Birth of James Buchanan

James Buchanan was born on 23 April 1791 in Stony Batter. The 15th President of the United States, Buchanan was a Pennsylvania Democrat with a long diplomatic and political career, including service as secretary of state and minister to Britain. He took office in 1857 as tensions over slavery were rising. Two days after his inauguration the Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, which he supported, deepening the divide, and the Panic of 1857 followed. After Lincoln's election in 1860, seven Southern states seceded while Buchanan was still in office; he argued that secession was illegal but that the federal government had no power to stop it. Historians generally rank him among the least successful presidents. He was the only president who never married.

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