Wow, I typed an unique for an! essay and then Word grammar check said it was wrong. But I always thought that the rule was: an = when a word starts with a,e,i,o,u. But then I figured, yeah it does sound strange.
Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party in the 1856 presidential election. Throughout most of Pierce's term, he had been stationed in London as a minister to the Court of St. James's, so was not caught up in the crossfire of sectional politics that dominated the country.
James Buchanan won 45.3% of the popular vote in the 1856 general election, a percentage that was significantly lower than the average of all elected presidents (52.15%). James Buchanan's margin of victory in the popular vote was a fairly high 12.2% and he received approximately 494 k more votes than his leading competitor, John C. FrÃ©mont. In terms of electoral votes, James Buchanan won with 174 electoral votes out of 296 electoral votes votes, or 58.8%.