This image is the first known photo of a presidential inauguration. It shows President James Buchanan’s March 4, 1857, inauguration.
The man who took this historic photo was John Wood. He worked for the federal government and had a special camera platform set up with a clear shot of the inauguration stage.
Buchanan, a long-time resident of Lancaster, would be the only bachelor president in the nation’s history—his niece, Harriett Lane, served as his First Lady.
While Buchanan personally opposed slavery on moral grounds, he believed that the Constitution supported it. In his inaugural address, Buchanan endorsed the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sanford decision which was not officially announced for another two days on March 6.
Also, in his address, Buchanan endorsed “popular sovereignty,” the idea that the spread of slavery would be determined by the voters in each territory.
In his final address before Congress as president, Buchanan declared that the government could not legally prevent states from seceding from the Union. It was this final act as President that largely influenced Buchanan’s poor historical standing.
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Update on the Search for Lancaster County’s Oldest Headstone
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1864 Map of the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania$21.99 – $25.99
River Monsters of the Susquehanna Deeps
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