Dates in Office: 1857-1861
Important Information:
- Only President from Pennsylvania as well as the only to remain a lifelong bachelor
- Helped craft the Ostend Manifesto as minister to the Court of St. James's under President Pierce
- Made efforts to maintain peace between the North and South
- Buchanan viewed the last Southern secession as illegal
- By the time he left office, the popular opinion was against him and the Democratic Party had split