James Buchanan was born in 1791 near Mercersburg, in Franklin County. After college he moved to Lancaster to study law, and the city became his home for the rest of his life.
He served in Congress, as minister to Russia and Britain, as a U.S. senator and as secretary of state.
Wheatland
In 1848 Buchanan bought Wheatland, a Federal-style brick house built in 1828 on what was then the edge of Lancaster. He ran his 1856 presidential campaign largely from the house, meeting visitors and political allies there.
He won, becoming the 15th president, the only one from Pennsylvania.
A troubled presidency
Buchanan’s term was dominated by the fight over slavery. He backed the Dred Scott decision and the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution in Kansas. When Southern states began to secede after Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, Buchanan said secession was illegal but that he lacked the power to stop it. Historians generally rank him among the weakest presidents.
Retirement
He returned to Wheatland in 1861 and lived there until his death in 1868. He is buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery in Lancaster.
Wheatland is now part of LancasterHistory, which runs tours of the house and exhibits on Buchanan’s life.