"Provides scholars with a fresh and thoughtful examination of the first administration that had to deal with Southern secession."--Jonathan M. Atkins, author of Politics, Parties, and the Sectional Conflict in Tennessee, 1832-1861

As James Buchanan took office in 1857, the United States found itself at a crossroads. Dissolution of the Union had been averted and the Democratic Party maintained control of the federal government, but the nation watched to see if Pennsylvania's first president could make good on his promise to calm sectional tensions.
Despite Buchanan's...