, defeating incumbent Franklin Pierce and Senator Stephen A. Douglas at the Democratic National Convention. He benefited from the fact that he had been out of the country as ambassador in London and had not been involved in [[slavery]] issues. Buchanan and running mate John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky carried every slave state except Maryland, defeating anti-slavery Republican John C. Frémont and [[Know Nothings|Know Nothing]] former president [[Millard Fillmore]] to win the 1856 presidential election. | |||
As President, Buchanan intervened to assure the Supreme Court's majority ruling in the pro-slavery decision in the Dred Scott case. He acceded to Southern attempts to engineer Kansas’ entry into the Union as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution, and angered not only Republicans but also Northern Democrats. | |||
Buchanan honored his pledge to serve only one term and supported Breckinridge's unsuccessful candidacy in the 1860 presidential election. He failed to reconcile the fractured Democratic party amid the grudge against Stephen Douglas, leading to the election of Republican and former Congressman Abraham Lincoln. | |||
Buchanan's leadership during his lame duck period, before the [[American Civil War]], has been widely criticized. He simultaneously angered the North by not stopping secession and the South by not yielding to their demands. He supported the ineffective Corwin Amendment in an effort to reconcile the country. He made an unsuccessful attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter, but otherwise refrained from preparing the military. His failure to forestall the Civil War has been described as incompetence, and he spent his last years defending his reputation. | |||
In his personal life, Buchanan never married and was the only U.S. president to remain a lifelong bachelor, leading some historians and authors to question his sexual orientation. Buchanan died of respiratory failure in 1868 and was buried in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he had lived for nearly 60 years. | |||
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[[Category:Liars]] | [[Category:Liars]] | ||
[[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]] | [[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]] | ||
[[Category:Grey Zone]] | |||
[[Category:Anti - Villain]] | |||
[[Category:On & Off Villains]] | |||
[[Category:Cowards]] |