USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -President Buchanan wrote a message to Congress which was delivered on December 3, 1860. In his message, Buchanan said that he believed secession was illegal. Yet Buchanan also said he did not believe the federal government had any right to prevent states from seceding. So Buchanan’s message pleased nobody.

Detailed explanation-2: -In his annual message to Congress, President James Buchanan repudiated any state’s right to secede but blamed the South Carolina secession movement on the “long-continued and intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery.” Buchanan tried diplomacy to keep South Carolina from seceding.

Detailed explanation-3: -How did James Buchanan respond as the secession crisis loomed over the final weeks of his presidential administration? He remained in Washington and did nothing. What was the result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates? Lincoln became nationally known.

Detailed explanation-4: -Buchanan later supported the Compromise of 1850, a series of congressional acts that admitted California as a free state but let the new western territories decide whether they would allow slavery before applying for statehood, a concept that became known as popular sovereignty.