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James
Buchanan
15th President of the United States (1857 - 61)
Ancestral
Ulster County: Tyrone
Birthplace: Stony Batter, Pennsylvania
Religious Denomination: Presbyterian
Political Party: Democratic
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James
Buchanan was the second of America's 'first generation' presidents,
his parents leaving Donegal in 1783 to settle in Pennsylvania. The
family were originally from Deroran, near Omagh, Co Tyrone.
Buchanan
had a distinguished diplomatic career before becoming president,
serving as Minister to Russia (1831 - 33) under President Jackson
and as Minister to Britain (1853 - 56). In 1837 he had been elected
chairman of the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee and
subsequently was appointed Secretary of State by James Polk in March
1845.
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In
many ways Buchanan's presidency came as an anti-climax to the heights
he had achieved in his earlier career and particularly so in view of the
gathering clouds of Civil War. It was during Buchanan's presidency that
John Brown attempted unsuccessfully to lead a slave revolt (1859) and
that the first states began to secede from the Union, beginning with South
Carolina in December 1860.
James
Buchanan lived long enough to see his country reunited, dying at the age
of 78 in his Wheatland home in Pennsylvania on 1 June 1868.
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