James Buchanan was the fifteenth president of the United States.  In 1859 President Buchanan wrote Mrs. James Polk a letter saying:
 

"I am now in my sixty-ninth year and am heartily tired of my position as president.  I shall leave it in the beginning of March 1861, should a kind Providence prolong my days, until that period, with much greater satisfaction than when entering on the duties of the office."

Important events during President Buchanan's administration were:

• The Supreme Court found that the Dred Scott decision which the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

• Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd state.

• The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place between August and October 1858.

• Oregon was admitted as the 33rd state.

• Oil was discovered in Pennsylvania on August 27, 1859.

• Harper's Ferry, Virginia was raided by John Brown on October 16, 1859 to cause a slave revolt.

• The population rose to 31 million in 1860, which included 4 million slaves.

• The Pony Express service began between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California on April 3, 1860.  Mail could be delivered in less than two weeks.

• South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860.

• Kansas was admitted as the 34th state on January 29, 1861.

• The Confederate States of America were organized on February 4, 1861.

James Buchanan was

• the second President born in New York.

• the second President whose father was alive when he was inaugurated.

• the second President to remarry.

• the fourth President to marry a widow.

• the first President to have a step-mother..