James Buchanan: States Rights

Whether you believe the constitution is a living document or you are a strict constructionist, you have to agree that there's disagreement on what its intent is.

Just like the bible or any other sacrosanct document, people first decide what they believe, then examine the document for how they can prove it validates what they believe.

There's no longer any pretense of nominating supreme court judges based on their credentials or loyal following of the law. It's pretty much a naked tabulation on how closely their rulings can advance the nominating politician's stance on the issues of the day or at the very least, what their party masters want.

Buchanan was no different from politicians in the modern age in wrapping his social and economic views in the constitution.

As I've mentioned before, although he was from Pennsylvania, his sympathies were completely with the southern slave interests.

Somehow, Buchanan saw fit to send federal troops in to capture escaped slaves in Massachusetts, but could not see justification in using the federal army to put down armed rebellion in the south.

As southerners in South Carolina (where else?) were seizing federal military bases, Buchanan would not lift a finger based on his 'constitutional' views.

He argued that no state has the right to secede from the Union, however, all bodies under any Constitution had the right to take up arms to prevent oppression. The federal government he argued had no power to either recognize the secession of states or coerce them through arms. In other words, the Federal government can never tell the states what to do, even if they're threatening to not be part of the government anymore.

Does this make sense? No.

But that's not really the point, then, as now, all low minded arguments are wrapped in the high minded language of our founding fathers.

James Buchanan: His Katrina(s)

Buchanan was president between 1857 and 1861 and there was no shortage of bad things that happened during his time in office.

They say that disasters such as the Civil War and Great Depression made great presidents out of men like Lincoln and Roosevelt. But as Buchanan shows us, they can also make really awful presidents if they're not dealt with properly.

Here's just a couple examples of the things that most definitely were putting the country on the 'wrong track':

The Utah War: Based on false intelligence, Buchanan sent the Federal Army in to Utah on rumors that the same Brigham Young that James Polk had sent out there a few years ago was planning a rebellion. This was easy to get everyone to buy into because anti Mormonism had been building in Washington over their polygamy. Buchanan was widely reproached when the rumors of rebellion were proven false and this became referred to as 'Buchanan's Blunder'.

You'd think that a man that said it was 'illegal' for the United States to put down a slave holders rebellion in the years leading up to the Civil War would have shown a little more restraint, but I guess it's all about who's causing the rebellion.

I'd make an Iraq War comparison here, but that would be way to easy.


Bank Failures: We think we have it bad, but 1400 Banks and 6000 major businesses failed during Buchanan's presidency. To encourage Americans to tough it out, he gave a speech saying that 10 cents a day was enough for any working man to live on.

This is where he earned the nickname '10 Cents a Day Jimmie'.

Kansas Bleeding: Before the Civil War officially was declared by the South, there were skirmishes in the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Abolitionists moved in and powerful slave interests sent death squads in to attack and harass them so they could make it a slave territory by squatters rights.

Buchanan wasn't convinced that this was worth sending the Army in like the Mormon incident was. As I mentioned before, it's all about who's being harassed and he was clearly in the slave holder's corner.


Filibustering Expeditions: In the name of expanding slavery and profit, wealthy plantation owners would raise private funds to send mercenaries over to unstable areas in Central America and the Caribbean to both have an opportunity to take over those countries from Spain and have a ready supply of slaves and income from the sugar and mining operations already in place there.

These expeditions were almost like Super Halliburtons. They were made up largely of army and sea veterans as well as other desperate men, and they'd not only have access to great wealth if successful, but could also become Kings.

Buchanan did very little to stop this and it only increased the anger of the anti slavery movement in the north, further pushing the country towards war.



The allowed takeover by Southerners of Federal Forts and the traitors in his cabinet that would later join the confederacy are worth another post altogether.

This just goes to show that although it takes extreme times to make a man remembered in history, it doesn't indicate how he'll be remembered.

James Buchanan: A Pennsylvania Dandy

Let's start with the tawdry before we jump into the more serious and disturbing parts of Buchanan's presidency and the descent into civil war.

The popular rumor is that Buchanan was gay and although this is thrown around a lot on presidents from that period, most notably Lincoln, I tend to believe the rumors in regards to him.

The style of writing in the mid 1850's between men was much more intimate than it is now. Lincoln wrote of how he missed his bunk mates who would share his bed on a cold night when he was a circuit judge, but that was a common practice back then and it doesn't indicate anything extraordinary.

Buchanan on the other hand never married, being saved from what must have been an uncomfortable arrangement when his wealthy fiancee suddenly broke it off. She suspected, most likely correctly, that he was just interested in her fortune. Saying that his heart was broken and vowing never again to marry, this severed relationship allowed him to be free to be a lifelong bachelor and continue to form close relationships with the men he'd live with while in Washington.

You may think that never getting married doesn't necessarily mean that someone is gay and closeted and you're probably right. But for god sakes, Charlie Christ in Florida has lost support from conservatives, because as an older bachelor, they think that he may be gay. (like many of his colleagues) This is one hundred and fifty years later!

Now, although I've mentioned that men generally shared their feelings more with other men back then, this excerpt from one of his letters just seems over the top:

"I am now 'solitary and alone', having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone, and [I] should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

His manners were also said to be somewhat effeminate, with people referring to him as a dandy. His long time room mate and fellow Senator was also slurred with derogatory names, with Andrew Jackson referring to him as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy".

Furthermore, on Buchanan's directions, all the letters between him and King were burned upon his death. It wasn't unusual for politicians of the revolutionary or antebellum period to do this, but Buchanan had many of his other correspondences painstakingly preserved, so this also makes me wonder.

Oh well, I guess we'll never know, which is just how he would have wanted it.