and james buchanan. in 1856 he was a politician and dave mr. broad and well-known and well-respected and brought with the hope he can calm things down the way he conducted his administration that he did negative and brought the country to a greater intensity instead of pacifying. >> lincoln was president a month before the prior to that and during the buchanan administration weren't they inclined toward that?. >> the buchanan administration was in power through march 4th and they had to deal with of secession of the first seven states and had to figure out the position that you would take a nap was called the secession winter - - printer that we would do all that we could virginia or north carolina and tennessee to stay in the united states how to redo that? the union investment was strong so to put that forward at this time do you know about that amendment to have the support of many northern politicians including men that would be considered abolitionists' politicians nothing the of north could do to s

you cannot imagine a more prepared man to be president than james buchanan. and in 1856 he had been a politician, a minister abroad, he was well known and well respected. he brought to the office the hope with his election that he could calm things down. nothing was calm down. the way he conducted his administration was to alienate everybody and he certainly did that and he brought the country to a greater intensity of dislike for each other, instead of pacifying. >> host: abraham lincoln have been present one month or so before south carolina seceded. prior to that during the buchanan administration they had to be grinding toward that, didn't they? >> guest: the buchanan administration was in power until march 4. they had to deal with the secession of the first seven southern states in the lower south. they had to figure out what would be the position that would take. the position during that was called the secession winter was that we should do everything we can to encourage the upper southern states, virginia, north carolina and tennessee, for example to s

james buchanan is the quintessential lawyer. the supreme court decided. therefore, no one will be upset about this anymore. we will have slavery all over the territories. the opposite is true, right? is a post. dred scott fuels the republican party, the rise of the republican party in the north. defeat of the democratic party and the north and paves the way for abraham lincoln to become president. wase is something lincoln opposed to and paves the way for the civil war and his presidency. >> did lincoln ever get a bill passed or have any accomplishments that had a lasting effect after he left congress? >> he had a number of bills passed. the conventional wisdom is that abraham lincoln is a mediocre congressman. every history, they cannot pass up the idea of saying he is mediocre. i think he was an excellent congressman. i know this is not the most exciting thing to a 21st century academic that lincoln is the driving force between on the best post office bill -- an ominous post office bill. we get mail anywhere we left. time, limited mail routes dictated w

was it james madison, james monroe, james buchanan or james garfield. >> it was from munro. >> nice.ner has always been the national anthem of the united states. what year did his verse become the national song. 1814, 1862, 1917 or 1971. >> that's a trick because it was written around 1814. let's take a later year. for the bc. >> it's actually d, 1931. >> woodrow wilson pushed it during world war i, obviously my country 'tis of the is a better song. >> no star-spangled banner is a better song. the anthem shouldn't be easy. >> but if you've ever heard me sing a star-spangled banner, when it gets him into those notes, everyone says turn away. >> that's the only one everybody knows it because of baseball. are you ready to rumble. >> i'm ready. >> here we go here comes. >> how many signatories were there to the declaration of independence. thirteen,oÑñ?ñ 26, 56 or 134. >> 26. >> 56, in fact. we tricked you because i thought maybe you would think it was two from each state. i'm rather pleased with myself on that one. >> and finally, according to a study conducted by the national atmospher

. >> no one tested james buchanan, luckily. >> in fairness, he would have done worse than this or deserved to do worse than this. these are bad numbers no matter any way you spin it. what's particularly stunning isn't just that he's at a historic low. it's just that the trump swing counties he's at 50% as well. the voters that made a critical difference winning the election, he's barely keeping his nose above water. >> on the russia issue in particular in the meeting that was taken by donald trump jr., 63% say that that meeting was inappropriate right there. you can see perhaps that's driving some of the numbers here. a number that john avlon was talking about there, it has to do with counties that flipped, counties that flipped from president obama in 2012 to now president trump in 2016. in those counties, donald trump is now under water, 44% approve, 51% disapprove. david drucker, that's what people have been saying all along. trump voters are sticking with the president. maybe not all of them, maybe not the ones who gave hem the election. >> we have the trump base that we don't think is