Example of a President in Rebellion

James Buchanan 15th President of the United StatesIn office
March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861Vice PresidentJohn BreckinridgePreceded byFranklin PierceSucceeded byAbraham LincolnUnited States Minister to the United KingdomIn office
August 23, 1853 – March 15, 1856PresidentFranklin PiercePreceded byJoseph IngersollSucceeded byGeorge Dallas17th United States Secretary of StateIn office
March 10, 1845 – March 7, 1849PresidentJames K. PolkPreceded byJohn CalhounSucceeded byJohn ClaytonUnited States Senator
from PennsylvaniaIn office
December 6, 1834 – March 5, 1845Preceded byWilliam WilkinsSucceeded bySimon CameronUnited States Minister to RussiaIn office
January 4, 1832 – August 5, 1833PresidentAndrew JacksonPreceded byJohn RandolphSucceeded byMahlon DickersonChairman of the House Committee on the JudiciaryIn office
March 5, 1829 – March 4, 1831Preceded byPhilip Pendleton BarbourSucceeded byWarren R. DavisMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 4th districtIn office
March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1831Preceded byJames MitchellSucceeded byWilliam HiesterMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 3rd districtIn office
March 4, 1821 – March 4, 1823Preceded byJacob HibshmanSucceeded byDaniel MillerPersonal detailsBornApril 23, 1791
Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, U.S.DiedJune 1, 1868 (aged 77)
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.Resting placeWoodward Hill Cemetery
Lancaster, PennsylvaniaPolitical partyDemocraticAlma materDickinson CollegeProfessionLawyer
Diplomat
PoliticianReligionPresbyterianismSignature Military serviceService/branchVolunteerBattles/warsWar of 1812

Buchanan statue in National Portrait Gallery

James Buchanan, Jr. (/bjuːˈkænən/; April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was the15th President of the United States(1857–1861), serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, then served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson. He was named Secretary of State under President James K. Polk, and is to date the last former Secretary of State to serve as President of the United States. After Buchanan turned down an offer to sit on the Supreme Court, President Franklin Pierceappointed him minister to the Court of St. James's, in which capacity he helped draft the Ostend Manifesto.

Buchanan was nominated by theDemocratic Party in the 1856 presidential election. Throughout most of Pierce's term, he had been stationed in London as a minister to the Court of St. James's, so was not caught up in the crossfire of sectional politics that dominated the country. His subsequent election victory took place in a three-man race with John C. Frémont andMillard Fillmore. As President, he was often called a "doughface", a Northerner with Southern sympathies, who battled with Stephen A. Douglas for control of the Democratic Party. Buchanan's efforts to maintain peace between the North and the South alienated both sides, and the Southern states declared their secession in the prologue to theAmerican Civil War. Buchanan's view of record was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop it was also illegal. Buchanan, an attorney, was noted for his mantra, "I acknowledge no master but the law."^[1]

By the time he left office, popular opinion was against him, and the Democratic Party had split. Buchanan had once aspired to a presidency that would rank in history with that ofGeorge Washington.^[2] However, his inability to identify a ground for peace or address the sharply divided proslavery and antislavery partisans with a unifying principle on the brink of the Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of theworst presidents in American history. Historians in both 2006 and 2009 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made.^[3]

He is, to date, the only president fromPennsylvania and the only president to remain a lifelong bachelor. He is also the last president born in the 18th century.