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The Cost of Doing Nothing
The Infamous Legacy of Lincoln's Predecessor, James Buchanan
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Today marks the 230th birthday of one of America's least popular presidents: James Buchanan. Buchanan, Lincoln's predecessor, was the only president from Pennsylvania and the only president never to marry.
But what made our 15th president, a seasoned politician, so unpopular? The least popular, in fact, according to CSPAN's 2017 presidential rankings.
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For many historians, it can be boiled down to his actions — or lack thereof — surrounding slavery and the question of secession. Buchanan thought that slavery was morally wrong, but he often sided with the South, believing that northern abolitionists were more dangerous to the union than the southern slaveowners.
In his 1857 inaugural address, he described slavery as “happily, a matter of but little practical importance." The comment contradicted his own moral beliefs and possibly influenced the egregious Dred Scott v. Stanford decision which ruled that African Americans were not and could not be citizens of the United States, and removed their right to legal recourse.
The Dred Scott decision is widely held as the worst judicial decision in American history, and stoked further national divisions over the question of slavery.
Throughout his presidency, Buchanan’s strategy to avoid secession was simply to do nothing, saying “As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them.”
The Election of 1860
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Buchanan's inaction made him a deeply divisive figure, even within his own party. He was defeated in a primary challenge by Stephen Douglas. Outraged, he led the charge to form a new party — the Southern Democrats — with John Breckinridge. The Democratic party's division paved the way for Abraham Lincoln's narrow victory, which garnered much less than fifty percent of the popular vote.
So what was Buchanan's legacy? Unfortunately, it can be boiled down to costly inaction and deep national divisions.
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Buchanan failed to govern by our founding ideals at a time of national crisis — and America paid the price.
By the time Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union (in response to Lincoln's election) and America was a nation on the brink of civil war. Buchanan happily retreated to his home in Pennsylvania, leaving the Lincoln administration with a fractured nation.
Look for the Launch of our Series on Lincoln!
Where did Lincoln fall in the debates of 1860? How did he earn the title of "the great emancipator"? Check out next week's email for more on the legacy of Abraham Lincoln.
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The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our classrooms ™ — Jack Miller
The Jack Miller Center works to revitalize education in America’s history and its founding principles. Our goal is that every student learns the ideas that informed the founding of our nation so that they may preserve our freedoms for future generations.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org
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