Key Events in the Presidency of James Buchanan
1856
November 4, 1856 – James Buchanan and John Breckinridge win election against
Republican candidate John C. Fremont even though Fremont wins 11 of 31 states, all of
them in the North, and against Millard Fillmore who ran on both the Whig and KnowNothing Party tickets
1857
March 4, 1857 – James Buchanan (Democrat – PA) inaugurated as the 15th president
March 6, 1857 – Dred Scott decision by Southern pro-slavery majority on the Supreme
Court rules that 1) blacks are not citizens, and 2) slavery cannot be prohibited in the
territories
September 11, 1857 –. Mountain Meadow Massacre, Utah results in death of 120
people. Emigrants heading for California are killed in Utah by Indians incited by
Mormon fanatic John D. Lee in indirect retaliation for Buchanan’s order to remove
Brigham Young from his position as governor.
October 5, 1857 – Kansas is elected a free-state legislature under governor Fobert J.
Walker. Elections were held under supervision and thousands of fraudulent proslavery
votes were rejected.
October 19, 1857 - Lecompton Constitution created in an underhanded way in territorial
capital of KA, Lecompton. Proposed constitutional referendum was rigged by proslavery
elements so that slavery could not be eliminated from the territory even by a negative
majority vote. The pro-slavery minority in Kansas rigged a constitutional convention and
drafted a pro-slavery state constitution. Stephen Douglas and Northern Democrats allied
with Republicans in Congress to reject the pro-slavery document and refuse admittance
of Kansas as a slave state. Lecompton Constitution exploited a loophole that Stephen
Douglas had created three years before by turning the bills on the Kansas and Nebraska
governments into the Kansas-Nebraska Act which effectively overturned the Missouri
Compromise and allowed them to determine themselves the issue of slavery.
1858
January 4, 1858 – The Lecompton Constitution loses by overwhelming vote
March 23, 1858 – Senate votes to accept Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton
Constitution after it has already been rejected in Kansas. The House votes to resubmit
the constitution to popular vote
May 4, 1858 – Congress passes the English Bill after Rep. William English (ID). is
compromise between House and Senate bills on admission of Kansas. Effectively
resubmits the Lecompton Constitution to voters of Kansas with attached incentive of
promised land if it is ratified.
May 11, 1858 – Minnesota admitted as the 32nd state in the Union
August 2, 1858 – Lecompton Constitution is submitted by federal government to the
people of Kansas for the third time. It is rejected and the territory becomes nonslaveholding and does not officially enter the union until 1861.
1858-1859 – Congressional Elections. Republican Party makes a strong showing.
1858 – Lincoln-Douglas debates in which Douglas reconciles "popular sovereignty" with
the Dred Scott decision by arguing that territorial governments can refuse to pass laws
necessary to support slavery (subsequently alienates Southern Democrats). Lincoln
denounces the Dred Scott decision and upholds moral opposition to slavery. Lincoln later
loses the Illinois Senate race, but secures his national reputation as an anti-slavery
spokesman
1859
February 14, 1859 - Admission of Oregon as 33rd state in the Union
March 12, 1859 – reopening of the African slave trade was urged by Vicksburg
Commercial Convention. 1820 act forbade further importation of slaves but Vicksburg
pushed repeal of all restrictions and slave trade reopened.
July 5, 1858 – Kansas Constitutional Convention in Wyandotte, KA. Discuss whether
Kansas should be a free or slave state.
October 4, 1858 – Kansas Constitution was ratified as antislavery by an overwhelming
vote of 421 to 5530.
1859 – Comstock Lode is discovered in western Nevada. First major US silver strike and
richest ever US silver deposit
October 16, 1859 - John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Brown captured and executed
for treason, something which provokes the creation of militias in Southern states. Brown
wanted to establish an abolitionist republic in the Appalachians to fight slavery with
fugitive slaves and abolitionist whites. Brown was hanged at Charles Town, VA for
murder, conspiracy, and treason against VA. Southerners saw Brown as a traitor who
deserved death, but Northerners saw him as a martyr and hero. Lincoln, Thoreau, and
Longfellow all exalted his actions, proclaiming that “when a government puts forth its
strength… to kill the liberators of the slave, what a merely brute… force it is seen to be.”
(Thoreau) Further polarizes sides for the ensuing Civil War.
1860
February 27, 1860 – Abraham Lincoln delivers address at Cooper Union in NYC. Set
forth the platform of the Republican Party and established the no-compromise decision
on slavery. Pushes Lincoln into lead for presidential nomination on Republican ticket.
April 23, 1860 – National convention of the Democratic Party meets at Charleston, SC.
No nominations are decided. Led by Stephen Douglas.
May 9, 1860 – Constitutional Union party nominates John Bell for presidency and
Edward Everett for vice presidency. CU party is composed of remnants of the Whig and
American parties.
May 16-18, 1860 – Republican National Convention nominates Abraham Lincoln for
presidency and Hannibal Hamlin for vice presidency.
June 18-23, 1860 – Democratic Party nominates Stephen Douglas for presidency and
Herschel Johnson for vice presidency.
June 28, 1860 – Southern Democrats nominate John C. Breckinridge for presidency and
Joseph Lane for vice presidency. Their platform supports slavery in the territories.
November 6, 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the US. Electoral
vote with Lincoln with 180, Breckinridge with 72, Bell with 39, and Douglas with 12.
Breckinridge is the Southern Democrat’s nominee, and places second on a platform
which directly opposes that of Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party’s. This vote
tally shows the division in the country and in popular opinion North and South.
December 18, 1860 – Crittenden Compromise is last minute attempt to persuade
southern states to remain in the Union. Proposed by Sen. John Crittenden whereby
constitutional amendments would extend the Missouri Compromise line across the
country and allow slavery south of the line. Lincoln opposed, adhering to what he had
stipulated in the Cooper Union address in that he would not compromise on the issue of
slavery.
December 20, 1860 – South Carolina secedes from the Union
1860-1861 – Congressional elections the Republicans take control of both House and
Senate. Confused state once Southern states begin succeeding.
1861
January 9, 1861 – Mississippi becomes second state to secede from Union.
January 10, 1861 – Florida secedes from Union.
January 11, 1861 – Alabama secedes from Union.
January 19, 1861 – Georgia secedes from Union.
January 26, 1861 – Lousiana secedes from Union.
January 29, 1861 – Kansas is admitted to the Union as the 34th state. Enters as a free
state.
February 4, 1861 – Confederate States of America formed in Montgomery, AL.
February 9, 1861 - Jefferson Davis elected president with Alexander Stephens as vice
president. Congressional Provisional Congress asserts that all laws of US that are not in
accordance with laws of the Confederate States Constitution would not be followed.
February 18, 1861 – Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederacy.
Capital of the Confederacy was Montgomery and later moved to Richmond, VA.
February 23, 1861 – Texas secedes from Union.
March 2, 1861 – Congressional act establishes that territories Nevada and Dakota will be
established out of Utah Territory and Nebraska Territory respectively.
March 4, 1861 – Confederate flag “stars and bars” is established and adopted at
convention. Seven stars and three stripes. In Battle of Bull Run got flag confused with
Union flag so created new battle flag consisting of red field with blue cross of St. Andrew
with 13 stars. Abraham Lincoln inaugurated as president of the United States.