Presidential Shenanigans: James Buchanan Frees His Slaves
James Buchanan usually wins the prize for "worst president ever" and in fact two books have been written about him with that phrase in their title. Buchanan was a northerner, but he sought support among southerners by supporting their right to own slaves. He apparently did not see slavery as a moral issue, but rather as a legal one, and since it was permissible under the Constitution, Buchanan had no qualms about southerners owning other human beings of a different skin color. His home state did not permit slavery. But it turns out that Buchanan did in fact purchase slaves. But he did so only in order to give them their freedom.
In 1834, Buchanan was campaigning to become his state's US Senator. His home state of Pennsylvania had passed the Gradual Abolition Act in 1780, and by 1834 Pennsylvania was no longer a slave state. But the move for the abolition of the "peculiar institution" had not yet grown to the point of political popularity. When Buchanan went to visit his family before the election, he learned that his sister Harriet, who lived in Virginia with her husband, a minister, owned two slaves-a mother and daughter named Daphne and Ann Cook. According to Buchanan's leading biographer Philip S. Klein, “this was political dynamite.” Buchanan believed that if word got out about his being a slave-holding family, this might prematurely end his political career. To solve the problem, Buchanan took it upon himself to purchase the two slaves and then free them.
While the two former slaves were technically "free", they continued to be work for Buchanan. Buchanan was single and had no wife to manage his household, as was the traditional division of responsibility in marriages of his day. In 1834, he hired Esther Parker, the daughter of a local innkeeper, as his housekeeper. Known as “Miss Hetty,” she served him for 34 years. But she had no servants to manage. Buchanan turned a contract of slavery into a contract of indenture. The "sales documents" giving him ownership of the two included an agreement that Daphne, then 22, would be indentured to his service for seven years. Her 5-year-old daughter, Ann, was required to serve Buchanan for 23 years. Though "free", the mother and child Cook were bound to continue to work for Buchanan.
The slavery issue came to a boil in the build-up to Civil War, although Buchanan managed to to avoid becoming embroiled in the conflict over slavery in the four years leading up to his Presidency in 8566. In the preceding years he had been living and working in London as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
Although slavery was illegal in Pennsylvania, indentured servitude continued there long after it had been abandoned in most states. Throughout his political career, Buchanan was branded as a “Doughface”, a derogatory term used to identify a Northerner who sympathized with Southerners when it came to slavery. He had refused to support the Wilmot Proviso, a proposed law that would have banned slavery in all of the territory the United States gained from Mexico (including Texas) at the end of the Mexican-American War. He also supported returning escaped slaves to their masters. As President he tried to dodge the contentious issue, relying instead on the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, a decision Buchanan is thought to have influenced. Buchanan contacted some of the justices to urge them to support the majority position that Congress had no right to outlaw slavery, penned by Chief Justice Roger Taney.
The Cooks were not the only slaves that Buchanan "purchased." According to his nephew James Buchanan Henry, his uncle the president bought freedom for other slaves in Washington, and then brought them to Pennsylvania, “leaving them to repay him if they could out of their wages.” The number of times he did so is not clear, as most of his private papers were burned at the time of his death. It appears however that reports that Buchanan purchased the freedom of a number of enslaved people were not based on as noble of reasons as might first be suspected.
In 1834, Buchanan was campaigning to become his state's US Senator. His home state of Pennsylvania had passed the Gradual Abolition Act in 1780, and by 1834 Pennsylvania was no longer a slave state. But the move for the abolition of the "peculiar institution" had not yet grown to the point of political popularity. When Buchanan went to visit his family before the election, he learned that his sister Harriet, who lived in Virginia with her husband, a minister, owned two slaves-a mother and daughter named Daphne and Ann Cook. According to Buchanan's leading biographer Philip S. Klein, “this was political dynamite.” Buchanan believed that if word got out about his being a slave-holding family, this might prematurely end his political career. To solve the problem, Buchanan took it upon himself to purchase the two slaves and then free them.
While the two former slaves were technically "free", they continued to be work for Buchanan. Buchanan was single and had no wife to manage his household, as was the traditional division of responsibility in marriages of his day. In 1834, he hired Esther Parker, the daughter of a local innkeeper, as his housekeeper. Known as “Miss Hetty,” she served him for 34 years. But she had no servants to manage. Buchanan turned a contract of slavery into a contract of indenture. The "sales documents" giving him ownership of the two included an agreement that Daphne, then 22, would be indentured to his service for seven years. Her 5-year-old daughter, Ann, was required to serve Buchanan for 23 years. Though "free", the mother and child Cook were bound to continue to work for Buchanan.
The slavery issue came to a boil in the build-up to Civil War, although Buchanan managed to to avoid becoming embroiled in the conflict over slavery in the four years leading up to his Presidency in 8566. In the preceding years he had been living and working in London as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
Although slavery was illegal in Pennsylvania, indentured servitude continued there long after it had been abandoned in most states. Throughout his political career, Buchanan was branded as a “Doughface”, a derogatory term used to identify a Northerner who sympathized with Southerners when it came to slavery. He had refused to support the Wilmot Proviso, a proposed law that would have banned slavery in all of the territory the United States gained from Mexico (including Texas) at the end of the Mexican-American War. He also supported returning escaped slaves to their masters. As President he tried to dodge the contentious issue, relying instead on the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, a decision Buchanan is thought to have influenced. Buchanan contacted some of the justices to urge them to support the majority position that Congress had no right to outlaw slavery, penned by Chief Justice Roger Taney.
The Cooks were not the only slaves that Buchanan "purchased." According to his nephew James Buchanan Henry, his uncle the president bought freedom for other slaves in Washington, and then brought them to Pennsylvania, “leaving them to repay him if they could out of their wages.” The number of times he did so is not clear, as most of his private papers were burned at the time of his death. It appears however that reports that Buchanan purchased the freedom of a number of enslaved people were not based on as noble of reasons as might first be suspected.