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=== Childhood and education ===
James Buchanan Jr. was born into a [[
Buchanan attended the Old Stone Academy in Mercersburg and then [[Dickinson College]] in [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]].{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=12}} In 1808, he was nearly expelled for disorderly conduct; he and his fellow students had attracted negative attention for drinking in local taverns, disturbing the peace at night and committing acts of vandalism,{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=13–16}} but he pleaded for a second chance and ultimately graduated with honors in 1809.{{sfn|Klein|1962|pp=9–12}} Later that year, he moved to the state capital at [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]], to train as a lawyer for two and a half years with the well-known James Hopkins. Following the fashion of the time, Buchanan studied the [[United States Code]] and the [[Constitution of the United States]] as well as legal authorities such as [[William Blackstone]] during his education.{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=13–16}}
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In the congressional elections of 1820, Buchanan ran for a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. Shortly after his election victory, his father died in a carriage accident.{{Sfn|Baker|2004|p=22}} As a young Representative, Buchanan was one of the most prominent leaders of the "Amalgamator party" faction of Pennsylvanian politics, named that because it was made up of both Democratic-Republicans and former Federalists, which transitioned from the [[First Party System]] to the [[Era of Good Feelings]]. During this era, the Democratic-Republicans became the most influential party. Buchanan's Federalist convictions were weak, and he switched parties after opposing a nativist Federalist bill.<ref name=":0">Nicole Etcheson, "General Jackson Is Dead: James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, and Kansas Policy", in ''James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War'', ed. by John W. Quist and Michael J. Birkner, (2013) pp 88–90.</ref> During the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]], Buchanan initially supported [[Henry Clay]], but switched to Andrew Jackson (with Clay as a second choice) when it became clear that the Pennsylvanian public overwhelmingly preferred Jackson.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Philip Shriver |title=A History of Pennsylvania |last2=Hoogenboom |first2=Ari |publisher=Penn State University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-271-01934-5 |location=Pennsylvania |pages=135–136 |language=en}}</ref> After Jackson lost the 1824 election, he joined his faction, but Jackson had contempt for Buchanan due to his misinterpretation of his efforts to mediate between the Clay and Jackson camps.<ref name=":0" />
In Washington, Buchanan became an avid defender of [[states' rights]], and was close with many southern Congressmen, viewing some New England Congressmen as dangerous [[Radical politics|radicals]]. Buchanan's close proximity to his constituency allowed him to establish a
Buchanan gained most attention during an impeachment trial where he acted as prosecutor for federal district judge [[James H. Peck]], however, the Senate rejected Buchanan's plea and acquitted Peck by a majority vote. He was appointed to the [[United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry|Agriculture Committee]] in his first year, and he eventually became Chairman of the [[U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary|Judiciary Committee]]. In 1831, Buchanan declined a nomination for the [[22nd United States Congress]] from his constituency consisting of [[Dauphin County, Pennsylvania|Dauphin]], [[Lebanon County, Pennsylvania|Lebanon]], and Lancaster counties. He still had political ambitions and some Pennsylvania Democrats put him forward as a candidate for the vice presidency in the [[1832 United States presidential election|1832 election]].{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=28–30}}[[File:James Buchanan painted by J. Eichholtz.jpg|thumb|1834 portrait of Buchanan at age 42–43 by [[Jacob Eichholtz]]|left]]
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===Inauguration===
{{Main|Inauguration of James Buchanan}}
Buchanan was inaugurated on March 4, 1857, taking the oath of office from [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Roger B. Taney]]. In his lengthy inaugural address, Buchanan committed himself to serving only one term, as his predecessor had done. He abhorred the growing divisions over slavery and its status in the territories, saying that Congress should play no role in determining the status of slavery in the states or territories.{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=80–83, 85}} He proposed a solution based on the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act|Kansas-Nebraska Act]], which stated that the principle of [[Popular sovereignty in the United States|popular sovereignty]] was decisive, and Congress had no say in the matter. Buchanan recommended that a federal slave code be enacted to protect the rights of slaveowners in federal territories. He alluded to a then-pending Supreme Court case, ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'', which he said would permanently settle the issue of slavery. Dred Scott was a slave who was temporarily taken from a slave state to a free territory by his owner, [[John F. A. Sanford|John Sanford]]. After Scott returned to the slave state, he filed a petition for his freedom based on his time in the free territory.{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=80–83, 85}}
Associate Justice [[Robert C. Grier]] leaked the decision in the "Dred Scott" case early to Buchanan. In his inaugural address, Buchanan declared that the issue of slavery in the territories would be "speedily and finally settled" by the Supreme Court.<ref>James Buchanan, "Inaugural Address," Washington, D.C., March 4, 1857.</ref> According to historian [[Paul Finkelman]]:{{blockquote| Buchanan already knew what the Court was going to decide. In a major breach of Court etiquette, Justice Grier, who, like Buchanan, was from Pennsylvania, had kept the President-elect fully informed about the progress of the case and the internal debates within the Court. When Buchanan urged the nation to support the decision, he already knew what Taney would say. Republican suspicions of impropriety turned out to be fully justified.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Paul |last1=Finkelman |title=Scott v. Sandford: The Court's most dreadful case and how it changed history |journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review |volume=82 |date=2007 |pages=3–48 |url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cklawreview/vol82/iss1/2/ }}</ref>}}
