Essay: James Buchanan Jr

James Buchanan Jr., the 15th president of the United States, served from 1857 to 1861.  Cove Gap, Pennsylvania is where Buchanan was born on April 23, 1971. “Old Buck” was his nickname. He graduated college from Dickinson College in 1809 and started studying law. That did not work for him, so he decided to enlisted in the military in 1812. The battle of Baltimore is one of the battle Buchanan served in. (2014).
At the age of 23, Buchanan was elected as a member of the Federalist Part to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; this was the start of his political career. From 1821 to 1832, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives, surviving a total of 5 consecutive years (2014).  He was known for the president that never got married; Harriet Lane, Buchanan’s niece, served as the First Lady with him during his presidency (Freidel and Sidey, 2006). Buchanan’s Cabinet was mainly southern where only two of the six were Northern men. His cabinet only truly represented the south. Good management style is something that Buchanan lacked. He only picked guys for his Cabinet that were interested in the Southern viewpoint; this really did not help better the country. Buchanan had a problem with mixing his beliefs with business rather than doing what he thought was the best thing for the country (Aine, 2018).
James Buchanan said in his inaugural address that the states and territories were the ones that decided about slavery, the federal government had no say in it. Buchanan was pro-slavery and agreed with the south even though deep down inside he felt as it was morally wrong.  He felt that if you freed the slaves they were just turn around and be new masters and treat others the way they were treated. As his term as president went on, slavery just continued to tear the entire country apart (2014). Due to his lack of skills of uniting the country; there was no action taken towards the issue of slavery (Nix, 2017). Buchanan thought that if he would just stay neutral the issue would resolve itself.  He lacked mind of judgment and pacifying personality to undo the misperceptions the North and South thought of one another (Nix, 2017). This issue led to the Civil War, which it known as America’s bloodiest battle, was all James Buchanan’s fault because he did not know how be a leader and fix the problems between the country. Slavery was one of the big factors that caused the war to occur (2014).
The Dred Scott case that went through the Supreme Court stated that African American could not become a U.S. citizen. Also, the Federal government could not take slavery away from their territory. Buchanan followed through with this case with intentions to permanently fix the slavery problem; this just actually causes more of a division between the country. Buchanan lacked leadership skills which continued to cause more and more issues during his presidency. He was afraid of people turning against him but since he did not actually try to enforce rules or anything he caused the country to have bigger problems.  (Nix, 2017).
The British was Buchanan’s main foreign policy that he focused on. The British and American came in to a big conflict on who would own Central America. Buchanan sent naval forced and sent troops which eventually made the British back down and put the United States back in authority. Buchanan had great communication skills when it came to foreign affairs and getting task accomplish for their country but he was not as successful dealing with issues within his country (Cooper, 2017).
Being president of the United States is a lot of work, James Buchanan was worst president. James Buchanan worked great with foreign affairs and always did what was best for his country, but he struggling resolving problems within his country. He lacked leadership skills and did not have great judgement. He leads our country into a war between our own country due to his lack of being a leader and standing up for what is right. Mixing business with personal beliefs is main thing that hurt Buchanan the most in his presidency.