James Buchanan: Wrong Man in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

There are few, if any, happy endings in history. The 1856 election of James Buchanan should have signaled a happy ending after several years of rancorous political debate involving slavery, its extension into the territories, and the equally boisterous arguments over tariffs and national projects such as the transcontinental railroad. For all intents and purposes, “Bleeding Kansas” was an event of the past and 1857 began with the unexpected death of South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks, the man responsibly for caning Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner.

 

In His March 4^th inaugural address, Buchanan alluded to a sense of finality tied to the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision, which was about to be announced. Buchanan saw his presidency as a time to “restore harmony” and to placate his Southern supporters by emphasizing a policy of non-interference with slavery. Buchanan, who had spent the last four years as U.S. envoy to Great Britain, noted that the nation’s prosperity depended upon union.

 

Why Buchanan Made a Good Candidate

 

Buchanan’s diplomatic sojourn, a political “get out of jail” free card during the turbulent days of the Pierce administration and the prelude toward Civil War in the Kansas territory, left him blissfully untainted within the Democratic Party. He represented a venerable candidate with an impressive portfolio whose hands were not tied to Bleeding Kansas or the actions of Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, whose 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act was akin to Brutus’ treachery in the Roman Senate or Judas bargaining away the life of Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

 

Buchanan’s greatest support came from the South. He lost numerous Northern states to John C Fremont, the candidate of the upstart Republicans, and to Millard Fillmore, standard bearer of the so-called Know-Nothings. Buchanan almost lost Pennsylvania, his home state, if not for last minute infusions of cash by lobbyists. When it was all over, Buchanan was a minority president, elected with 45% of the popular vote.

 

The Tariff Issue in 1857

 

The lame duck Congress also passed a new tariff, signed by President Pierce before Buchanan’s inauguration. Lower tariff schedules were designed, in part, to stop the treasury surplus, seen as a growing temptation for public works projects deemed unnecessary. Buchanan, however, called fore the need to construct a “military road” connecting the east with the Pacific. A transatlantic cable was already in the works. The railroad, however, was already becoming associated with corruption.

 

Finally, Buchanan addressed the need for immigrants and their impact on growing national prosperity. These sentiments were aimed at the Know-Nothings who were rabidly anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. Within the decade of the 1850’s, 424,000 had emigrated from Britain and 914,000 from Ireland.

 

Congress was a Pro Slavery Government

 

The Democrats controlled the White House and both Houses of Congress. The Supreme Court under Roger B Taney, a Maryland Catholic appointed by Andrew Jackson, was also pro-Southern. Southerners, however, feared the “Black Republicans” and their party platform calling for free soil status in the territories. Popular Sovereignty, Stephen Douglas’ Holy Grail, would shortly be obliterated by the Dred Scott v Sandford holding.

 

Buchanan’s patronage shone toward the South; indeed, most of his Cabinet appointments were Southern. It was a pro-slavery government, but happy endings cannot take root when the realities of other viewpoints claiming their own sense of morality challenge the status quo. Fremont may have lost the 1856 election, but many disenchanted Democrats saw it was a success. Senator John P. Hale, a fringe party candidate in 1852, reminded his listeners of the “handwriting on the wall.”

 

The next three years proved difficult for Buchanan. The 1857 tariff caused a panic – an economic downturn, and negatively affected iron manufacturing in Pennsylvania. Economic historians note that the economic state of affairs in Pennsylvania helped the Republicans carry the state in 1860. Lincoln won that general election without appearing on any southern ballot.

 

Buchanan’s Ineptitude

 

In 1859, John Brown attempted the capture of the Harpers Ferry federal arsenal in an attempt to ferment a general insurrection. Brown’s actions reminded Southerners that the North could not be depended upon to protect the South and its right to maintain the Slave Power. A year later, Lincoln won the 1860 election and South Carolina left the Union. Throughout it all, Buchanan dithered.

 

Buchanan had been in St. Petersburg, Russia during the nullification crisis. But President Jackson wrote him a long letter, detailing how he had stopped the secessionists almost three decades earlier. Buchanan must have forgotten the letter and the advice.

 

The Homosexual Theory

 

David Eisenbach’s book, written with Larry Flynt, suggests that Buchanan’s inability to reign in the South was tied to his relationship with William Rufus King. According to Eisenbach, “James Buchanan, the only bachelor president, fell in live with Alabama politician William Rufus King.” Eisenback states that, “Buchanan’s sexuality has long baffled historians.” Andrew Jackson ostensibly called Buchanan “Miss Nancy.”

 

Eisenbach’s theory is that Buchanan’s relationship with King tied him to a pro-Southern course of action, even though he was a Northerner from Pennsylvania.

 

Regardless, the four years of Buchanan’s administration might have either confronted heads-on any calls for secession, as Jackson had done earlier in South Carolina, or worked – as his inaugural address promised, to find a centrist position much as Martin Van Buren had accomplished, thereby avoiding the start of the nation’s bloodiest and most divisive war.

 

References

 

James Buchanan, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1757

Larry Flynt and David Eisenbach, PhD, One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives of Presidents First Ladies and their Lovers Changed the Course of American History (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2011)

Page Smith, A Nation Comes of Age: A People’s Historybof the Ante-Bellum Years, Volume Four, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981)

Kenneth M. Stamp, America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink (Oxford University Press, 1990)

Published 4/12/2012 by M. Streich for Suite101