The United States presidential election of 1856 was the 18th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1856. In a three-way election, Democrat James Buchanan defeated Republican nominee John C. Frémont and American Party nominee Millard Fillmore. So far, this has been the only time in U.S. history in which a political party kept the presidency after denying the nomination to the sitting president seeking it.

Incumbent Democratic President Franklin Pierce was widely unpopular due to the ongoing civil war in Kansas Territory, and Buchanan defeated Pierce at the 1856 Democratic National Convention. Buchanan, a former Secretary of State, had avoided the divisive debates over the Kansas–Nebraska Act by virtue of his service as the Ambassador to Great Britain. Slavery was the omnipresent issue, and opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories motivated the rise of the nascent Republican Party. The Republicans and the nativist Know Nothings (known formally as the American Party) competed to replace the defunct Whig Party as the primary opposition to the Democrats. The 1856 Republican National Convention nominated a ticket led by Frémont, an explorer and military officer who had served in the Mexican–American War. The Know Nothings, who ignored slavery and instead emphasized anti-immigration and anti-Catholic policies, nominated a ticket led by former Whig President Millard Fillmore.

The Democrats endorsed popular sovereignty as the method to determine slavery's legality for newly admitted states. Frémont decried the expansion of slavery, while Buchanan warned that the Republicans were extremists whose victory would lead to civil war. The Know Nothings attempted to present themselves as the one party capable of bridging the sectional divides. All three parties found support in the North, but the Republicans had virtually no backing in the South.

Buchanan won a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote, taking all but one slave state as well as a handful of free states. His popular vote margin of 12.2% was the greatest margin between 1836 and 1904. Frémont won a majority of the electoral votes from free states and finished second in the nationwide popular vote, while Fillmore took 21.5% of the popular vote and carried Maryland. The Know Nothings collapsed as a national party after the 1856 election, as most of its anti-slavery members joined the Republican Party in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford the following year. 1856 also proved to be the last Democratic presidential victory until the 1884 election, as Republicans emerged as the dominant party during and after the Civil War.

Nominations[edit]

The 1856 presidential election was primarily waged among three political parties, though other parties had been active in the spring of the year. The conventions of these parties are considered below in order of the party's popular vote.

Democratic Party nomination[edit]

United States presidential election, 1856

← 1852 November 4, 1856 1860 →
All 296 electoral votes of the Electoral College 149 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	78.9%[1] 9.3 pp
Nominee James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore Party Democratic Republican Know Nothing Home state Pennsylvania California New York Running mate John C. Breckinridge William L. Dayton Andrew J. Donelson Electoral vote 174 114 8 States carried 19 11 1 Popular vote 1,836,072 1,342,345 873,053 Percentage 45.3% 33.1% 21.5%
President before election Franklin Pierce Democratic Elected President James Buchanan Democratic

Democratic Party Ticket, 1856
James Buchanan	John C. Breckinridge
for President	for Vice President
Former U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1853–1856)	Former U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 8th (1851–1855)
Campaign

Democratic candidates:

• 
  James Buchanan, Minister to Great Britain and former Secretary of State


• 
  Franklin Pierce, President of the United States


• 
  Stephen Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois
  


• 
  Lewis Cass, Former U.S. Senator and 1848 presidential nominee from Michigan
  

Democratic candidates gallery[edit]

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  Minister to Great Britain and former United States Secretary of State
  James Buchanan
  
  

  
  


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  President Franklin Pierce
  (Name Withdrawn on the 15th Ballot in favor of Stephen Douglas)
  
  

  
  


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  Senator Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois
  (Name Withdrawn on the 17th Ballot in favor of James Buchanan)
  
  

  
  


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  Senator Lewis Cass from Michigan
  
  

  
  

The Democratic Party was wounded from its devastating losses in the 1854–1855 midterm elections. U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who had sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, entered the race in opposition to President Franklin Pierce. The Pennsylvania delegation continued to sponsor its favorite son, James Buchanan.

