JAMES BUCHANAN
1857 - 1861
Arizona Timeline
1857 - Lt. Beale, commissioned by the U. S. Government to build a wagon road along the 35th parallel, uses camels, pack mules and horses. His road
building crews locate springs in the Kingman area that would eventually bear his name and become one of the first water sources for the town.
1859 - Fort Mojave is established by Col. William Hoffman. The 6th U. S. Infantry, a force of 600 men, marched from Yuma to the Mojave villages to
protect travelers on the Beale Road against the Mojave Indians in Northwest Arizona Territory.
James Buchanan was the 15th
president and the only president
who never married. He was born
in 1791 in Franklin County,
Pennsylvania, studied law, and
became a member of the
Pennsylvania state legislature at
the age of 23. He was Minister to
Russia and to England, and was
Secretary of State under President
Polk.
Harriet Lane acted as White
House hostess for James
Buchanan, her favorite uncle.
She was born in 1830 in Franklin
County, Pennsylvania and was
orphaned at the age of eleven.
Buchanan supervised her
education and introduced her to
fashionable circles. As her uncle's
hostess she won national
popularity.
President James Buchanan served as a representative in Congress from 1821 to 1831 and was a Democratic member of the Senate from 1834 until 1845.
Though he felt that slavery was morally wrong, his position was that Congress had no legal power to interfere in states where slavery already existed.
During his administration he leaned toward pro- slavery factions, but worked to preserve the union, trying to effect a peaceful settlement of the differences
between the North and South. However, it was not possible to placate both the North and the South during this period of tension. In the last year of his
presidency, the South seceded. He supported President Lincoln and the Union until he died in 1868.
While Buchanan was serving as Secretary of State under President Polk, his niece Harriet Lane was welcomed to Washington and called the new
“ Democratic Queen.” While serving as White House hostess during the Buchanan administration, she gave special care in seating arrangements for fomal
dinners to see that political foes were kept apart. When Buchanan retired from office she returned with him to his home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At
the age of 36 she married Henry Johnston, and after losing her uncle, her husband and two sons over the next 18 years, decided to live in Washington
where she acquired a large art collection. The collection was accepted by the Smithsonian Institution after her death in 1903.
