Messing, 1834–1840

Chapter 3 explores the “Bachelor’s mess,” a phrase drawn from Buchanan’s correspondence, and notes the many ways in which their shared Washington boardinghouse intersected with the overlapping identities of party, section, and marital status. New messmates (and bachelors) emerged during this period, including the lesser known Democrats Edward Lucas of Virginia, Robert Carter Nicholas of Louisiana, John Pendleton King of Georgia, Bedford Brown of North Carolina, William Sterrett Ramsey of Pennsylvania, and William Henry Roane of Virginia. Their congregation into a single boardinghouse produced one of the most politically powerful such units in Washington during the Jacksonian era. As the congressional Democrats struggled to resist the Whig agenda promoted by Henry Clay, Buchanan and King solidified a political strategy that included the institution of a gag rule to quell discussion of slavery and opposition to the national bank. Finally, the chapter continues earlier themes to suggest how Buchanan’s experience in the bachelor’s mess yielded the twin results of his hardening into a committed northern dough-face and his growing intimacy with King.