James Buchanan

POLITICAL PARTY
Federalist (through 1820), then Democrat

RELIGION
Presbyterian

EDUCATION
Dickinson College B.A. 1809; Read law

VITALS
6 ft 0 in / 198 lbs

CAREER
1812-32 Practiced law in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1815-16 Member, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
1821-31 U.S. Representatives, Pennsylvania
1832-34 U.S. Minister to Russia
1834-45 U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania
1845-49 U.S. Secretary of State (Polk)
1849-53 Practiced law in Lancaster
1853-56 U.S. Minister to England

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
November 4, 1856
Popular: Buchanan 1,836,072 (45%) John C. Frémont 1,342,345 (33%) Millard Fillmore 873,053 (22%);
Electoral: Buchanan 174 Frémont 114 Fillmore 8

VICE PRESIDENT
John C. Breckinridge (1857-1861)

ADMINISTRATION
Dred Scott v. Sanford, Panic of 1857 (1857); John Brown at Harpers Ferry (1859); Covode Committee, South Carolina secedes (1860)

SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENT
Nathan Clifford

NEW STATES
Minnesota (1858), Oregon (1859), Maine (1861)

FIRST LADY
Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston (1857-61)

POST-PRESIDENCY
1866 "Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of Rebellion"

“I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed, and, whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.”
Speech to Congress, January 8, 1861

Portrait of James Buchanan by William Merritt Chase, 1902.