The Seventh Democratic National Convention was held in Smith and Nixon's Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 2 to 6, 1856. The delegates were deeply divided over slavery. On the first ballot, Buchanan placed first with 135.5 votes to 122.5 for Pierce, 33 for Douglas, and 5 for Senator Lewis Cass, who had been the nominee in 1848. With each succeeding ballot, Douglas gained at Pierce's expense. On the 15th ballot, most of Pierce's delegates shifted to Douglas in an attempt to stop Buchanan, but Douglas withdrew when it became clear Buchanan had the support of the majority of those at the convention, also fearing that his continued participation might lead to divisions within the party that could endanger its chances in the general election. For the first time in American history a man who had been elected president was denied re-nomination after seeking it.

A host of candidates were nominated for the vice presidency, but a number of them attempted to withdraw themselves from consideration, among them the eventual nominee, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. Breckinridge, besides having been selected as an elector, was also supporting former Speaker of the House Linn Boyd for the nomination. However, following a draft effort led by the delegation from Vermont, Breckinridge was nominated on the second ballot.

Republican Party nomination[edit]

Republican Party Ticket, 1856
John C. Frémont	William L. Dayton
for President	for Vice President
Former U.S. Senator from California (1850–1851)	Former U.S. Senator from New Jersey (1842–1851)
Campaign

Republican candidates:

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  John C. Fremont, former U.S. senator from California
  


• 
  John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice

Republican candidates gallery[edit]

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  Former Senator John C. Fremont from California
  
  

  
  


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  Supreme Court Associate Justice John McLean
  
  

  
  


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  Senator William H. Seward from New York
  (Declined to Run)
  
  

  
  


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  Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio
  (Declined to Run)
  
  

  
  


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  Senator Charles Sumner from Massachusetts
  (Declined to Run)
  
  

  
  

The Republican Party was formed in early 1854 to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act. During the midterm elections of 1854–1855, the Republican Party was one of the patchwork of anti-administration parties contesting the election, but they were able to win thirteen seats in the House of Representatives for the 34th Congress. However, the party collaborated with other disaffected groups and gradually absorbed them. In the elections of 1855, the Republican Party won three governorships.

The first Republican National Convention was held in the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 17 to 19, 1856. The convention approved an anti-slavery platform that called for congressional sovereignty in the territories, an end to polygamy in Mormon settlements, and federal assistance for a transcontinental railroad—a political outcome of the Pacific Railroad Surveys. John C. Frémont, John McLean, William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Charles Sumner all were considered by those at the convention, but the latter three requested that their names be withdrawn. McLean's name was initially withdrawn by his manager Rufus Spalding, but the withdrawal was rescinded at the strong behest of the Pennsylvania delegation led by Thaddeus Stevens.^[2] Frémont was nominated for president overwhelmingly on the formal ballot, and William L. Dayton was nominated for vice-president over Abraham Lincoln.

American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination[edit]

American Party Ticket, 1856
Millard Fillmore	Andrew J. Donelson
for President	for Vice President
13th President of the United States (1850–1853)	2nd U.S. Envoy to Prussia (1846–1849)
Campaign

American Party candidates:

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  Millard Fillmore, former President of the United States, from New York
  


• 
  George Law, steamboat entrepreneur from New York

American Party candidates gallery[edit]

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  Former President Millard Fillmore
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  Steamboat entrepreneur George Law from New York
  

  
  

  
  

The American Party, formerly the Native American Party, was the vehicle of the Know Nothing movement. The American Party absorbed most of the former Whig Party that had not gone to either the Republicans or Democrats in 1854, and by 1855 it had established itself as the chief opposition party to the Democrats. In the 82 races for the House of Representatives in 1854, the American Party ran 76 candidates, 35 of whom won. None of the six independents or Whigs who ran in these races were elected. The party then succeeded in electing Nathaniel P. Banks as Speaker of the House in the 34th Congress.

The American National Convention was held in National Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 22 to 25, 1856. Following the decision by party leaders in 1855 not to press the slavery issue, the convention had to decide how to deal with the Ohio chapter of the party, which was vocally anti-slavery. The convention closed the Ohio chapter and re-opened it under more moderate leadership. Delegates from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, New England, and other northern states bolted when a resolution declaring that no candidate that was not in favor of prohibiting slavery north of the 36'30' parallel would be granted the nomination was voted down.^{[3][clarification needed]} This removed a greater part of the American Party's support in the North outside of New York, where the conservative faction of the Whig Party remained faithful.^[4]

