Buchanan's cabinet

James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States

James Buchanan was the last President of the United States before the outbreak of the Civil War . In retrospect, numerous historians consider him to be one of the weakest incumbents, to which his passive attitude in the face of the impending war contributed in particular. In the presidential election in 1856 he was the first Democrat to face a Republican opponent, with John C. Frémont already winning a majority in eleven states. In 1860 , Buchanan stopped running. By 1884 , he was the last Democratic candidate to be elected president.

The cabinet was divided on the question of secession . While some ministers were staunch supporters of the Union, Home Secretary Jacob Thompson sympathized with the southern states . This was one reason he resigned from his post in January 1861; no successor was appointed until the new President Abraham Lincoln took office in March of the same year. Vice President John C. Breckinridge , Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb, and Secretary of War John Buchanan Floyd were senior officers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War . In contrast, Cobb's successors in the Treasury, John Adams Dix , and Joseph Holt , after Floyd Secretary of War, fought on the north side.

The Buchanan Cabinet in 1859: (from left) Jacob Thompson, Lewis Cass, John B. Floyd, James Buchanan, Howell Cobb, Isaac Toucey, Joseph Holt and Jeremiah S. Black.

The Cabinet

Department / Office	Official	Period	image
President of the United States	James Buchanan	1857-1861
Vice President of the United States	John Cabell Breckinridge	1857-1861
United States Secretary of State	Lewis Cass	1857-1860
	Jeremiah Sullivan Black	1860-1861
United States Secretary of the Treasury	Howell Cobb	1857-1860
	Philip Francis Thomas	1860-1861
	John Adams Dix	1861
United States Secretary of War	John Buchanan Floyd	1857-1860
	Joseph Holt	1860-1861
United States Secretary of the Navy	Isaac Toucey	1857-1861
United States Attorney General	Jeremiah Sullivan Black	1857-1860
	Edwin M. Stanton	1860-1861
United States Postal Secretary	Aaron Venable Brown	1857-1859
	Joseph Holt	1859-1860
	Horatio King	1861
United States Secretary of the Interior	Jacob Thompson	1857-1861
	vacant	1861