James Buchanan
James Buchanan Jr. (April 23, 1791 - June 1, 1868) was the 15th President of the United States from 1857-1851. 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.
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He is generally regarded as one of the worst presidents in American History.
Villainy
- He tried to admit Kansas as a slave state.
- He was a white supremacist.
- He blackmailed the Supreme Court into passing the Dred Scott Decision, which said the the Constitution did not have the right to extend citizenship to African Americans.
- This resulted in dividing the Democratic Party into two bitter factions.
- He morally said that slavery was wrong, but he said it was protected by the Constitution.
- He attempted to stop Stephen Douglas from winning his seat in Illinois,
- He blamed the Northerners and Abolitionists for the issue of slavery.
- He failed to address the issue of slavery.
- He sent U.S. troops to the Utah territory, which resulted in the Utah War.
- He attempted to annex Cuba and make it as a slave state.
- He failed to prevent Southern secession, which ultimately led to the formation of the Confederacy and the American Civil War.
Trivia
- He is often ranked as the worst president in US history by historians; however, that position is sometimes taken by Andrew Johnson or Donald Trump.
- He was the only bachelor president, although his niece Harriet Lane, acted as the First Lady and was dubbed the Democratic Queen.
- He was the only President from Pennsylvania until Joe Biden.
- He was the last president who previously served as Secretary of State and the last to serve in the War of 1812.
- He was the oldest president at the age of 65.