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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.
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.