Virtual Trivia

Question 14: Witness to Secession

April 14, 2021

Photograph of James Buchanan taken by Mathew Brady, ca. 1850-1870. From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division.

Which president sat by and watched the southern states secede and did nothing?

President James Buchanan

President Buchanan denied the legal right of states to secede but held that the Federal Government legally could not prevent them. Buchanan reverted to a policy of inactivity that continued until he left office.