Montgomery C. Meigs (1816–1892), the Supervisory Engineer of the Capitol expansion, pasted the first-known photograph of an inauguration beside his journal entry for March 4, 1857.

Presents two items from James Buchanan's Inauguration.

Search PPOC using the subject heading Buchanan, James,--1791-1868 to find digital images related to Buchanan such as prints, photographs, and political cartoons. Search all text fields in PPOC using the phrase James Buchanan to locate additional images.

Fabricated family trees are an obstacle to genealogical research. Using the real-life example of the Buchanan Estate Scam material, this guide demonstrates how to recognize similar fake lineages that could derail your research.

This guide contains approximately 400 items relating to presidential inaugurations, including James Buchanan's inauguration on March 4, 1857.

U.S. congressman, senator, and presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont, on April 23, 1813. Douglas favored the use of popular elections over Congressional legislation to determine whether Kansas would be admitted as a slave or free state. This stance caused a breach between Douglas and President James Buchanan, although both were members of the Democratic Party. Their views differed so strongly that for a time Buchanan worked to block Douglas' reelection.

On May 11, 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state admitted into the Union. Minnesota’s application for statehood was submitted to President James Buchanan in January, but became entangled with the controversial issue of Kansas statehood, delaying it for several months until it was finally approved by Congress.

On July 29, 1858, the United States and Japan signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the Harris Treaty). Townsend Harris the first U.S. diplomatic representative to Japan, negotiated the arrangement, which became effective July 4, 1859.

The major financial catalyst for the panic of 1857 was the August 24, 1857, failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. It was soon reported that the entire capital of the Trust's home office had been embezzled. What followed was one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.

Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and twenty-one armed followers stole into the town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) as most of its residents slept. The men--among them three free blacks, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave--hoped to spark a rebellion of freed slaves and to lead an "army of emancipation" to overturn the institution of slavery by force.