In search of Buchanan : 'Clarior hinc honos' : the stories of some Buchanan ancestors before and after the emigration of James Buchanan of Ramelton, County Donegal, Ireland, in 1783
iii, 152, [17] pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color), portraits (some color), facsimiles ; 25 cm
Notes
Sub-title on cover: from Anselan to President James Buchanan.
"Some of these stories are incorporated in the BBC1 TV documentary, 'Are you related to an American President?', produced by Big Mountain Productions."
Introduction: Remembering -- Leavening, 1786-1819 -- Hardening, 1820-1834 -- Messing, 1834-1840 -- Wooing, 1840-1844 -- Ministering, 1844-1848 -- Running, 1848-1853 -- Presiding, 1853-1868 -- Epilogue: Preserving -- Washington residences of James Buchanan and William Rufus King (1834-1853) -- Percentage correlation of roll call votes of James Buchanan with senators of the Bachelor's Mess, 23rd to 28th Congresses (1834-1844) -- Calendar of correspondence of James Buchanan / Harriet Lane Johnston and William Rufus King / Catherine Margaret Ellis (1837-1868.
Summary
"Politicians James Buchanan (1791-1868) of Pennsylvania and William Rufus King (1786-1853) of Alabama has excited much speculation through the years. Why did they never marry? Might they have been gay, or was their relationship a nineteenth-century version of the modern-day 'bromance'? Then, as now, they have intrigued by the many mysteries surrounding them. In Bosom Friends : the Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, Thomas Balcerski explores the lives of these two politicians and discovers one of the most significant collaborations in American political history. Unlikely companions from the start, they lived together as messmates in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse. There developed a bosom friendship that blossomed into a significant political partnership. Before the Civil War, each man was elected to high executive office, William Rufus King the vice-presidency in 1852 and James Buchanan as the nation's fifteen president in 1856. This book offers a dual biography of James Buchanan and William Rufus King. Special attention is given to their early lives prior to elected office, the circumstances of their boardinghouse friendship, and the juicy political gossip that has circulated about them ever since. In addition, the author traces their many contributions to the Jacksonian political agenda, manifest destiny, and the debates over slavery, while finding their style of politics to have been disastrous for the American nation. Ultimately, Bosom Friends demonstrates that intimate male friendships among politicians were, and continue to be, an important part of success in American politics"-- Provided by publisher.
Papers from a conference held at LancasterHistory.org in 2008. Presentation copy from the editors.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Introduction: Bum rap or bad leadership? -- James Buchanan, Dred Scott, and the whisper of conspiracy / Paul Finkelman -- Prelude to armageddon: James Buchanan, Brigham Young, and a president's initiation to bloodshed / William P. MacKinnon -- General Jackson is dead: James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, and Kansas policy / Nicole Etcheson -- In defense of doughface diplomacy: a reevaluation of the foreign policy of James Buchanan / John M. Belohlavek -- President James Buchanan: executive leadership and the crisis of the democracy / Michael A. Morrison -- The South has been wronged: James Buchanan and the secession crisis / Jean H. Baker -- "In the midst of a great revolution": the northern response to the secession crisis / William G. Shade -- Joseph Holt, James Buchanan, and the secession crisis / Daniel W. Crofts -- A conversation with William W. Freehling and Michael F. Holt, September 19, 2008 / Moderated by John W. Quist -- Epilogue: James Buchanan's Civil War / Michael J. Birkner.
Summary
An edited volume examining the presidency of James Buchanan and his role engaging the complexities of the debate surrounding the president immediately before Lincoln.
James Buchanan; paper read before the Kittochtinny Historical Society of Franklin County, Friday evening, March 30, 1900, at the residence of Dr. Chas. F. Palmer, Chambersburg, Pa
A Pennsylvania Presbyterian president : An inquiry into the religious sentiments and character of James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States, 1857-1861
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 2 Papers of Harriet Lane Johnston, Series 1 Correspondence
Description
James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 2 Papers of Harriet Lane Johnston, Series 1 contains the correspondence of Harriet Lane Johnston.
Subseries 1 contains letters written by Harriet to James Buchanan, Lily Macalester and Charles Macalester, Lois Buchanan, Hiram B. Swarr, Mary Speer, and others from 1848-1902.
Subseries 2 contains letters written to Harriet from Captain W. R. Palmer, Alfred Pleasanton, Laura Pleasanton, Isaac E. Hiester and others from 1854 to 1897, including several describing Washington, D.C. in 1861.
Admin/Biographical History
Born on May 9, 1830, Harriet Lane was the youngest surviving child of Elliot Toll Lane and Jane Buchanan Lane. When both of her parents died of consumption, now known as tuberculosis, Harriet went on to be her Uncle James Buchanan's ward in 1841. A well-educated lady, Harriet attended several boarding schools before graduating from the Georgetown Academy of Visitation Convent at the age of 18. When James Buchanan served as the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, Harriet Lane joined him for a time and served as a hostess. During her time in England, which she noted as "the realization of a beautiful dream," she befriended none other than Queen Victoria. When her Uncle assumed the presidency, Harriet Lane assumed her role as hostess. She is considered the first First Lady, as the title had initially been given to the president's hostess during Harriet's time in Washington.
After Buchanan's presidency, Harriet Lane married Henry Elliot Johnston, a banker from Baltimore, on January 11, 1866. She was 35 years old. The couple went on to have two sons, both of whom would pass away from rheumatic fever in their early teenage years. Two years after losing her youngest son, Harriet lost her husband to pneumonia. By 1884, Harriet was a childless widow. She would go on to leave a legacy for generations to come, including establishing a children's hospital in Baltimore called The Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children (today the Harriet Lane Clinic at the John's Hopkins Children's Hospital), preserving her Uncle's letters and manuscripts, bestowing her art collection to the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., and constructing the St. Alban's School, a school for choir boys. She died on July 3, 1903. [ https://www.lancasterhistory.org/about-wheatland/, accessed 10/24/2019]
James Buchanan Papers, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/collection-descriptions/james-buchanan-papers
James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/collections/james-buchanan-and-harriet-lane-johnston-papers/
James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/b/Buchanan0091.html
James Buchanan Papers, Penn State University Libraries, https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1458.htm
Related Item Notes
James Buchanan Family Papers
James Buchanan Collection, MG0096
Historical Society of Pennsylvania microfilm
Photograph collections
Curatorial collections
Wheatland Mansion
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Custodial History
The James Buchanan Family Papers were collected by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. This collection was relocated from the Wheatland mansion to the LancasterHistory archives in the Spring of 2009. Digitization of the James Buchanan Family Papers was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 201808013051, 2019-2020.
