Presidential Transitions: 1856
Franklin Pierce had the distinction of being the only incumbent to be elected president who wanted to seek a second term in office, but who did not win his party's nomination for one. Some presidents came into office promising to hold the office for only one term. Others had become president upon the death of the elected president and were denied their party's nomination in the second term. But Franklin Pierce won election to the office in 1852 and he fully expected to be renominated by the Democrats in 1856. But it was not to be.
Democrats knew that Pierce's chances of winning the election (or even his party's nomination) were slim. Pierce had made too many mistakes and his administration was widely disliked in the North for its position on the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Southern Democrats knew that they needed a candidate who could win some northern states, and they like Pierce's southern sentiments, but they were also aware of Pierce's electoral vulnerability. Nevertheless, his supporters tried to build an alliance with Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas to win the nomination. But the party got behind James Buchanan, an experienced former Pennsylvania senator and former secretary of state. Buchanan had been out of the country serving as ambassador to Great Britain, so he was not tarred with any unpopularity in the north over the Kansas-Nebraska controversy. He also had strong support in the south. He checked all the boxes that Democrats needed for a presidential candidate in 1856, or so it seemed. Little did Democrats know that their super-candidate would turn out to be one of the worst presidents ever.
When balloting began on June 5 at the Democratic convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Pierce expected to win a plurality of votes at least, if not the required two-thirds majority. Instead, on the first ballot, he received only 122 votes, many of them from the South. Buchanan finished ahead of him with 135 votes, with Douglas and Cass receiving the rest of the votes. By the following morning fourteen ballots had been completed, but none of the three main candidates were able to get two-thirds of the vote. Pierce's support had been slowly declining as the ballots passed, Seeing the writing on the wall, he directed his supporters to break for Douglas, withdrawing his name in a last-ditch effort to defeat Buchanan. Douglas, only 43 years of age, and he decided that he could be nominated in 1860 if he let the older Buchanan win the nomination. He received assurances from Buchanan's managers that this would be so. After two more deadlocked ballots, Douglas's managers withdrew his name, leaving Buchanan as the clear winner.
To soften the blow to Pierce's ego, the convention issued a resolution of "unqualified approbation" in praise of his administration. They chose his supporter, former Kentucky Representative John C. Breckinridge, as the party's vice-presidential nominee. This was the only time in U.S. history that an elected president who was an active candidate for reelection was not nominated by his political party for a second term.
Pierce endorsed Buchanan, even though the two were not close. Pierce hoped to resolve the Kansas situation by November to improve the Democrats' chances in the general election. He installed John W. Geary as territorial governor, and this move angered pro-slavery legislators. Geary was able to restore order in Kansas, though the electoral damage had already been done. Republicans, running in their first Presidential election, used the slogans "Bleeding Kansas" and "Bleeding Sumner" (referring to the brutal caning of Charles Sumner by South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks in the Senate chamber). On election day however the Buchanan/Breckinridge ticket was elected. The Democratic percentage of the popular vote in the North fell from 49.8 percent in 1852 to 41.4 in 1856. Buchanan won only five of sixteen free states. In three of those, Buchanan won because of a split between the Republican candidate, former California senator John C. Frémont and the Know Nothing Party candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
In his final message to Congress, delivered in December 1856, Pierce vigorously attacked Republicans and abolitionists. He took the opportunity to defend his record on fiscal policy, and on achieving peaceful relations with other nations. In the final days of the Pierce administration, Congress passed bills to increase the pay of army officers and to build new naval vessels, also expanding the number of sailors enlisted. It also passed a tariff reduction bill that Pierce had wanted for a long time. Pierce and his cabinet left office on March 4, 1857, the only time in U.S. history that the original cabinet members all remained for a full four-year term.
President-elect James Buchanan said that "the object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government." Buchanan was inaugurated as the nation's 15th president on March 4, 1857, on the East Portico of the United States Capitol. Chief Justice Roger Taney administered the Oath of office. This is the first inauguration ceremony known to have been photographed. In his inaugural address, Buchanan committed himself to serving only one term. He also spoke critically about the growing divisions over slavery and its status in the territories. He said:
"It is the imperative and indispensable duty of the government of the United States to secure to every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave the people of a territory free from all foreign interference to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."
Furthermore, Buchanan argued that a federal slave code should protect the rights of slave-owners in any federal territory. He alluded to a pending Supreme Court case, Dred Scott v. Sandford, which he stated would permanently settle the issue of slavery. In fact, Buchanan already knew the outcome of the case, and had even played a part in its disposition. Buchanan was seen to hold a private conversation with Chief Justice Taney that many believe was about the Dred Scott case. Buchanan's reference in his inaugural speech to a coming Supreme Court decision which would "speedily and finally" settle disputes over slavery in the U.S. territories, and the issuance of the Dred Scott two days later (according with Buchanan's prediction) led many supporters of the Republican Party to believe that Buchanan and Taney had conducted improper pre-decision consultations on the Dred Scott case at the inaugural, violating principles of executive-judicial separation. In fact, such consultations had taken place in written letters between Buchanan and Supreme Court judge John Catron in February. In writing his history of the court, Chief Justice William Rehnquist would call this one of the darkest moments in the history of the court and its worst decision.