Could James Buchanan Have Prevented The Civil War?

 

President James Buchanan

Some say that James Buchanan was a “weak, timid, old man” who did nothing to prevent the Southern states from seceding. Some historians have even declared Buchanan was an “accessory after the fact.” He was a president, a Southern sympathizer, and a traitor.

But was he?

The obvious comparisons are Andrew Jackson and George Washington. Jackson stood firm during the South Carolina nullification crisis and threatened to kick the nullifiers in the ass and hang all the traitors from the nearest tree branch if they laid a single hand on federal property or fortifications. During the Whiskey Insurrection, George Washington marched 13,000 troops to western Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion.

By comparison, James Buchanan hid in the White House and issued this special message to Congress on January 8, 1861. “No state has a right by its own act to secede from the Union or throw off its federal obligations at pleasure. To [Congress] belongs the power to declare war or authorize the employment of military force....”

In effect, he said, I’m President, secession is illegal, but I don’t have any power to act or stop the individual states from seceding. It’s up to Congress.

That’s a wimpy opinion, at best.

To better understand it, we must take a more in-depth look at Buchanan’s presidency. The Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision days after Buchanan’s inauguration. It said African Americans, whether freemen or slaves, had no standing to sue in Federal courts. Congress had no authority to regulate slavery in states or territories gained after the United States’ formation.

Buchanan was sure the Dred Scott decision settled the slavery issue once and for all. But Northerners worried the decision would cause slavery to be legalized in the newly organized western states and possibly restored in the Northern states. For the South, it was a vindication that slavery was legal. It strengthened their belief that abolitionists were enemies of the Union.

President Buchanan thought the Dred Scott case settled the
slavery question. He was wrong?

Tensions continued to flare throughout Buchanan’s presidency. In 1857, he supported the Lecompton Constitution, which protected slaveholders’ rights in Kansas. Northern Democrats, particularly Stephen Douglas (architect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act), were outraged by the document. One result was the split in the Democratic Party during the 1860 election that enabled Abraham Lincoln to win the presidency.

Perhaps the biggest problem was Buchanan’s failure to take a decisive stand for or against slavery. He held that slavery was a constitutional issue, not one the executive could decide. He said: “The Constitution expressly recognizes the right to hold slaves as property in states where slavery exists. This, then, is not a question of general morality affecting the consciences of men, but it is a question of Constitutional law.”

And after that, “...our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in the Civil War. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hands to preserve it by force.”

The ultimate break came on December 20, 1860. South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Secession and formally seceded from the Union. Five days later, Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb stepped down because Buchanan said secession was illegal. Shortly after that, Lewis Cass, Buchanan’s Secretary of State, resigned because he didn’t feel the President was doing enough to stop secession.

Six more states seceded from the Union between January 9 and February 1, 1861—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

In January 1861, Senators Stephen Douglas and William Seward attempted to appease the Southern states. When that failed, Virginia led the call for a peace convention. It was held at Willard’s Hotel in Washington and was presided over by former President John Tyler. At the end of the conference in mid-February, several proposals that would have required new amendments to the Constitution were delivered to Congress. They were reviewed in committee, then set aside.

Of course, there is another explanation for Buchanan’s inaction. Perhaps he was waiting for the South to strike the first blow. It would have been much easier to sell a war to Congress and the people if the South were the aggressor. That’s what happened with Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4. President Lincoln advised South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens that he planned to resupply Fort Sumter in early April. The Confederate Government ordered Major Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter, to evacuate the fort. He refused. Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, and Anderson surrendered the fort on April 14.

The next day, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 troops to help put down the rebellion.

The Civil War had begun.