Supporters of President Obama are fond of comparing him to illustrious predecessors like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy while his opponents have drawn comparisons between Obama and infamous names like Wilson, Hoover, and Carter.  However, as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter today, it is worth considering how our nation got to that point and a disconcerting parallel between the 44th and the 15th presidents.

Things started going really badly for President Buchanan when he was shut out of his own party’s nominating convention.  Then, a little more than a month after Lincoln’s electoral victory, South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860.  In those days, the inauguration was not until March, so Buchanan had almost three months to deal with the secession problem.  Instead, he stated to Congress that the government had no legal authority to stop the newly-formed Confederacy.