James Buchanan was president from 1857-1861. He was the only president that didn't get married. He was a US Representative for Pennsylvania for 10 years, and in the Senate for 10 years also. He was an ambassador to England for four years before he was elected president, in 1857.

His presidency was involved with the main problems that started the Civil War. The Dred-Scott Decision of the Supreme Court, which said that slaves had no rights in the US Territories, came just two days after Buchanan was inaugurated. Then John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry happened in 1859. And the Southern States seceded from the Union after Lincoln was elected, but while Buchanan was still president.

Buchanan wasn't very strong in his presidency. He thought that the office of president didn't have the power to control the states. The southern states weren't happy with Buchanan's anti-slavery ideas, but the northern states didn't like his weak leadership, and acceptance of the Dredd-Scott decision. Near the end, members of his own cabinet began to resign because they thought he was a weak leader.

Buchanan was happy to leave the presidency. He was president during the most confusing time in American History. He worked hard, and was honest, but the problems were too big. I think nobody could have done any better, and Buchanan probably thought that too.

He spend his last years at his home in Wheatland, Pennsylvania. He supported President Lincoln, and wrote about his own job as president. He died at his home in 1868.

--Amanda (& Dad)