Presidency of James Buchanan

James Buchanan's tenure as the 15th president of the United States began on March 4, 1857, and ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, took office after defeating the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, former President Millard Fillmore, in the 1856 presidential election. He declined to seek re-election and was succeeded by Republican Abraham Lincoln.

Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party at its 1856 convention, where he defeated both the incumbent President Franklin Pierce and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Despite his long experience in government, Buchanan was unable to calm the growing sectional crisis that would divide the nation at the close of his term. Prior to taking office, Buchanan lobbied the Supreme Court to issue a broad ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford. Though Buchanan hoped that the Court's ruling would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, Buchanan's support of the ruling deeply alienated many Northerners. Buchanan also joined with Southern leaders in attempting to gain the admission of Kansas to the Union as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution. In the midst of the growing chasm between slave states and free states, the Panic of 1857 struck the nation, causing widespread business failures and high unemployment.