James Buchanan (1791-1868) was the 15th President of the United States. A Democrat from Pennsylvania, he was President from 1857-1861, and probably best remembered as one of the most negatively viewed presidents in our nation’s history. He is consistently ranked as one of our worst presidents, mainly because he was president as tensions between the abolitionist North and the slaveholding South rose to a boil. By the end of his term, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, with ten other Southern states following suit shortly thereafter, as a result of the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln. These events were succeeded by the Civil War, which roared from 1861-1865.