JAMES BUCHANAN

James Buchanan Jr. was born April 23, 1791, in a log cabin in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, to James Buchanan Sr. (1761–1821) and Elizabeth Speer (1767–1833)[31]  Shortly after Buchanan’s birth the family moved to a farm near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1794 the family moved into the town. His father was a merchant, real estate investor and farmer.  He would become the wealthiest resident in Mercersburg.[32]

Soon after the War of 1812, Buchanan at twenty-three years old, won election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party.  He served in the legislature from 1814 until 1819 while still maintaining his law practice.[68]  He later was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives serving five consecutive terms, from 1821 to 1831. In 1832, when Andrew Jackson was elected to his second term as president, he appointed Buchanan as his envoy to Russia.[69]

In 1834 Buchanan returned to the United States and was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat, where he would serve 10 years.  In 1845, he resigned to when James K. Polk selected him to be Secretary of State. In 1852, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, losing to Franklin Pierce.  However after Pierce was elected President, he made Buchanan his minister to England.[70]