The Rise and Fall of the Do-Face

Buchanan as a prominent northern member of a southern dominated party who really needed to be seen as pro-slavery. And his views of slavery were also shaped by his experience with slave owners in the bachelor's mess, which again had their own slaves attending on them. Most people who lived in these bachelor's messes in Washington did end up marrying, and usually they would marry much younger women. But Buchanan and King never married. They just kept living together and continued to be inseparable.