The only name with much support was former President Millard Fillmore. Historian Allan Nevins says Fillmore was not a Know-Nothing or a nativist. He was out of the country when the nomination came and had not been consulted about running. Furthermore, Fillmore was neither a member of the party nor had he ever attended an American [Know-Nothing] gathering nor had he by "spoken or written word [...] indicated a subscription to American tenets".^[5] Fillmore was nominated with 179 votes out of the 234 votes cast. The convention chose Andrew Jackson Donelson of Tennessee for vice-president with 181 votes to 30 scattered votes and 24 abstentions. Although the nativist argument of the American party had considerable success in local and state elections in 1854-55, candidate Fillmore in 1856 concentrated almost entirely on national unity. Historian Tyler Anbinder says, "The American party had dropped nativism from its agenda." Fillmore won 22% of the national popular vote.^[6]

Convention vote

Presidential ballots	Informal 1	Formal 2	Vice presidential ballot
Millard Fillmore	139	179	Andrew Jackson Donelson	181
George Law	27	35	Scattering	18
Garrett Davis	18	8	Henry J. Gardiner	12
Kenneth Rayner	14	2
John McLean	13	1
Robert F. Stockton	8	2
Sam Houston	6	4
John Bell	5	2
Erastus Brooks	2	1
Lewis D. Campbell	1	0
John Middleton Clayton	1	0

North American Party nomination[edit]

North American Party candidates:

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  John C. Frémont, former Senator from California


• 
  Nathaniel P. Banks. Speaker of the House from Massachusetts


• 
  John McLean, Associate Justice


• 
  Robert F. Stockton, former Senator from New Jersey


• 
  William F. Johnston, Governor of Pennsylvania

North American Party candidates gallery[edit]

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  Former Senator John C. Fremont from California
  
  

  
  


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  Speaker Nathaniel P. Banks
  (Declined Nomination)
  
  

  
  


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  Supreme Court Associate Justice John McLean
  
  

  
  


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  Former Senator Robert F. Stockton
  
  

  
  


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  Governor William F. Johnston of Pennsylvania
  
  

  
  

The anti-slavery "Americans" from the North formed their own party after the nomination of Fillmore in Philadelphia. This party called for its national convention to be held in New York, New York, just before the Republican National Convention. Party leaders hoped to nominate a joint ticket with the Republicans to defeat Buchanan. The national convention was held on June 12 to 20, 1856 in New York. As John C. Frémont was the favorite to attain the Republican nomination there was a considerable desire for the North American party to nominate him, but it was feared that in doing so they may possibly injure his chances to actually become the Republican nominee. The delegates voted repeatedly on a nominee for president without a result. Nathaniel P. Banks was nominated for president on the 10th ballot over John C. Frémont and John McLean, with the understanding that he would withdraw from the race and endorse John C. Frémont once he had won the Republican nomination. The delegates, preparing to return home, unanimously nominated Frémont on the eleventh ballot shortly after his nomination by the Republican Party in Philadelphia. The chairman of the convention, William F. Johnston, had been nominated to run for vice-president, but later withdrew when the North Americans and the Republicans failed to find an acceptable accommodation between him and the Republican nominee, William Dayton.^[7]

Convention vote

Presidential ballots	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Vice presidential ballot
Nathaniel P. Banks	43	48	46	47	46	45	51	50	50	53	0	William F. Johnston	59
John C. Fremont	34	36	37	37	31	29	29	27	28	18	92	Thomas Ford	16
John McLean	19	10	2	29	33	40	41	40	30	24	0	John C. Fremont	12
Robert F. Stockton	14	20	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Scattering	21
William F. Johnston	6	1	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scattering	5	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0

North American Seceders Party nomination[edit]

North American Seceders Party candidates:

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  John C. Frémont, former senator from California


• 
  Nathaniel P. Banks. Speaker of the House from Massachusetts


• 
  John McLean, Associate Justice from Ohio


• 
  Robert F. Stockton, former Senator from New Jersey


• 
  William F. Johnston, Governor of Pennsylvania

North American Seceders Party candidates gallery[edit]

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  Former Senator Robert F. Stockton from New Jersey
  (Withdrew – Endorsed Fillmore)
  
  

  
  

A group of North American delegates called the North American Seceders withdrew from the North American Party's convention and met separately. They objected to the attempt to work with the Republican Party. The Seceders held their own national convention on June 16 and 17, 1856. 19 delegates unanimously nominated Robert F. Stockton for president and Kenneth Rayner for vice-president. The Seceders' ticket later withdrew from the contest, with Stockton endorsing Millard Fillmore for the presidency.^[8]

Whig Party nomination[edit]

The Whig Party was reeling from electoral losses since 1852. Half of its leaders in the South bolted to the Southern Democratic Party. In the North the Whig Party was moribund with most of its anti-slavery members joining the Republican Party. This party remained somewhat alive in states like New York and Pennsylvania by joining the anti-slavery movement.

