Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/39

 BUCHANAN.

BUCHANAN.

politics, and acquired a small estate a little out- side the city of Lancaster, known as Wheatland, and this henceforth became his home. The death of his sister, Mrs. Lane, in 1839, left to him the care and education of four children, and the youngest of them, Harriet, was of such a ten- der age that it was possible for her natural guardian to mould her character as he wished; to direct the education of the young girl, to form her religious and moral principles, to guard her against temptation that would natur- ally come in the paths of one of her impetuous disposition, and to develop in her the character of a true woman, became one of the chief objects of his busy life. His letters to her, which began in her early youth, rcA'eal a beautiful side of his character, of which the world knows but little. He wrote nmuerous public letters during his retirement, and the compromise measures of 1850, offered by Mr. Clay, the abolition of slave trade in the District of Columbia, and the fugi- tive slave law received his commendation and approval. When the Democratic party regained power in 1853, President Pierce offered to Mr. Buchanan the position of minister to England. In urging his acceptance the President said: " I can assure you if you accept the mission Pennsylvania shall not receive one appointment more or less on that account. I shall consider yours as an appointment for the whole countrj^, and I wiU not say that Pennsylvania shall not have more in case of your acceptance than if you should decline the mission." The pressure brought to bear was so strong that he finaUy accepted. The fisheries reciprocity with Canada, and the Monroe doctrine as relating to Central American states, which had not been satis- factorily established by the Clayton-Bulwer treat}^, were the uppermost subjects for discus- sion and settlement. President Pierce decided that the questions of reciprocity and the fisheries should be negotiated at Washington, and the Central American question was referred to Lon- don. Mr. Buchanan was the originator and one of the three members of the Ostend conference that met in 1854 to consider the subject of the acquisition of Cuba by the United States, and with his colleagues maintained that on the prin- ciple of self-preservation from dangers of the gravest kind, an armed intervention of the United States and the capture of the island from the Spaniards would be justifiable. He returned to the United States in the latter part of April, 1856, accompanied by his niece, Harriet Lane, who had been for over a year his guest, and upon his arrival in New York was accorded a public recep- tion from the authorities and people of the citj", which evinced the interest that was everywhere manifested towards him as an able statesman

and the probable coming chief executive. He re- turned to Wheatland, and there received news of his nomination as the Democratic candidate for President by the convention held at Cincin- nati in 1856. The Whig part}' had passed from existence. The anti-slavery party adopted the name of Republican, nominated John C. Fre- mont as their candidate for President, and the question of slavery in the territories was made the issue of the campaign. The repeal of the Missouri compromise and the passage of the Kan- sas-Nebraska act, which had been followed in Kansas by an internecine contest between pro- slavery and anti-slavery settlers, gave the can- vass a sectional fervor which was smothered but not extinguished by the election in November, when Mr. Buchanan secured the electoral vote of Arkansas, Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, one hundred and thirty-nine electoral votes, which made him President of the United States. He was inaugurated March 4, 1857, and was welcomed to the presidency bj^ many anxious and patriotic citizens outside of his own party sup- porters, who saw danger in the radical doctrines of the minority party. His niece, Harriet Lane, became mistress of the White House, and was admirably qualified to make the new administra- tion a social success. In the selection of his cabinet he made Lewis Cass, of Michigan, secre- tary of state ; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, secretary of the treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, secretary of war ; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, secretarj- of the navy ; Jacob Thompson, of Mis- sissippi, secretary of the interior; Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, postmaster-general, and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, attorney- general. The state of the country when this administration was organized was ominous to its peace and welfare. The autumn of 1857 saw a financial crisis of that kind which is apt to recur in an expanding country as the cycle advances from booming prosperity to the over-confident and over-productive stage. Although the sever- ity of the times gradually relaxed, and both con- fidence and activity were by anotlier twelve months fairly restored, it took a long time to do away with the effects of the panic. The preced- ing administration had left a legacy of trouble in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. The Kansas-Nebraska act was a bone of contention between two factions of the Democratic party, and the President had to consider what was the limitation imposed by the constitution of the L'nited States upon the operation of this newly created right. He stood by the decision of the supreme court in the famous Dred Scott case, and