 | BIOGRAPHY
James Buchanan
Secretary of State,
Term of Appointment:
03/10/1845 to
03/07/1849
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- Born at Cove Gap, near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791;
- Graduated from Dickinson College in 1809;
- Admitted to the bar in 1812 and practiced in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; served in the defense of Baltimore in the War of 1812;
- Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1814-1816;
- Representative from Pennsylvania, 1821-1831;
- Served as Minister to Russia, 1832-1833;
- Senator from Pennsylvania, 1834-1845;
- Served as Secretary of State in President Polk's Cabinet March 10, 1845 until March 7, 1849;
- As Secretary of State, negotiated and signed the Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Great Britain; directed the negotiation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 with Mexico; and sought unsuccessfully to purchase Cuba from Spain;
- Unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1852;
- Served as Minister to Great Britain, 1853-1856;
- One of the three United States Ministers who drew up the Ostend Manifesto of 1854;
- President of the United States, 1857-1861;
- Retired to Wheatland his country estate near Lancaster; never married;
- Died at Wheatland on June 1, 1868.
Released on July 15, 2003
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