The fifth (and last) Whig National Convention was held in the Hall of the Maryland Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 17 and 18, 1856. There were one hundred and fifty delegates sent from twenty-six states. Though the leaders of this party wanted to keep the Whig Party alive, it became irretrievably doomed once these one hundred and fifty Whig delegates decided unanimously to endorse the American Party's national ticket of Fillmore and Donelson.

Liberty Party nomination[edit]

By 1856, very little of the Liberty Party remained. Most of its members joined the Free Soil Party in 1848 and nearly of all what remained of the party joined the Republicans in 1854. What remained of the party ran 1848 candidate Gerrit Smith under the name of the "National Liberty Party."

General election[edit]

Campaign[edit]

None of the three candidates took to the stump. The Republican Party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories: in fact, its slogan was "Free speech, free press, free soil, free men, Frémont and victory!" The Republicans thus crusaded against the Slave Power, warning it was destroying republican values. Democrats warned that a Republican victory would bring a civil war.

The Republican platform opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise through the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which enacted the policy of popular sovereignty, allowing settlers to decide whether a new state would enter the Union as free or slave. The Republicans also accused the Pierce administration of allowing a fraudulent territorial government to be imposed upon the citizens of the Kansas Territory, thus engendering the violence that had raged in Bleeding Kansas. They advocated the immediate admittance of Kansas as a free state.

Along with opposing the spread of slavery into the continental territories of the United States, the party also opposed the Ostend Manifesto, which advocated the annexation of Cuba from Spain. In sum, the campaign's true focus was against the system of slavery, which they felt was destroying the republican values that the Union had been founded upon.

The Democratic platform supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty. The party supported the pro-slavery territorial legislature elected in Kansas, opposed the free-state elements within Kansas, and castigated the Topeka Constitution as an illegal document written during an illegal convention. The Democrats also supported the plan to annex Cuba, advocated in the Ostend Manifesto, which Buchanan helped devise while serving as minister to Britain. The most influential aspect of the Democratic campaign was a warning that a Republican victory would lead to the secession of numerous southern states.

Because Fillmore was considered by many incapable of securing the presidency on the American ticket, Whigs were urged to support Buchanan. Democrats also called on nativists to make common cause with them against the specter of sectionalism even if they had once attacked their political views.

Fillmore and the Americans, meanwhile, insisted that they were the only "national party" since the Democrats leaning in favor of the South and the Republicans were fanatically in favor of the North and abolition.^[9]

A minor scandal erupted when the Americans, seeking to turn the national dialogue back in the direction of nativism, put out a rumor that Frémont was in fact a Roman Catholic. The Democrats ran with it, and the Republicans found themselves unable to act effectively given that while the statements were false, any stern message against those assertions might have crippled their efforts to attain the votes of German Catholics. Attempts were made to refute it through friends and colleagues, but the issue persisted throughout the campaign and might have cost Frémont the support of a number of American Party members.^[9]

The campaign had a different nature in the free states and the slave states. In the free states, there was a three-way campaign, which Frémont won with 45.2% of the vote to 41.5% for Buchanan and 13.3% for Fillmore; Frémont received 114 electoral votes to 62 for Buchanan. In the slave states, however, the contest was for all intents and purposes between Buchanan and Fillmore; Buchanan won 56.1% of the vote to 43.8% for Fillmore and 0.1% for Frémont, receiving 112 electoral votes to 8 for Fillmore.

Nationwide, Buchanan won 174 electoral votes, a majority, and was thus elected. Frémont received no votes in ten of the fourteen slave states with a popular vote; he obtained 306 in Delaware, 285 in Maryland, 283 in Virginia, and 314 in Kentucky.

