this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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I'm not too knowledgeable of Buchanan's role specifically in the events leading up to the war, and I'm not asking this as some attempt to defend him, but so many times I've read something along the lines of "Buchanan consistently ranks at/near the bottom because of his failure to find a compromise to prevent the Civil War".
Was there really a compromise to be had in regard to slavery? What would that have been? Let some states peacefully secede because the whole country couldn't agree on slavery? Set up some legal guidelines/restrictions on slavery if they stay in the Union?
I can't see how anyone in office at that time, Buchanan or not, would've avoided a war without allowing slavery to continue. I'm sure there are Constitutional experts out there that could explain how secession could work when there are significant differences amongst major segments of the population. But the conversation is different when you're talking about inbred rednecks that are willing to die for their "right" to own other people.
So seriously, what compromise was this poor douche supposed to pull out of his ass?
You're right. People asking for a comprimise 160 years too late forget the missouri compromise, bleeding kansas, the Lecompton crisis and John Brown's raids. Slavery and slave states had to continually expand in order to remain economically viable, there was no compromise that slave states could accept, which is why war was necessary. James Buchanon was a Democrat who represented Southern interests, he could not find a compromise because the South could not accept any compromise and remain competitive with the North.
The reason Buchanon is the worst President is because he sees the Civil War coming and tries to set up a Southern victory during his administration.