James Buchanan was born in 1791 in Stony Batter, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1809, studied law, was admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar in 1812, established a law practice in Lancaster, and fought in the War of 1812. At war’s end, Buchanan returned home and was elected in 1814 and again in 1815 to the lower house of the Pennsylvania legislature. He declined a third term and resumed his law practice; he was back in politics in 1820 as a Democrat, winning a seat in the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1821 to 1831.

Buchanan was a major supporter of President Andrew Jackson’s policies, and Jackson rewarded him in 1831 by appointing him U.S. minister to Russia; Buchanan served there until 1834. Upon his return to the United States, Buchanan was tapped to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate and served from 1834 to 1845, at which time President James K. Polk named him secretary of state.

During his tenure at the State Department (1845-1849), Buchanan negotiated with Britain over the Oregon border controversy and with Mexico, both before and after the war with that country. At the end of Polk’s administration, Buchanan returned home to Pennsylvania. He did not remain there for long, for in 1853, at President Franklin Pierce’s request, Buchanan headed to Great Britain, where he served as U.S. minister for three years.

When Buchanan returned to the United States in 1856, he was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidency, a position Buchanan had sought since 1844. James Buchanan won his election and was inaugurated as President of the United States in 1857. He was immediately faced with growing sectional rivalry over slavery, an issue that threatened to jeopardize the union. Buchanan was sympathetic to pro-slavery forces, choosing a cabinet that supported slave-owners’ rights and supporting the admission of Kansas as a slave-state.

By 1860, however, Buchanan’s popularity had plummeted. He faced a divided party and was accused of not doing more to prevent southern secession. Buchanan chose not to run for reelection and retired to Pennsylvania, where he would eventually publish, in 1866, Mr. Buchanan’s Administration on the Eve of Rebellion. James Buchanan died in 1868.

For further reading: Buchanan, James. The Works of James Buchanan. 12 vols. Edited by John Bassett Moore. 1908-1911. Reprint, New York: Antiquarian Press, 1960. Klein, Philip S. President James Buchanan: A Biography. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962.