JAMES BUCHANAN

15th President

Term- March 4, 1857 to March 4, 1861

Democratic Party

Birth: Cove Gap, (near Mercersburg) Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791.

Ancestry: Scotch-Irish

Marriage: Buchanan vowed never to marry after the woman he was engaged to died.

Children: None

Home: Wheatland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Education: Attended Old Stone Academy; graduated from Dickinson College in 1809.

Religion: Presbyterian

Occupation before Presidency: Lawyer

Pre-Presidential Offices: Member of Pennsylvania Legislature; Member of U.S. House of

Representatives and U.S. Senate; Minister to Russia and Great Britain; Secretary of State.

Age at Inauguration: 65

Buchanan Administration: Vice President: John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky,

Inauguration March 4, 1857, The Capital, Washington, D.C.

Occupation after Presidency: Retired

Death: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1868.

Cause of Death: Rheumatic gout at age 77.

Place of Burial: Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Interesting Facts:

Buchanan was one of seven Presidents to have been born in a log cabin. The cabin now stands on the grounds of Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.

Buchanan worked out the first trade agreement with Russia when he served as Secretary of State under President Polk.

During his Presidency in October 1859, Federal troops stormed the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, which was occupied by anti-slavery militants under John Brown. Brown was found guilty of treason and hanged.

Buchanan had a habit of closing one of his eyes almost constantly, because he was nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other.

Copyright© John T. Marck. All Rights Reserved. This article and their accompanying pictures, photographs, and line art, may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author. From The Presidents of the United States by John T. Marck.