The Election of 1856 marked a critical turning point in American history. It was the first contest to feature the newly formed Republican Party, and it exposed the nation’s deepening sectional divide over slavery. Democrat James Buchanan, Republican John C. Frémont, and former president Millard Fillmore battled in a three-way race that foreshadowed the coming Civil War.
Pierce’s Troubled Presidency
Incumbent President Franklin Pierce hoped for a second term, but his administration had been rocked by personal tragedy and political disaster. The death of his last surviving son in 1853 devastated Pierce and his wife, leaving him distracted and ineffective.
Politically, Pierce inflamed sectional conflict by signing two highly controversial measures:
- The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): This law allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to decide the status of slavery through popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line of 1820. It led to violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, an era known as “Bleeding Kansas.” The fighting killed over 50 people and symbolised the collapse of compromise politics. The violence also reshaped the political map, driving former Whigs, Free Soilers, and even some disillusioned Northern Democrats into the new Republican Party.
- The Ostend Manifesto (1854): A secret diplomatic proposal that recommended purchasing Cuba from Spain — and hinted at war if Spain refused. Northerners saw it as an attempt to expand slavery into the Caribbean, further damaging Pierce’s credibility.
By 1856, Pierce was deeply unpopular in the North. Though he sought renomination, his failures made him untenable for many Democrats.
A Divided Democratic Convention
At the Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati, leading candidates included:
- Stephen Douglas, senator from Illinois
- Lewis Cass, the 1848 nominee
- Franklin Pierce, seeking renomination
- James Buchanan, diplomat and former senator from Pennsylvania
After more than a dozen ballots, both Pierce and Douglas withdrew. The nomination went to James Buchanan, who had been serving as U.S. minister to Great Britain during the Kansas crisis. His absence allowed him to emerge as a compromise figure with no direct ties to the bloodshed. Democrats promoted him as the “safe choice”, presenting Buchanan as a calm, steady hand untainted by recent conflicts.
Buchanan’s running mate was John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, a youthful Southern Democrat whose presence reassured slaveholding states.
The Birth of the Republican Party
The Republican Party, founded in 1854, emerged from the ashes of the Whig Party and the Free Soil movement. Its central platform opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, condemned polygamy in Mormon settlements, and championed free soil, free labor, and a Transcontinental Railroad.
Their slogan captured their populist appeal:
“Free Speech, Free Press, Free Soil, Freemen, Frémont… and Victory!”
The Republicans nominated John C. Frémont, a dashing explorer, military officer, and former senator from California, nicknamed “The Pathfinder.” His running mate was William L. Dayton of New Jersey. Abraham Lincoln, then still little known outside Illinois, had been considered but was not chosen.
Frémont’s campaign electrified the North, but in the South his name was so toxic that he didn’t even appear on most ballots — underscoring the Republicans’ identity as an almost entirely sectional Northern party.
The Know-Nothing (American) Party
The Know-Nothing Party, officially called the American Party, rose on a wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment. Despite its secrecy and bigotry, it had electoral success in the mid-1850s, including sending 35 members to Congress and electing Nathaniel P. Banks as Speaker of the House.
The party nominated former president Millard Fillmore, though he was not formally a member and did not endorse their nativist positions. His running mate was Andrew Jackson Donelson, the nephew of President Andrew Jackson.
Fillmore’s candidacy represented the last gasp of the Whigs and the peak of the Know-Nothing movement. Though he carried only Maryland, his 21.5% share of the popular vote showed there was still appetite for a “third option” among voters unwilling to fully commit to either major party.
The Campaigns
The 1856 campaign was one of the nastiest yet.
- Democrats warned that a Republican victory would mean secession and civil war, portraying Frémont as a dangerous radical. They spread vicious rumors — that Frémont was illegitimate, secretly Catholic, and even that he had engaged in cannibalism during one of his expeditions.
- Republicans hammered Buchanan and the Democrats as the party of slavery and violence, blaming them for “Bleeding Kansas.”
- Know-Nothings attacked Frémont’s supposed Catholic sympathies while Fillmore cast himself as the candidate of national unity, though his appeal remained mostly Southern.
The Election of 1856 Results
The election results highlighted the nation’s deepening divide:
- James Buchanan (Democrat) – 174 electoral votes; 45.3% of the popular vote
- John C. Frémont (Republican) – 114 electoral votes; 33.1% of the popular vote
- Millard Fillmore (Know-Nothing) – 8 electoral votes (Maryland only); 21.5% of the popular vote
Buchanan carried almost the entire South and much of the North, while Frémont swept New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, and several Midwestern states. Fillmore carried only Maryland but took sizeable minority votes elsewhere, reflecting lingering Whig/Know-Nothing sentiment.
Significance
The Election of 1856 revealed how fragile the Union had become:
- The Republican Party, contesting its very first presidential race, won one-third of the vote and carried 11 states — an extraordinary debut that instantly made them a major party.
- The Know-Nothings reached their high-water mark. After 1856, nativism faded in importance as slavery dominated politics, and most of their supporters were absorbed by Republicans in the North or Democrats in the South.
- Buchanan, the only lifelong bachelor to serve as president, won as a compromise figure, but his presidency would prove disastrous. His inability to confront secessionist threats and his weakness during the Dred Scott case would brand him one of the least effective presidents in U.S. history.
- The election confirmed that American politics were now dominated by two sectional parties: Democrats in the South and Republicans in the North. The Union was on borrowed time.
Legacy
The Election of 1856 followed the Election of 1852, when Franklin Pierce’s win masked sectional tensions but quickly dissolved amid the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Buchanan’s victory in 1856 gave Democrats another term, but the Republicans’ meteoric rise ensured the old balance was gone forever.
The next contest, the Election of 1860, would shatter the old order completely — bringing Abraham Lincoln to power, prompting Southern secession, and pushing the United States into Civil War.
