Ostend Manifesto, document drawn up in Oct., 1854, at Ostend, Belgium, by James Buchanan Buchanan, James, 1791–1868, 15th President of the United States (1857–61), b. near Mercersburg, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1809.

Early Career

Buchanan studied law at Lancaster, Pa.
..... Click the link for more information. , American minister to Great Britain, John Y. Mason Mason, John Young, 1799–1859, American statesman, b. Greensville co., Va. He studied law under Tapping Reeve at Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1819.
..... Click the link for more information. , minister to France, and Pierre Soulé Soulé, Pierre (pyĕr s
..... Click the link for more information. , minister to Spain. William L. Marcy Marcy, William Learned, 1786–1857, American politician, b. Southbridge, Mass. He settled in Troy, N.Y., where he practiced law and, after serving in the War of 1812, held local offices.
..... Click the link for more information. , Secretary of State under President Pierce, instructed Soulé to try to buy Cuba from Spain, but Soulé antagonized the Spanish by his political intrigues and aggressive threats (he issued an unwarranted ultimatum to the Spanish government on the Black Warrior Black Warrior, merchant steamer that plied between New York City and Mobile, usually stopping at Havana, Cuba. Her seizure on Feb. 28, 1854, by Spanish authorities at Havana and the imposition of a $6,000 fine on the grounds that she had violated customs regulations
..... Click the link for more information. affair). Pierce then ordered a conference of the three diplomats in Europe, all proslavery Democrats, at Ostend. The resulting manifesto strongly suggested that the United States should take Cuba by force if Spain refused to sell. Southerners, who had long feared that Cuba might become an independent black republic, applauded the document, but it was vigorously denounced by the free-soil press as a plot to extend slavery. Marcy immediately repudiated it for the U.S. government.

Ostend Manifesto

(1854) Secret document written by U.S. diplomats at Ostend, Belg., describing a plan to acquire Cuba from Spain. On orders from U.S. secretary of state William Marcy, three U.S. diplomats—minister to Britain James Buchanan, minister to France John Y. Mason, and minister to Spain Pierre Soulé—devised a plan to purchase or, if necessary, seize Cuba for the U.S. Publication of the aggressively worded document, and Soulé's advocacy of slavery, caused Marcy to denounce it.