Transcript James Buchanan (D) 15th President of the USA, 1857-1861

James Buchanan (D)
15th President of the USA, 1857-1861
BY AMELIA SCHWEITZER
Born on April 23, 1791 in Mercersburg, PA to an Irish father and American
mother. 2nd of 11 children
1791
Expelled: Attended Dickinson College in PA, expelled for breaking the rules,
Occupational &
returned as high honors student
Lawyer: Studied law in Lancaster, PA in 1809, and began working by 1812.
Educational
Produced immense fortune.
Background
1812 Soldier and Legislator: Federalist and opposed 2nd war with Britain.
However volunteered as a private to protect Baltimore in the War of
1812. Served in PA legislator for two terms beginning in 1814.
Tragedy: returned to politics after his estranged fiancé died. She may have
Early Life and Education
committed suicide.
1820
Congressman: served in US House of Representatives from 1820-1830.
Political and Public Career
Broke with Federalist party and supported Andrew Jackson.
Diplomat: appointed by Jackson as minister to Russia in 1831. secured
first trade treaty between the 2 countries.
1834 Senator: was elected by PA legislature to fill vacant position in US Senate
in 1834, served until 1845.
Secretary of State: appointed by James Knox Polk. Texas annexation,
Mexican war, Oregon fever
1849 Minister to GB: appointed by Pierce, Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (neither
country should have possessions in Central America) Failed. Wrote
Ostend Manifesto (set up for US to purchase Cuba from Spain). 18491856
1856 Presidential Election: Away in London during infamous Kansas –
Nebraska Act of 1854. Nominated by Democratic Party in 1856.
Presidential Opponents
BACKGROUND CONTINUED
VP and Cabinet
Republicans:


Sen. John Fremont (R-CA)

Sen. William Dayton (R-NJ)

Whigs and “KnowNothings”:

Former President Millard
Fillmore
Former Minister to Prussia
Andrew Donelson




Vice President: John Breckinridge, of Kentucky
Secretary of State Lewis Cass (1857-60) Jeremiah S.
Black (1860-61)
Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb (1857-60) Philip
F. Thomas (1860-61) John A. Dix (1861)
Secretary of War John B. Floyd (1857-60) Joseph Holt
(1861)
Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black (1857-60) Edwin
M. Stanton (1860-61)
Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown (1857-59) Joseph
Holt (1859-61) Horatio King (1861)
Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey (1857-61)
Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson (1857-61)
Supreme Court Appointments: Justice Nathan Clifford
(1858-81)
States admitted to the Union:
 Minnesota .………………………………1858
(in order)

