Up for auction a RARE! "James Buchanan" Piece Of Wood From His Home Encapsulated. This item is certified authentic by Todd
Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-5074E
James Buchanan Jr. (/bjuːˈkænən/; April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) was an
American lawyer and politician who served as the 15th president of the United
States (1857–1861). He previously served as Secretary of State (1845–1849)
and represented Pennsylvania in both
houses of the U.S. Congress. He was a states' rights advocate, and minimized the role of the
federal government in the nation's closing era of slavery. He is
therefore consistently ranked by historians as one of the least effective
presidents in history, for his failure to mitigate the national disunity that
led to the American Civil War. Buchanan
was a prominent lawyer in Pennsylvania and won his first election to the
state’s House of
Representatives as a Federalist. In 1820, he was elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives and retained that post for 11 years,
aligning with Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party.
He served as Jackson's Minister to Russia (1832). He won election in 1834 as
a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and also held that
position for 11 years. In 1845 he was appointed to serve as President James K. Polk's Secretary of State,
and in 1853 he was named as President Franklin Pierce's Minister to the United Kingdom. Beginning in 1844 Buchanan
became a regular contender for the Democratic party's presidential nomination.
He was finally nominated in 1856, defeating incumbent Franklin Pierce and
Senator Stephen A. Douglas at
the Democratic
National Convention. Buchanan and running mate John C. Breckinridge of
Kentucky defeated Republican John C. Frémont and Know-Nothing former president Millard Fillmore to win the 1856
presidential election. Buchanan supported the decision of the Supreme Court in
the Dred Scott case, which denied a slave's petition for
freedom. He also joined with Southern leaders in attempting to admit Kansas to the Union as a slave state. He thereby angered
not only the Republicans but also many Northern Democrats. Buchanan honored his
pledge to serve only one term, and supported Breckinridge's unsuccessful
candidacy in the 1860
presidential election, which was won by Republican Abraham Lincoln. Just weeks after Lincoln was elected as
Buchanan's successor, Southern states began seceding from the U.S., and the
American Civil War started. Historians fault Buchanan for not addressing the
issue of slavery, and for not forestalling the secession.