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Was James Buchanan A Success Or Failure

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James Buchanan was the fifteenth president of the United States of America and was the president during the escalation to the Civil War. Buchanan was born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, in 1791. At the age of twenty-one, Buchanan enlisted in the military at the start of the war of 1812 and fought in the defense of Baltimore. However, after the War of 1812 Buchanan began his forty-six-year long political career. Buchanan’s first position was in 1814 when he was elected to as a member of the Federalist Party to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and later on won a chair in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1821-1831. After spending five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives he held various positions in the political realm such as winning a seat in the Senate, James K. Polk’s secretary of state, …show more content…

At the end of 1856 Buchanan successfully beat John C. Fremont to become President of the United States. During Buchanan’s presidential term he did not accomplish much, and he watched the United States slowly deteriorate without doing anything about it. After his term as president, Buchanan tried to blame others for the Civil War but was ultimately ignored. James Buchanan leads a very eventful and remarkable life prior to becoming president, however, Buchanan was a pitiful and unproductive president.
When analyzing and reviewing James Buchanan’s presidency an unpredicted economic crisis struck the United States in the Summer of 1857, which was the Panic of 1857. A series of events occurred prior to the Panic of 1857 that could have possibly been foreseen and prevented by James Buchanan or one of his associates. The Panic of 1857 was the worst economic downturn in America in twenty year and last approximately a year and a half. The Panic of 1857 began with the ending of the

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In the Panic of 1893 the entire stock market collapsed and led to depression. During this time 491 banks failed and unemployment reached 20%. As far as farms go, the prices of crops dropped, farmers were no longer self-sufficient and only a few farm families were financially sufficient. The production and growth of railroads was also down and things were becoming overcapitalized, thus effecting steel and iron industries. All these things led to four years of severe depression where other events transpired.

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During Van Buren’s presidency, he stopped Texas from becoming a state, which eased feuds between the North and South. Martin Van Buren ended up making the world a worse place despite his knowledge in government, because he could not control or help the Panic of 1873. Most people did not end up favoring Van Buren because of his lack of determination and even people in his own party despised

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On October 1873, the cataclysmic Panic of 1873 began and did not end until March 1879. Grant’s inability to take care of the depression led to it being dragged out until it was called the “longest recorded economic downturn in modern history”. He was unable to decisively choose between “greenbacks”- paper money- or specie-gold and silver. Congress bounced between passing out laws trying to increase the value of the American dollar and trying to replace the dollar with gold. Finally, Grant vetoed the inflation bill, which would have put more greenbacks in circulation, but approved of the Specie Resumption Act of 1875.

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“Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. He was one of the founders of the Democratic Party, and he was known as the “Little Magician” to his friends and the “Sly Fox” to his enemies because of his skill as a politician” (britannica.com). Martin worked at his father’s [tavern], which was [visited often] by lawyers and politicians. Martin Van Buren was a great politician and an even better president. Martin Van Buren worked in his father’s tavern as a child.

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He was the last of America’s Founding Fathers and was the last member of the Virginia Dynasty. He made many significant accomplishments while in office such as the Monroe Doctrine, the Missouri Compromise, and presided over the Era of Good Feelings. He also worked to recover the nation after the unexpected Panic of 1819. This caused a major downfall in the United States economy. Monroe was able to work through it and rebuild a stable economy.

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He had defeated Henry Clay, in Clay’s third and final attempt at being President. Polk was a slaveholder; he had many slaves on his Tennessee and Mississippi Plantations. He knew that Abolitionism would destroy the North, and he tried to warm them of such. He accomplished every goal he had set for his presidency. Polk’s main priority was geographic expansion.

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E. (2011). Panic of 1873. In C. L. Clark (Ed.), The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/abcamerecon/panic_of_1873/0?institutionId=8703 Stockwell, M. (2011).

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Polk was elected as the state representative in the House of Representatives in 1823. Polk married Sarah Childress Polk during his time in the House of Representatives in 1824. Polk rapidly gained popularity and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1835. He served as this position for 4 years. He left the position to run as governor of Tennessee.

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James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States, was the most effective president that had achieved all of his inaugural goals. He had made several domestic policies that helped the US economy to strive. Polk was also the president who had acquired the US’s ideal dream of Manifest Destiny by making treaties and compromising to gain land from the Pacific to the Atlantic. James Polk has made different efforts to make the US the best and most powerful country in the western hemisphere and he has been very successful in his efforts.

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James K Polk was the 11th president, he was elected in 1844. He fit into modern political climate very well. He ran one term then retired, he was the youngest president to be in office at the time. He had the shortest retirement. James Knox Polk was born on November 2, 1795 in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina.

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1) The Panic of 1873 was caused due to inflation from the Civil War, over investing, government subsidies and property loss. Many companies produced too much product and then couldn’t sell them. In 1893, the priced of wheat rapidly declined and once again, there overproduction and Europe pulled out much of its investments. Also, many countries had started using the gold standard and the united states was split by the farmers supporting silver and wealthy supporting gold. Both panics showed the dangers of gaps between social classes.

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Polk ability to negotiate with other countries like england and new mexico and get Oregon and California this demonstrates why he is viewed as a successful president. But to gain Texas the United States had to fight mexico in a 2 year war from 1846-48 which the united states did end up winning but despite winning Texas this would prove to be a problem with the north and south fighting over the southern land. Polk made an Oregon treaty which made Polk able to gain land that he did not even have to go to war for and diplomatically settled a border dispute gaining land which is now known as today Washington Idaho Montana and Wyoming. “Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government” - James Polk this speaks out about the character of the U.S government and how they are driven to gain more land as a country .Situations like these are one of the many reasons James Polk is viewed as the most successful presidents of all

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America’s fifteenth president, James Buchanan, was one of the few candidates of the 1856 election who could have kept America together through the contention over slavery. Many Americans saw his absence during the violence in Kansas in 1854 between pro-slavers and free-soilers, or those against slavery, as giving him an air of neutrality that most of the other candidates in the election did not have. Once elected, Buchanan’s goal as president was to eradicate all sectional parties and preserving the Union. However, by March 1861, when Buchanan departed from the presidency, America was on the brink of a civil war. Buchanan’s appointments for his executive cabinet, his involvement in and complete support of the Dred Scott case, his determination

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Throughout an individual’s lifetime, one is bound to come across hardships and prosperities. Narrowing down on an individual is Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. President. Andrew Jackson was known as our first modern day president as he saw the position of president as a representative of the people. He served 2 terms from 1829 - 1837. Throughout his term as President, three most important problems that he faced was the Tariff Issue of 1828, the Nullification Crisis, and the Indian Issue.

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Jane Howard, a journalist who wrote about the changing American scene, in her essay “In Search of the Good Family” asserts that everyone needs a family which doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be blood-related. Howard progresses her argument by bringing in the terminology of an African tribe, her experience, and the characteristics which make up a good and conventional family. Therefore, Howard throughout her essay uses rhetorical appeals to make her argument credible. In this essay the author, Jane Howard, talks about the important role our friends play in our life and how they can become closer to you than your blood related family.

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