JAMES BUCHANAN. 195 



the declaration of war with Mexico, he took service in the 

 armv, was wounded, and appointed colonel. After the suc- 

 cessful attack of Vera Cruz, he was appointed General. In 

 November, 1852, he was elected President, with a large 

 majority. He died in September, 1869. 



JAMES BUCHANAN, 1857— 1861. 



" JAMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President of the United 

 States, took possession of the Presidency on the 4th of March, 

 1857. He had occupied the post of Secretary of State during 

 the administration of President Polk. During his term of 

 office, his chief ambition was the enlargement of the United 

 States. He was always very prudent, and was considered a 

 good administrator. 



James Buchanan was born at Stony-Battes, in the county 

 of Franklin, Pennsylvania, on the 23rd of April, 1795. His 

 father was Irish, and the possessor of a farm. At the age of 

 14, Buchanan was sent to the College of Dickinson, Carlisle, 

 where he took his degrees. In 1809, he was articled to 

 Lawyer James Hopkins, of Lancaster, and under his direction 

 he studied law. In 18 14, he was elected a Member of the 

 Legislature of Pensylvania. Six years after, he was elected 

 Member of the Congress of the United States, where he 

 remained up to 183 1. After this, he entered the diplomatic 

 career, and was sent to Russia by General Jackson. He came 

 back to the United States in 1853. ^ n I ^56 he was elected 

 President. He died at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of 

 June, 1868. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1861. 



Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the 

 United States, succeeded Mr. Buchanan, and entered upon 

 the duties of office in March, 1861. 



It was during Lincoln's administration that one of the 

 most bloody civil wars (1863 — 1865) took place between the 

 Northern and Southern States, in consequence of the abolition 

 of slavery. In that short time, 740 millions of pounds sterling 

 were spent, and 656,300 men were killed. 



The beginning of it, was the attack of Fort Finter by the 

 Sudists, who wanted to separate themselves from the North. 

 To this, Abraham Lincoln replied by the raising of 75,000 

 men, the blocus of the ports of the Carolinas, Virginia, etc. 

 Everyone remembers the gigantic exertions made by each side 



