Timeline |
1791 |
Born 23 April |
1809 |
Graduates from Dickinson College, begins to study law |
1812 |
Admitted to the bar |
1812 |
Volunteers in the War of 1812 |
1814 |
Serves in the lower house of the state legislature |
1819 |
Is engaged to Ann Caroline Coleman for a short time - she breaks off the engagement and dies of overdose shortly thereafter |
1821 |
Serves as a representative in Congress |
1830 |
Chairman of the judiciary committee |
1832 |
Serves as minister to Russia until 1834 |
1834 |
Elected to the United States Senate, serves until 1845 |
1845 |
Resigns the Senate to accept a Cabinet portfolio |
1845 |
Serves as Secretary of State under James Polk |
1846 |
Negotiates the Oregon Treaty |
1853 |
Named president of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College |
1853 |
Serves as minister to the United Kingdom until 1856 |
1856 |
Elected president |
1856 |
Helps draft Ostend Manifesto |
1857 |
Buchannan fully supports Lecompton Consitution in Kansas |
1861 |
Buchanan leaves office - at this time seven states have succeeded, the Confederacy is already formed, nearly all the forts and arsenals are already lost, and 25% of all federal soldiers have surrended to Texas troops - Lincoln enters office |
1868 |
Dies 1 June |