Of the 1,713 counties making returns, Buchanan won 1,083 (63.22%), Frémont won 366 (21.37%), and Fillmore won 263 (15.35%). One county (0.06%) in Georgia split evenly between Buchanan and Fillmore.

This would be the final presidential election where the Know Nothing Party put up a campaign, as the party began to splinter. After the Supreme Court's controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling in 1857, most of the anti-slavery members of the party joined the Republicans. The pro-slavery wing of the American Party remained strong on the local and state levels in a few southern states, but by the 1860 election, they were no longer a serious national political movement. Most of their remaining members either joined or supported the Constitutional Union Party in 1860.

This was the last election in which the Democrats won Pennsylvania until 1936, the last in which the Democrats won Illinois until 1892, the last in which the Democrats won California until 1880, the last in which the Democrats won Indiana and Virginia until 1876 and the last in which the Democrats won Tennessee until 1872. This also started the long Republican trend in Vermont, which wouldn't be broken until 1964, over a century later. The presidential election of 1856 was also the last time to date (2018) that a Democrat was elected to succeed a fellow Democrat as president.^[10]

Results[edit]

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote(a)		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
James Buchanan	Democratic	Pennsylvania	1,836,072	45.28%	174	John C. Breckinridge	Kentucky	174
John C. Frémont	Republican	California	1,342,345	33.11%	114	William L. Dayton	New Jersey	114
Millard Fillmore	American	New York	873,053	21.53%	8	Andrew Jackson Donelson	Tennessee	8
Other			3,177	0.08%	—	Other		—
Total			4,054,647	100%	296			296
Needed to win					149			149

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1856 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2emSource (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

^(a)The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.

Popular vote Buchanan   45.28% Frémont   33.11% Fillmore   21.53% Others   0.08%

Electoral vote Buchanan   58.78% Frémont   38.51% Fillmore   2.70%

Geography of results[edit]

Cartographic gallery[edit]

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  Map of presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Map of Northern Democratic presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Map of Republican presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Map of American "Know-Nothing" presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Map of "Other" presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cartogram of presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cartogram of American presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cartogram of "Other" presidential election results by county
  

  
  

  
  

Results by state[edit]

Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.

