Buchanan, James (1791–1868)

15th president of the USA 1857–61, a Democrat. He was a member of the US House of Representatives 1821–31, minister to Russia 1832–34, a senator 1834–45, and secretary of state 1845–49. Adhering to a policy of compromise on the issue of slavery, he could do little as president to avert the secession of the South, precipitating the outbreak of the Civil War 1861.

His policies seemed to Northerners to favour the South: he enforced the Fugitive Slave Act and supported the Dred Scott Decision 1857, which ruled that slaves did not become free by entering a state where slavery was outlawed. Although he felt slavery to be unjust, he believed that Southerners had a constitutional right to own slaves.

Buchanan was born near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and became a barrrister 1812. He served as a member of the state legislature 1814–16.

As secretary of state to President Polk from 1845, he had to deal with a boundary dispute with Britain in the northwest, leading to the compromise boundary of Oregon territory. In 1853 he was sent by President Pierce as minister to Great Britain, where he was mainly engaged upon Central American affairs, remaining until 1856. Nominated by the Democrats, he was elected president 1856, and his term was dominated by the question of slavery. In 1866 he published a defence of his actions, Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion.