BUCHANAN.
BUCHANAN.
politics, and acquired a small estate a little out-
side the city of Lancaster, known as Wheatland,
and this henceforth became his home. The
death of his sister, Mrs. Lane, in 1839, left to
him the care and education of four children, and
the youngest of them, Harriet, was of such a ten-
der age that it was possible for her natural
guardian to mould her character as he wished;
to direct the education of the young girl, to
form her religious and moral principles, to
guard her against temptation that would natur-
ally come in the paths of one of her impetuous
disposition, and to develop in her the character
of a true woman, became one of the chief objects
of his busy life. His letters to her, which began
in her early youth, rcA'eal a beautiful side of his
character, of which the world knows but little.
He wrote nmuerous public letters during his
retirement, and the compromise measures of
1850, offered by Mr. Clay, the abolition of slave
trade in the District of Columbia, and the fugi-
tive slave law received his commendation and
approval. When the Democratic party regained
power in 1853, President Pierce offered to Mr.
Buchanan the position of minister to England.
In urging his acceptance the President said:
" I can assure you if you accept the mission
Pennsylvania shall not receive one appointment
more or less on that account. I shall consider
yours as an appointment for the whole countrj^,
and I wiU not say that Pennsylvania shall not
have more in case of your acceptance than if you
should decline the mission." The pressure
brought to bear was so strong that he finaUy
accepted. The fisheries reciprocity with Canada,
and the Monroe doctrine as relating to Central
American states, which had not been satis-
factorily established by the Clayton-Bulwer
treat}^, were the uppermost subjects for discus-
sion and settlement. President Pierce decided
that the questions of reciprocity and the fisheries
should be negotiated at Washington, and the
Central American question was referred to Lon-
don. Mr. Buchanan was the originator and one
of the three members of the Ostend conference
that met in 1854 to consider the subject of the
acquisition of Cuba by the United States, and
with his colleagues maintained that on the prin-
ciple of self-preservation from dangers of the
gravest kind, an armed intervention of the United
States and the capture of the island from the
Spaniards would be justifiable. He returned to
the United States in the latter part of April, 1856,
accompanied by his niece, Harriet Lane, who
had been for over a year his guest, and upon his
arrival in New York was accorded a public recep-
tion from the authorities and people of the citj",
which evinced the interest that was everywhere
manifested towards him as an able statesman
and the probable coming chief executive. He re-
turned to Wheatland, and there received news
of his nomination as the Democratic candidate
for President by the convention held at Cincin-
nati in 1856. The Whig part}' had passed from
existence. The anti-slavery party adopted the
name of Republican, nominated John C. Fre-
mont as their candidate for President, and the
question of slavery in the territories was made
the issue of the campaign. The repeal of the
Missouri compromise and the passage of the Kan-
sas-Nebraska act, which had been followed in
Kansas by an internecine contest between pro-
slavery and anti-slavery settlers, gave the can-
vass a sectional fervor which was smothered but
not extinguished by the election in November,
when Mr. Buchanan secured the electoral vote
of Arkansas, Alabama, California, Delaware,
Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey,
North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia,
one hundred and thirty-nine electoral votes,
which made him President of the United States.
He was inaugurated March 4, 1857, and was
welcomed to the presidency bj^ many anxious and
patriotic citizens outside of his own party sup-
porters, who saw danger in the radical doctrines
of the minority party. His niece, Harriet Lane,
became mistress of the White House, and was
admirably qualified to make the new administra-
tion a social success. In the selection of his
cabinet he made Lewis Cass, of Michigan, secre-
tary of state ; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, secretary
of the treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia,
secretary of war ; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut,
secretarj- of the navy ; Jacob Thompson, of Mis-
sissippi, secretary of the interior; Aaron V.
Brown, of Tennessee, postmaster-general, and
Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, attorney-
general. The state of the country when this
administration was organized was ominous to its
peace and welfare. The autumn of 1857 saw a
financial crisis of that kind which is apt to recur
in an expanding country as the cycle advances
from booming prosperity to the over-confident
and over-productive stage. Although the sever-
ity of the times gradually relaxed, and both con-
fidence and activity were by anotlier twelve
months fairly restored, it took a long time to do
away with the effects of the panic. The preced-
ing administration had left a legacy of trouble
in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. The
Kansas-Nebraska act was a bone of contention
between two factions of the Democratic party,
and the President had to consider what was the
limitation imposed by the constitution of the
L'nited States upon the operation of this newly
created right. He stood by the decision of the
supreme court in the famous Dred Scott case, and
