Country Vacations & Resorts

Time in Office: 1857 – 1861
Terms: One
Birthday: April 23, 1791
Birth Place: Cove Gap (near Harrisburg), Franklin County Pennsylvania
Date of Death: June 1, 1868
Place of Death: His home – “Wheatland” Pennsylvania
Buried: Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Notes:
~Was once expelled from college
~An active Freemason
~His fiancee may have committed suicide
~Buchanan was rumored to be homosexual
~Only President to remain a bachelor
~Announced in his inaugural address that he would not run again

James Buchanan Jr., America’s 15th President, was like many others of his time, born in a log cabin. In this instance, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

In 1797 his family moved to nearby Mercersburg, where Buchanan attended the village school – moving on to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Although opposed to the War of 1812, when Baltimore was under attack, Buchanan joined a group of volunteers and participated in its defense.

Young James Buchanan
Photo Credit

Political life began for James in 1814 when at the age of 23, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He continued in politics, becoming Minister to Russia (1832 to 1834.) He followed this post with time spent as a US Senator and then Secretary of State. 1853 to 1856 found him as Minister to the Court of St. James and most likely residing at Winfield House, Regent’s Park. He was still in England when nominated for President by the Democrats in 1856, but most of his time in politics found him living and working in Washington, DC.

Buchanan’s Presidential term was rife with dissent between abolitionists and slave-owners – individuals, and States alike. The Dred Scott case, violence in Kansas, and the Panic of 1857 ensured Buchanan’s Presidency was certainly not boring!

By 1860, with the likelihood that Abraham Lincoln would succeed Buchanan, slavery disagreements had the country near the breaking point. Buchanan’s final months in office found him in a lame duck situation – being able to get no support from Congress to gear up for a war for which he would not be acting President. His “failure to deal with secession” is considered one of the worst cases of mismanagement by a US President. In reality, Buchanan may have had little impact one way or another, on what was sure to come.

Buchanan Memorial,
Meridian Hill Park

James Buchanan Jr., died at the age of 77 at his home, Wheatland and is buried at Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I’m not sure if Buchanan’s wife committed suicide or if she simply died of a broken heart – helped along by laudanum. Since she died a week after breaking off their engagement, I would guess she was at least depressed and despondent. I’m also not sure if Buchanan was homosexual or not – nor do I care.

Vacation Rentals in Pennsylvania:

On to America’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.