#15 James Buchanan

 

1857--1861

--Buchanan served as James K. Polk's Secretary of State, and so far remains the last former Secretary of State to become president. Born in 1791, he was also the last president born in the 18th century.

--Buchanan attempted to maintain a peaceful status quo between the northern and southern states. He both denied the legal right of states to secede and also held that the federal government legally could not prevent them. Furthermore, he placed the blame for the crisis solely on "intemperate interference of the northern people with the question of slavery in the southern states." Buchanan's specific, last-ditch solution to the crisis was that the Congress call for a constitutional convention which would give the people of the country the opportunity to vote specifically on an amendment to the constitution regarding the issue of slavery. However, there was no ability to reach agreement on this approach as a solution to be pursued.

--Buchanan remains the only presidential bachelor. When his ex-fiancee, Ann Coleman, died, Buchanan vowed to never marry. He lived in Washington D.C. with Alabama senator William King for fifteen years, until King, who was elected as Franklin Pierce's VP, died suddenly of tuberculosis. Both Buchanan and King's nieces burned the two men's correspondence after Buchanan's death, and many have claimed that the two were a couple (it was a popular rumor in Washington at the time, in fact).

--James Buchanan was well-trained in the alchemical arts; in fact, two members of his cabinet were actually homunculi that Buchanan had created using a mixture of cow's blood, the ground remains of a sun stone, and sulphur.