James Buchanan
Lancaster County, PA, November 17, 1817; September 18, 1835
Very Early James Buchanan Signature on Deed and Later Deed to Him to Secure Loan
Partially printed DS

JAMES BUCHANAN, Partially Printed Document Signed, John Miller et al., heirs of John Miller Sr., Deed to John Gyger of an 11-acre plot in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, in exchange for payment of $4,000, November 17, 1817, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Buchanan signed as one of three witnesses. 1 p., 15.25" x 19.25". On vellum; expected folds; a few small holes; very good.
With: Samuel C. Stambaugh, Partially Printed Document Signed, Mortgage Deed to James Buchanan, for Repayment of $1,100, September 18, 1835, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 1 p., 17" x 20". Expected folds; minor holes and edge tears; very good.

Young attorney and state representative James Buchanan signed as a witness in 1817 to this transfer of an eleven-acre parcel in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, from the heirs of John Miller to John Gyger. Eighteen years later, he took a mortgage deed from Samuel Stambaugh to secure a debt of $1,100.

Historical Background
After graduating from Dickinson College in 1809, James Buchanan moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to study law. In 1816, the year before he witnessed this deed, Buchanan had successfully defended Judge Walter Franklin in an impeachment trial before the Pennsylvania Senate.

By 1835, the date of the second deed, Buchanan had already served in Congress, been an ambassador to Russia, and begun his tenure in the U.S. Senate. His law practice had waned considerably, and he rarely appeared in court records. Samuel C. Stambaugh/Stambach (1799-1864) signed this mortgage deed to Buchanan to cover a loan or debt of $1,100. He had recently been appointed as postmaster and sutler for a term of four years at Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers (modern St. Paul). Perhaps this mortgage covered money advanced by Buchanan for Stambaugh to buy merchandise to sell at Fort Snelling. By early 1836, Stambaugh negotiated an agreement with representatives of the American Fur Company for them to run the sutler operations as a subcontractor. They were less interested in the sutling operation than in eliminating a potential competitor in their lucrative trade with Native Americans in the area.

Stambaugh was a printer early in life and the first editor in Pennsylvania to nominate Andrew Jackson for the presidency. He served as an Indian agent at Green Bay (1830-1832), fought in the Black Hawk War, and served as a secretary for a commission to the Cherokee in Arkansas. In 1859, his friend James Buchanan appointed him as Surveyor General for the Utah Territory, a position he held until resigning in December 1861.

James Buchanan (1791-1868) was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from Dickinson College in 1809. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Federalist from 1814-1816. With the collapse of the Federalist Party, Buchanan became a Republican-Federalist and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1821 to 1831, where he largely supported Andrew Jackson. He served as ambassador to Russia for eighteen months in 1832 and 1833, then as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1834 to 1845. President James K. Polk appointed him as Secretary of State, a position he held from 1845 to 1849. President Franklin Pierce sent Buchanan as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, a position he held from 1853 to 1856. Being out of the country in the increasing sectional tensions caused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and other controversies aided Buchanan's political fortunes in 1856, when he won the Democratic nomination on the 17th ballot over incumbent Pierce and Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Buchanan supported Douglas' doctrine of popular sovereignty, hoping to keep the divisive issue of slavery out of Congress and national debate. Two days after his inauguration, the Supreme Court issued its Dred Scott decision, declaring that Congress could not outlaw slavery in the territories. Far from settling the issue, the Court's decision fueled more sectional outrage. He took little direct action in response to the Panic of 1857, which hit northern cities and states hardest. Buchanan's poor handling of the Utah War and Bleeding Kansas also contributed to his poor reputation as president. As he left office, he famously declared that the southern states had no right to secede and that the federal government had no right to prevent them. He spent the Civil War weakly supporting the Union war effort and writing a memoir in defense of his presidency, published in 1866. Buchanan never married, the only president to remain a bachelor.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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15.25" x 19.25"; 17" x 20"