James Buchanan is our only bachelor president and the only chief executive to hail from Pennsylvania.

Born outside of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, he attended Dickinson College, studied law and in 1812 was admitted to the bar. At age 28, he asked Anne Coleman to marry him. She agreed, but after an argument, called off the engagement. Anne Coleman died weeks later and there were rumors that she had committed suicide; Buchanan never married.

Buchanan represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House and in the Senate. He served as minister to Russia and then as secretary of state under Franklin Pierce. In 1856, the incumbent President Pierce lost the Democratic candidacy to Buchanan.

In 1857, sectional tensions were reaching a boiling point. Two days after his inauguration, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Dred Scott decision, ruling that African Americans had no redress in federal courts. The Panic of 1857 shattered the economy. A bloody battle was fought over whether Kansas should be a slave or free state. In 1860, the Democrats split over slavery, thus ceding the election to Republican Abraham Lincoln. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, followed by six other Southern states. Buchanan was roundly criticized for doing little to stop their secession or to protect federal properties in the South.

In 1861, as war began to rage, Buchanan retired to his Pennsylvania estate, defending himself from charges that his lack of action had brought on the war. Eight years later, he died from pneumonia.