James Buchanan: Inaugural Address

( 1857 ) Commentary by Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University

“A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves. This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled.” - Inaugural Address
“The whole Territorial question being thus settled upon the principle of popular sovereignty—a principle as ancient as free government itself—everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other question remains for adjustment, because all agree that under the Constitution slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human power except that of the respective States themselves wherein it exists.” - Inaugural Address
“It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calculate the mere material value of the Union.” - Inaugural Address

James Buchanan (Library of Congress)

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