People have many opinions when it comes to presidents. Some think a particular president is good, while others may think the same president is bad. In American history, there have been many presidents that have done a good job keeping the country together while others haven’t.  Many people may have a difficult time deciding who is a good president and who is not, depending on their expectations, but many people are in agreement on who is the worst president in United States history. 

James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States. He served from 1857 to 1861 and was a member of the Democratic Party. He is believed to be the worst president in US history. Buchanan did many things that led to disaster. 

The reason he is the worst president is because he took no action to unite the country. Many people had different opinions about slavery. During his presidency, deciding what to do about slavery was becoming a problem. Buchanan also didn’t stop Southern states from seceding in the lead-up to the Civil War. The Civil War happened when the country split between the Union and the Confederacy. During this war, many people died and suffered. 

James Buchanan didn’t try to keep the Union together. According to a Britannica article, “His strategy for the preservation of the Union consisted in the prevention of Northern antislavery agitation and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850).” His plans were not helpful in maintaining the Union or addressing the problem of slavery. 

Buchanan was against slavery, but he didn’t believe that he had the right or power to do anything about it. He believed the law had more rights. In an article by Ducksters it says, “Although Buchanan was against slavery personally, he believed strongly in the law. He also wanted to avoid civil war at all costs. He stood by the Dred Scott ruling. He even went so far as to help the pro-slavery groups in Kansas, because he felt they were on the right side of the law. This stance only served to divide the country further.” 

Buchanan was one of the weakest presidents. Once he left office, he left the next president to fix all the problems that he’d left behind. It says in a History article that “Buchanan asserted that states did not have the right to secede; however, he also believed he had no constitutional power to stop them. In the end, he left the slavery crisis to be resolved by the Lincoln administration.”

This makes many people believe James Buchanan was the worst president in the history of the United States. His actions helped lead to the Civil War, in which the country broke apart and citizens were fighting against citizens of the same country.