		James Buchanan Democratic			John C. Fremont Republican			Millard Fillmore American			Margin		State Total
State	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	#
Alabama	9	0001361846,739	62.08	9	no ballots			0004866928,552	37.92	-	18,187	24.16	75,291	AL
Arkansas	4	21,910	67.12	4	no ballots			10,732	32.88	-	11,178	34.24	32,642	AR
California	4	53,342	48.38	4	20,704	18.78	-	36,195	32.83	-	17,147	15.55	110,241	CA
Connecticut	6	34,997	43.57	-	42,717	53.18	6	2,615	3.26	-	-7,720	-9.61	80,329	CT
Delaware	3	8,004	54.83	3	310	2.12	-	6,275	42.99	-	1,729	11.84	14,589	DE
Florida	3	6,358	56.81	3	no ballots			4,833	43.19	-	1,525	13.62	11,191	FL
Georgia	10	56,581	57.14	10	no ballots			42,439	42.86	-	14,142	14.28	99,020	GA
Illinois	11	105,528	44.09	11	96,275	40.23	-	37,531	15.68	-	9,253	3.86	239,334	IL
Indiana	13	118,670	50.41	13	94,375	40.09	-	22,386	9.51	-	24,295	10.32	235,431	IN
Iowa	4	37,568	40.70	-	45,073	48.83	4	9,669	10.47	-	7,505	-8.13	92,310	IA
Kentucky	12	74,642	52.54	12	no ballots			67,416	47.46	-	7,226	5.08	142,058	KY
Louisiana	6	22,164	51.70	6	no ballots			20,709	48.30	-	1,455	3.40	42,873	LA
Maine	8	39,140	35.68	-	67,279	61.34	8	3,270	2.98	-	-28,139	-25.66	109,689	ME
Maryland	8	39,123	45.04	-	285	0.33	-	47,452	54.63	8	-8,329	-9.59	86,860	MD
Massachusetts	13	39,244	23.08	-	108,172	63.61	13	19,626	11.54	-	-68,928	-40.53	170,048	MA
Michigan	6	52,139	41.52	-	71,762	57.15	6	1,660	1.32	-	-19,623	-15.63	125,561	MI
Mississippi	7	35,456	59.44	7	no ballots			24,191	40.56	-	11,265	18.88	59,647	MS
Missouri	9	57,964	54.43	9	no ballots			48,522	45.57	-	9,442	8.86	106,486	MO
New Hampshire	5	31,891	45.71	-	37,473	53.71	5	410	0.59	-	-5,582	-8.00	69,774	NH
New Jersey	7	46,943	47.23	7	28,338	28.51	-	24,115	24.26	-	22,828	18.72	99,396	NJ
New York	35	195,878	32.84	-	276,004	46.27	35	124,604	20.89	-	-80,126	-13.43	596,486	NY
North Carolina	10	48,243	56.78	10	no ballots			36,720	43.22	-	11,523	13.56	84,963	NC
Ohio	23	170,874	44.21	-	187,497	48.51	23	28,126	7.28	-	-16,623	-4.30	386,497	OH
Pennsylvania	27	230,686	50.13	27	147,286	32.01	-	82,189	17.86	-	83,400	18.12	460,161	PA
Rhode Island	4	6,680	33.70	-	11,467	57.85	4	1,675	8.45	-	-4,787	-24.15	19,822	RI
South Carolina	8	no popular vote		8	no popular vote			no popular vote			-	-	-	SC
Tennessee	12	69,704	52.18	12	no ballots			63,878	47.82	-	5,826	4.36	133,582	TN
Texas	4	31,169	66.59	4	no ballots			15,639	33.41	-	15,530	33.18	46,808	TX
Vermont	5	10,577	20.84	-	39,561	77.96	5	545	1.07	-	-28,984	-57.12	50,748	VT
Virginia	15	90,083	59.96	15	no ballots			60,150	40.04	-	29,933	19.92	150,223	VA
Wisconsin	5	52,843	44.22	-	66,090	55.30	5	579	0.48	-	-13,247	-11.08	119,512	WI
TOTALS:	296	1,835,140	45.29	174	1,340,668	33.09	114	872,703	21.54	8	494,472	12.2	4,051,605	US
TO WIN:	149

See also[edit]

• Inauguration of James Buchanan


• Origins of the American Civil War


• Third Party System


• United States House of Representatives elections, 1856


• United States Senate elections, 1856


• American election campaigns in the 19th century


• History of the United States (1849–1865)


• History of the United States Democratic Party


• History of the United States Republican Party

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• 
  Anbinder, Tyler (1992). Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508922-7.
  


• Bicknell, John. Lincoln's Pathfinder (2017) popular history of election from Fremont's perspective. 355 pages


• 
  Foner, Eric (1970). Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press.
  


• 
  Gienapp, William E. (1987). The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504100-3.
  


• 
  Holt, Michael F. (1978). The Political Crisis of the 1850s. New York: Norton. pp. 139–181. ISBN 0-393-95370-X.
  


• 
  Nevins, Allan (1947). Ordeal of the Union: vol 2: A House Dividing, 1852–1857. New York.
  The most detailed narrative.
  


• 
  Pierson, Michael D. (2002). "'Prairies on Fire': The Organization of the 1856 Mass Republican Rally in Beloit, Wisconsin". Civil War History. 48. ISSN 0009-8078.
  


• 
  Potter, David (1976). The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-090524-7.
  


• 
  Rawley, James A. (1969). Race and Politics: "Bleeding Kansas" and the Coming of the Civil War. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
  


• 
  Sewell, Richard H. (1976). Ballots for Freedom: Antislavery Politics in the United States, 1837–1860. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 254–291. ISBN 0-19-501997-0.
  


• 
  Address of Working Men of Pittsburgh to Their Fellow Working Men in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, PA: W.S. Haven, 1856.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States presidential election, 1856.

• 
  United States presidential election of 1856 at Encyclopædia Britannica
  


• 
  Presidential Election of 1856: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress


• Nativism in the 1856 Presidential Election


• 1856 popular vote by counties


• 1856 state-by-state popular voting results


• James Buchanan and the Election of 1856


• 
  How close was the 1856 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


• 1856 Republican Platform


• Election of 1856 in Counting the Votes

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