James Buchanan

James Buchanan, an experienced diplomat and the only bachelor president, took office in 1857 as the sectional crisis reached its peak.

He endorsed the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision and backed admitting Kansas as a slave state, alienating the North. As Southern states began to secede after Lincoln's 1860 election, Buchanan declared secession illegal but insisted he had no constitutional power to stop it, leaving the crisis to his successor. He is widely ranked among the least effective presidents for his passivity on the eve of war.

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