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By
George Peter Alexander Healy, 1859. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution |
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Fifteenth President, 1857-1861
James Buchanan entered the White House at a time when the fight between
North and South over slavery was spinning out of control, and both
sides ignored his calls for compromise. During Buchanan's presidency,
abolitionist John Brown attempted to capture the federal arsenal at
Harper's Ferry, Virginia, as a base from which slave rebellions could
be mounted. Although Brown was caught and hanged, his raid frightened
slave owners--as well as the government. Fearing another action, Buchanan
sent federal agents to arrest influential abolitionist Frederick Douglass,
a former slave. Douglass eluded arrest by fleeing the country, but
he soon returned to continue the fight through public speaking and
his antislavery newspaper, the North Star. |
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