Free state
 Oregon…………………………………..1859

Free state
 Kansas....………………………………...1861
CAMPAIGN &
ELECTION
1852 – lost Democratic
Buchanan’s Election
Place of Nominating Convention:
Cincinnati
Ballot on which nominated: 17
Nomination to Franklin Pierce.
Was however appointed
Major Opponents: Fremont
Minister to GB.
(Republican) and Fillmore
(“Know Nothing”)
Electoral Vote: Buchanan 174,
1860 – did not run. Lincoln
Fremont (114), Fillmore, 8
won
Popular Vote: Buchanan
1,832,955; Fremont 1,339,932;
DIRTY POLITICS
Fillmore 871,731
Democrats called Fremont "Black Age at Inauguration: 65
Republican" and made frequent
Why he won: he was in
jabs at his out-of-wedlock birth.
England at the time of the
Kansas Nebraska Act,
Republicans made fun of
Fillmore votes took away
Buchanan's age and bachelorhood
votes from the Fremont
, called him "Ten-Cent Jimmy“,
campaign.
and said that Buchanan tilted his
head because he had once tried to
hang himself.
1856 - won
“I had hoped for the nomination in
1844, again in 1848, and even in 1852,
but now I would hesitate to take it.
Before many years the abolitionists
will bring war upon this land. It may
come during the next presidential
term.”
Political and Social Events
ONGOING ISSUES: BLEEDING KANSAS (1853-1861)
The Kansas Nebraska Act
stated that the slavery
question would be decided by
popular sovereignty not by
the Missouri Compromise of
1820, which said that slavery,
could not extend above the
36' 30" line.
Finally in September 1856, a
Though most settlers who had
new territorial governor, John W.
come to Kansas from the North
Geary, arrived in Kansas and
and the South were only interested began to restore order. In total,
in new farming lands, Abolitionists approximately 55 people died in
and Southerners flocked to Kansas "Bleeding Kansas."In July 1859,
to fight to win popular sovereignty Kansas adopted a Free State
constitution. Kansas applied for
admittance to the Union, but did
Violence erupted throughout the
not become a state until 1861
territory and escalated as time went
after the Confederate states
on. On May 21, 1856, a group of
proslavery men burned the Free State seceded. Once it became a
state, Kansas sent more troops
Hotel. In retaliation, abolitionist John
than any other state in the
Brown led a group of men on an
Union.
attack at Pottawatomie Creek, killing
five proslavery men. The violence that
followed was dubbed “Bleeding
Kansas”.
Impending Crisis of the South (1857)
In 1857, Hinton Helper, the son of a
farmer in North Carolina published
“The Impeding Crisis of the South.”
He argued that slavery prohibited
economic prosperity in the South by
comparing statistics from slave
states and free states. Helper called
for non-slave-holding whites to
overthrow slave owners in the south.
“During the 1860 presidential
campaign, the New York Tribune
distributed 500 copies of the book a
day, considering it the most effective
propaganda against slavery ever
written. Many Southerners burned it,
fearful that it would divide the white
population.”
Sources for information and images include docsouth.unc.edu and www.gathkinsons.net and digitalhistory.uh.edu
1857: Harper’s weekly begins publication and the Financial
Panic
Harper’s weekly was the most
read magazine during the civil
war. It included illustrations
and in depth stories about
important people and events of
the war. It was created by
publisher Harper & Brothers
and featured cartoonist Thomas
Nast.
The Panic of 1857
Causes: the failure of the NY branch of the
Ohio Insurance and Trust Co, the removal of
British credit, the drop in grain prices, the pile
up of manufactured goods in warehouses, the
overbuilt rail system, too much land
speculation, and 30,000 lbs of gold lost at sea.
Significance: The panic spread to Europe and
Latin America. The country showed no signs
of improvement for more than a year and a
half.
July 5, 1861
Issue
cartoons.osu.edu, u-s-history.com, www.sonofthesouth.net
DRED SCOTT DECISION 1857 LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES 1858
A slave, Dred Scott had
been taken into a territory
where slavery was illegal.
The court ruled that all
people of African ancestry -slaves as well as those who
were free -- could never
become citizens of the
United States and therefore
could not sue in federal
court. The court also ruled
that the federal government
did not have the power to
prohibit slavery in its
territories.. As a result,
several Northerners,
Abolitionists passed
“personal liberty laws”,
encouraging people to
disobey unjust laws.
What: The Lincoln Douglas Debates
Who: Stephen Douglas, the incumbent
Senator (elected in 1847) and political
newcomer, Abraham Lincoln
Why: Douglas helped enact the
Compromise of 1850 and was a
proponent of Popular Sovereignty, and
the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which
led to "Bleeding Kansas“. However
Lincoln stated that the US could not
survive as half-slave and half-free
states.
Where: Illinois
When: 1858, during Buchanan’s
candidacy
So What?: Though Lincoln did not win
