It has often been asked, Why did Mr. Buchanan suffer state after state to go
out of the union ? Why did he not call on the north for volunteers, and put down
rebellion in its first stage ? The president had no power to call for volunteers
under any existing law; congress, during the whole winter, refused to pass any
law to provide him with men or money. In the application of all the means that
he had for protecting the public property, he omitted no step that could have
been taken with safety, and, at the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, Maj. Anderson
not only held Fort Sumter, but had held it down to that time in perfect
confidence that he could maintain his position.
On 9 March, 1861, Mr. Buchanan returned to his home at Wheatland, a view of
which appears above, rejoicing to be free from the cares of a long and
responsible public life, and welcomed by an immense gathering of his neighbors
and the citizens of Lancaster. Here he lived quietly for the remaining seven
years of his life, taking, however, a lively interest in public affairs and
always supporting, with his influence as a private citizen, the maintenance of
the war for the restoration of the union. His health was generally good
throughout his whole life. After his final return to Wheatland he began to be
attacked occasionally by rheumatic gout, and this malady at last terminated his
life in his seventy-eighth year. His remains were interred in a cemetery near
Lancaster.
No man was ever treated with greater injustice than he was during the last
seven years of his life by a large part of the public. Men said he was a
secessionist; he was a traitor; he had given away the authority of the
government; he had been weak and vacillating; he had shut his eyes when men
about him, the very ministers of his cabinet, were plotting the destruction of
the union; he was old and timid; he might have crushed an incipient rebellion,
and he had encouraged it. But he bore all this with patience and dignity,
forbearing to say anything against the new administration, and confident that
posterity would acknowledge that he had done his duty. In 1862 General Scott,
who made several statements concerning the president's management of the Fort
Sumter affairs during the last winter of his administration, which Mr. Buchanan
successfully refuted, attacked him.
Mr. Buchanan's loyalty to the constitution of the United States was
unbounded. He was not a man of brilliant genius, nor did he ever do any one
thing to make his name illustrious and immortal, as Webster did when he defended
the constitution against the heresy of nullification. But in the course of a
long, useful, and consistent life, filled with the exercise of talents of a fine
order and uniform ability, he had made the constitution of his country the
object of his deepest affection, the constant guide of all his public acts. He
published a vindication of the policy of his administration during the last
months of his term, "Buchanan's Administration" (New York,
1866). See "Life of President Buchanan," by George Tieknor
Curtis (2 vols., New York, 1883).
Presidents of the Continental
Congress
United Colonies of The United States
Peyton
Randolph September
5, 1774 to October 22, 1774
and May 20 to May 24, 1775
Henry Middleton October 22, 1774 to October 26, 1774
Current
Order of Presidential Succession
The Vice President
Speaker of the House
President pro tempore of the Senate
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
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