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In 1858, Buchanan ordered the [[Paraguay expedition]] to punish [[Paraguay]] for firing on the {{USS|Water Witch|1851|6}}, ordering 2,500 marines and 19 warships there. This costly expedition took months to reach [[Asunción]], which successfully resulted in a Paraguayan apology and payment of an indemnity.{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=107–112}} The chiefs of [[Raiatea]] and [[Tahaa]] in the South Pacific, refusing to accept the rule of King [[Tamatoa V]], unsuccessfully petitioned the United States to accept the islands under a [[protectorate]] in June 1858.{{sfn|Flude|2012|pages=393–413}} Buchanan also considered buying Alaska from the [[Russian Empire]], as whaling in the waters there had become of great economic importance to the United States. Buchanan fueled this by spreading the rumor to the Russian ambassador [[Eduard de Stoeckl]] in December 1857 that a large amount of Mormons intended to emigrate to Russian Alaska. In the winter of 1859, an initial purchase offer of $5,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|5,000,000|1859|r=-4|fmt=eq}}) was made. Although the project ultimately failed due to the reservations of Foreign Minister [[Alexander Gorchakov]], the talks formed the basis for the later negotiations to purchase Alaska.<ref>John M. Belohlavek, "In Defense of Doughface Diplomacy: A Reevaluation of Foreign Policy of James Buchanan", in ''James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War'', ed. by John W. Quist and Michael J. Birkner, (2013) pp 124–126.</ref>
Buchanan sought trade agreements with the [[Qing dynasty|Qing Dynasty]] and Japan. In China, his envoy [[William Bradford Reed]] succeeded in having the United States included as a party to the [[Treaty of Tientsin|Treaty of Tianjin]]. In May 1860, Buchanan received a Japanese delegation consisting of several princes who carried the Harris Treaty negotiated by Townsend Harris for mutual ratification.<ref>John M. Belohlavek, "In Defense of Doughface Diplomacy: A Reevaluation of Foreign Policy of James Buchanan", in ''James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War'', ed. by John W. Quist and Michael J. Birkner, (2013) pp 126–128.</ref> Buchanan was offered a herd of [[elephants]] by King [[Rama IV]] of [[Thailand|Siam]], though the letter arrived after Buchanan's departure from office and Buchanan's successor Abraham Lincoln declined the offer stating that the U.S. had an unsuitable climate.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lincoln Rejects the King of Siam's Offer of Elephants|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/lincoln-rejects-king-siams-offer-elephants|access-date=2021-07-19|website=American Battlefield Trust|language=en-US}}</ref> Other presidential pets included a pair of bald eagles and a Newfoundland dog.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.petmd.com/exotic/slideshows/seasonal/presidents-day-pictures-of-president-pets|title=Top Ten Strangest Presidential Pets|work=PetMD|access-date=March 22, 2019|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125154951/https://www.petmd.com/exotic/slideshows/seasonal/presidents-day-pictures-of-president-pets|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Covode Committee===
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==Post-presidency (1861–1868)==
[[File:James Buchanan - post presidency.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|Buchanan in his later years. {{circa}} mid-1860s]]
After leaving office, Buchanan retired to private life in Wheatland, where he spent most of his time in his study. The Civil War erupted within two months of Buchanan's retirement. He supported the Union and the war effort, writing to former colleagues that, "the assault upon Sumter was the commencement of war by the Confederate states, and no alternative was left but to prosecute it with vigor on our part."<ref name=Birkner>{{cite web|last=Birkner|first=Michael|url=https://www.lancasterhistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1239&Itemid=280|title=Buchanan's Civil War|date=September 20, 2005|access-date=December 22, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019153640/http://lancasterhistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1239&Itemid=280|archive-date=October 19, 2011}}</ref> Buchanan supported Lincoln's introduction of universal conscription in the northern states, but was an opponent of his [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. Although he recognized constitutional violations in some of the president's executive orders, he never criticized them in public.{{Sfn|Baker|2004|pp=142–143}} He also wrote a letter to his fellow Pennsylvania Democrats in Harrisburg, urging them to enlist in the Union army and "join the many thousands of brave & patriotic volunteers who are already in the field."<ref name=Birkner />
Buchanan was dedicated to defending his actions prior to the Civil War, which was referred to by some as "Buchanan's War".<ref name=Birkner /> He received hate mail and threatening letters daily, and stores in Lancaster displayed Buchanan's likeness with the eyes inked red, a noose drawn around his neck and the word "TRAITOR" written across his forehead. The Senate proposed a resolution of condemnation which ultimately failed, and newspapers accused him of colluding with the Confederacy. His former cabinet members, five of whom had been given jobs in the Lincoln administration, refused to defend Buchanan publicly.{{sfn|Klein|1962|pp=408–413}}
Buchanan became distraught by the vitriolic attacks levied against him, and fell sick and depressed. In October 1862, he defended himself in an exchange of letters with [[Winfield Scott]], published in the ''[[National Intelligencer]]''.{{sfn|Klein|1962|pp=417–418}} He soon began writing his fullest public defense, in the form of his memoir ''Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of Rebellion'', which was published in 1866. Buchanan attributed secession to the "malign influence" of Republicans and the [[abolitionist movement]]. He discussed his foreign policy successes and expressed satisfaction with his decisions, even during the secession crisis. He blamed Robert Anderson, Winfield Scott, and Congress for the unresolved issue.{{sfn|Baker|2004|pp=142–143}}
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[[Category:1860s in the United States]]
[[Category:19th-century presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:19th-century American memoirists]]
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