Emma Huffman
Period 4
Presidents Buchanan-Grant President James Buchanan
James Buchanan took office in 1857. He was the fifteenth president of the United States. Buchanan won by the support he received from southern states. He served as the President of the United States of America right before the Civil War. Although he was in office before the actual war broke out, Buchanan was ruling over a nation that was quickly dividing. James had good intentions but he lacked personal will and the political skills to make a strong stand. With the right skills, he might’ve prevented the Civil War. Buchanan tried to deal with the issues of slavery and the tension between the North and the South by relying on constitutional doctrines. However, the North would not accept a document that favored the South, so Buchanan was greatly challenged. His policy was that slavery was for individual states and territories to deal with, not for the Federal government. He thought the problems could be resolved quickly and easily, which was a majorly incorrect assumption. Also during his presidency, political parties changed, the Democrats breaking up and the Republicans taking out the Whig
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Breckinridge. President Lincoln was the president during the Civil War. When he entered office, seven states had already seceded from the Union, and the Confederacy had been formed. The Confederate constitution was drafted. When he read it, Lincoln denied that the states had ever possessed independent sovereignty as colonies and territories. Instead, he declared that states had accepted the sovereignty of the national government without conditions or restrictions when the Constitution was ratified. Unlike Buchanan’s boneless answers and statements, Lincoln answered with legal sense and common sense. He claimed that secession was an unconstitutional act of treason, and most northerners