the senate seat, he won the Presidency
in 1860. The Debates brought national
attention to Lincoln and prompted the
end of compromises.
JOHN BROWN AND HARPER’S FERRY (1859) , THE PONY EXPRESS (APRIL
3rd 1860 – OCT 1861)
Who: John Brown, an abolitionist who grew up in Ohio
and was an anti-slavery outlaw who had been involved in
other bloodsheds.
What: planned to raid a US arsenal with 18 followers to
encourage slaves to rebel, but he and his followers were
captured, some killed, by Robert E Lee.
When: Oct. 1859, during Buchanan’s candidacy.
Where: Harper’s Ferry in what is now WV
Why: to encourage slaves to rebel
So What: Brown was put on trial and sent to the gallows.
Northerners protested, thinking it was unfair.
An on land mail service from CA through Oregon. Ended
when telegram started being used.
Financial Firsts: Macy’s Opens in NYC, Comstock Lode Discovered, Edwin L
Drake drills first oil well
Opened by Rowland Hussey Macy as a “Fancy Dry
Goods” store in 1858 in NYC
First of its kind
Comstock Lode 1859
-silver discovered in Nevada, east of the Sierras
August 27, 1859
-Drake and Seneco Oil
Company were looking
for alternatives to Wale
Oil. Digging did not
worlk well but drilling
did. On August 27,
1859, hit “pay dirt!”
Using a steam engine
and iron pipes, Drake
was able to erect about
ten barrels of oil. Soon
after oil fields began
springing up in PA and
the Petroleum Industry
was born.
http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_edwin_drake.htmhttp://laurela.us/shopping/macyshttp://orangemercury.blogspot.com/2010/10/this-day-in-shopping-history-1858-macys.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000J0M2D4
celebrates-150-year-anniversary
/
ONGOING ISSUES: SUCCESSION AND THE CONFEDERATION
On Dec 20, 1860, SC was
the 1st state to secede from
the union after Lincoln wins
the election
On January 9th 1861 an
unarmed merchant ship,
arrives with troops and
supplies to reinforce Ft.
Sumter (a Union
stronghold). The ship is
fired upon and retreats.
(“Ft. Sumter” occurs
several months later)
Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama,
Georgia,
Louisiana, and
Texas secede
from the Union.
February 18th
1861
Jefferson Davis
becomes Confederate
President
Slide 6: Impact
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Postponed, but did not prevent the Civil War. It can be argued that he both intensified it and
that he dulled it.
Was able to keep many western states on the side of the Union including Oregon and
Minnesota
Ended “bleeding Kansas ”. Kansas became a free state and a member of the Union
Stabilized foreign policy in Central America and in Europe
Though it was ignored, he had an idea to build the Panama Canal
Many southern states seceded including NC, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana
Appointed a Supreme Court Justice
His VP became an important Confederate leader
John Brown was executed (not pardoned)
Dred Scott Decision (though this was really the court’s fault)
SLIDE 5 - QUOTES
Buchanan's strengths were also his flaws. His political
canniness and ability to avoid major controversies led
to his successes but also prevented him from being an
effective leader. In fact, he tried to avoid being a
leader, feeling that wasn't the purpose of his position.
While it is unlikely that he could have averted the Civil
War, he wound up being ineffective in even slowing
down the drive to conflict.
-MrLiteral @amazon.com
"Buchanan assumed leadership of the United States
when an unprecedented wave of angry passion was
sweeping the nation. That he held the hostile sections
in check during these revolutionary times was in itself a
remarkable achievement. His weaknesses in the
stormy years of his presidency were magnified by
enraged partisans of the North and the South. "
-author, Phillip S
Klein
Instead of being characterized as an inept failure,
Buchanan comes across as an accomplished statesman
who was dedicated to the U.S. Constitution and the rule
of law who was caught in a "no win" situation as
President. In seeking a compromise solution to avoid the
impending holocaust of the Civil War when a compromise
solution was probably no longer possible, Buchanan
appear as a tragic figure more than as an abysmal
failure.
-a history buff “historybuff”@amazon.com
he exacerbated a situation that Franklin Pierce had
helped to create
-Steve Fast @amazon.com
Slide 7: Personal Reflection
 Amelia Schweitzer, October 23, 2011
 I did not have room to write my sources at the bottom of the pages. I used the same
sources throughout the slides. Here they are:
 http://www.american-presidents.org/2007/03/james-buchanan-and-election-of1856.html www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html
 http://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/debates.html
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html
And
 The World Book Encyclopedia 1967 (b, ci, d, f, jk)
 (my quotes were from the comments about a book about Buchanan by Klein since I
could not find quotes anywhere else. I looked and looked. I had to be ingenious.)