Buchanan james

James Buchanan was born into a large Irish farmer family. After receiving a law degree in college, during the Anglo-American War, he worked as a lawyer. He is the only bachelor of all US presidents: having lost his bride in his youth, he decided to never marry. In the years 1814-1816 Buchanan is a member of the Pennsylvania state parliament. In 1831, Buchanan was appointed envoy to the Petersburg Court and concluded the first trade agreement between Russia and the United States. Upon returning to his homeland (1833), Buchanan was elected from Pennsylvania to the Washington Senate. Here, Buchanan maintained a conciliatory direction between abolitionists and slave owners, but he defended the independence of slave-owning Texas that had been torn away from Mexico. From 1836 to 1841 he was chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations . In the presidency of Polk (from the party of southerners), whose candidacy Buchanan supported, he was appointed US Secretary of State (1845–1849). During his administration, the Texas issue led to a war with Mexico , and the conflict with England over Oregon was settled by an agreement in which the 49th parallel was defined by the northeastern border of the States. In 1849, Buchanan accepted the post of envoy in London . The following year, Buchanan was a member of the Ostend Conference , which proclaimed the right of the United States to join Cuba by purchase or conquest. The slave party wanted to protect itself from the danger that threatened its interests in the event that the Spaniards proceeded to the liberation of blacks.

In 1856, Buchanan was elected as a candidate of Democrats (southerners) for the presidency of the United States . Due to the fact that he was absent during the heated debate in congress in 1854 about the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which inflamed passions throughout the country and sharply set two opposing parties against each other, Buchanan could still hold on for some time in an indefinite direction, striving if do not eliminate, then delay the oncoming gap between North and South. Standing on the side of the South, he sought to stop campaigning against slavery. Buchanan claimed that he did not see any legal opportunity to forcibly retain states in the Union. Thus, he passively observed South Carolina leaving the Union, which subsequently formed the Confederate States of America with six other states.

During the war, Buchanan returned to his native Pennsylvania. In the press, he was often accused of indecision, which led to a split of the Union, and sometimes even betrayal. June 1, 1868 Buchanan died. In a special essay, Buchanan tried in 1866 to defend his policy. An attempt to soften the harsh sentence of contemporaries over Buchanan was also made by the author Curtis in his essay "Life of J. V." (2 vol., 1883).

• Bukenan, James // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 add.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.