James Buchanan was expelled from Dickinson College, but permitted to return after pledging good behavior to his parents' minister and college trustee, Dr. John King. (By Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections)

James Buchanan enters the junior class of Dickinson College, after preparing for college at the Old Stone Academy in Mercersburg, PA. -- Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College

James Buchanan is the oldest surviving child of James and Elizabeth Buchanan. He is the second of his parents’ eleven children and for the first fourteen years of his life their only son.  (By Joanne Williams)