[66], Despite the protests of Walker and two former Kansas governors, Buchanan decided to accept the Lecompton Constitution. In a December 1857 meeting with Stephen Douglas, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, Buchanan demanded that all Democrats support the administration's position of admitting Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. He was not given a middle name. He handled various types of cases, including a much-publicized impeachment trial, where he successfully defended Pennsylvania Judge Walter Franklin. Their mother Winnifred Barnes dies when both children are still young. Jackson rewarded Buchanan's loyalty by making him the minister to Russia in 1831. [133], An earlier monument was constructed in 19071908 and dedicated in 1911, on the site of Buchanan's birthplace in Stony Batter, Pennsylvania. Buchanan served as Jackson's minister to Russia in 1832. 1. Biography | Congressman Vern Buchanan Much of his early education came from his mother, Elizabeth Speer Buchanan . The President granted amnesty to inhabitants affirming loyalty to the government, and placed the federal troops at a peaceable distance for the balance of his administration.[63]. Under President Pierce, a series of violent confrontations escalated over who had the right to vote in Kansas. He married Elizabeth Speer on 16 April 1788, in Upper West Conococheague Church, Mercersburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States. The 175-Year History of Speculating About President James Buchanan's Mr. Brown was born Dec. 4, 1946, in Connellsville, to the late Ben I. and Frances M. Snyder Brown. In his betrayal of the national trust, Buchanan came closer to committing treason than any other president in American history. [50], Buchanan appointed one Justice, Nathan Clifford, to the Supreme Court of the United States. His father was a well established merchant, whereas his mother was an educated woman, this ensured that he got better opportunities than most other people of his time. He was the one of three surviving siblings out of a total of 12 siblings. [114] Biographer Baker opines that both men's nieces may have destroyed correspondence between the two men. On January 5, Buchanan decided to reinforce Fort Sumter, sending the Star of the West with 250 men and supplies. James Buchanan Dollar Coin | Learn the Current Value This resulted in violence between "Free-Soil" (antislavery) and pro-slavery settlers, which developed into the "Bleeding Kansas" period. Buchanan and running mate John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky carried every slave state except Maryland, defeating anti-slavery Republican John C. Frmont and Know-Nothing former president Millard Fillmore to win the 1856 presidential election. Buchanan was born in Washington, D.C., a son of William Baldwin Buchanan (Virginia, August 13, 1905 - Washington, D.C., January 1988), a partner in an accounting firm, and his wife Catherine Elizabeth (Crum) Buchanan (Charleroi, Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 23, 1911 - Oakton, Fairfax County, Virginia, September 18, 1995), a nurse and a homemaker.