James Buchanan And African American Slavery

James Buchanan was the last president of the United States before the Civil War. Hispresidency is in a period of extreme intensification of the contradiction between the north andsouth sides. So many debates and conflicts has occurred in slavery, tariffs and the power of stateand the most prominent performance is on slavery. This article explores the ideological principleof Buchanan’s slavery attitude and combines the deeds of the Buchanan government in thegrowing slavery conflicts,so as to re-evaluate Buchanan.This paper is divided into five parts, which include the introduction, Factors that affectBuchanan treat slavery, attitude that Buchanan treat blacks slavery, President Buchanan’s acts inthe issue of dealing with slavery, the words and deeds when the federal faced split situation afterLincoln was elected president and Two Reflections on Buchanan and Slavery.The exordium elaborate the situation of this research at home and abroad and show thepossibility and feasibility about study of Buchanan and research significance.The first chapter analyzes the factors which impact Buchanan treat slavery. I believe thereare three major aspects which include Slavery problem left by the Constituent Assembly, thethoughts of Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson, as well as marriage and family, academic,and religious beliefs.The second chapter discusses the attitude and thoughts of Buchanan that treat blacks slavery.Buchanan opposed to slavery morally in the early time. He is a centrist abolitionist. He treat theproblem of slavery to maintain compliance with the principle of the supremacy of constitutionalsupremacy and federal stance. He tried to avoid the partisan struggle, and regional disputestriggered by slavery which would result in the split of the Federation.The third chapter elaborate the performance of Buchanan dealing with slavery in thepresidential term. When Buchanan took office, he form the Cabinet with various forces, in orderto maintain the balance of the north-south political forces. He intervened the Supreme Court’sdecision in Dred Scott, the impact of the court’s verdict, attempting to solve Slavery by judicialmeans. He recognized the Lecompton Constitution supported by pro-slavery faction to quelldomestic slavery controversy. Facing the Federal disunity after Lincoln was elected president. He criticized the disruptive behavior and tried to maintain federal reunification by peaceful meanswithin the Constitution.The fourth chapter is a reflection and summary of the full text.This chapter explains whyBuchanan can not avoid civil war, compare the attitude of Lincoln and Buchanan about slaveryand evaluate the status of Buchanan in the history of the United States.