1856 United States presidential election in Indiana

1856 United States presidential election in Indiana

←  1852 November 4, 1856 1860  →

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 13 0 0 Popular vote 118,670 94,375 22,386 Percentage 50.4% 40.1% 9.5%

County Results Buchanan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Frémont   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%

President before election Franklin Pierce Democratic Elected President James Buchanan Democratic

A presidential election was held in Indiana on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. The Democratic ticket of the U.S. minister to Great Britain James Buchanan and the former U.S. representative from Kentucky's 8th congressional district John C. Breckinridge defeated the Republican ticket of the former U.S. senator from California John C. Frémont and the former U.S. senator from New Jersey William L. Dayton. The Know Nothing ticket of former president Millard Fillmore and the former U.S. envoy to Prussia Andrew J. Donelson finished third. ^[1] Buchanan defeated Frémont in the national election with 174 electoral votes. ^[2]

General election

Summary

Indiana chose 13 electors on a statewide general ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to vote directly for members of the Electoral College rather than for president. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party. ^[3] This table compares the votes for the most popular elector pledged to each ticket, to give an approximate sense of the statewide result.

1856 United States presidential election in Indiana ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	James Buchanan John C. Breckinridge	118,670	50.41	1.52
	Republican	John C. Frémont William L. Dayton	94,375	40.09	40.09
	Know Nothing	Millard Fillmore Andrew J. Donelson	22,386	9.51	9.51
Total votes			235,431	100.00

Results by county

1856 United States Presidential Election in Indiana (By County) ^[5]

County	James Buchanan Democratic		John C. Frémont Republican		Millard Fillmore Know Nothing		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	847	63.73%	413	31.08%	69	5.19%	1,329
Allen	3,211	64.88%	1,593	32.19%	145	2.93%	4,949
Bartholomew	1,844	56.25%	1,292	39.41%	142	4.33%	3,278
Benton	217	40.19%	315	58.33%	8	1.48%	540
Blackford	404	58.64%	238	34.54%	47	6.82%	689
Boone	1,493	51.97%	1,299	45.21%	81	2.82%	2,873
Brown	681	74.10%	148	16.10%	90	9.79%	919
Carroll	1,344	51.16%	1,261	48.00%	22	0.84%	2,627
Cass	1,539	49.92%	1,504	48.78%	40	1.30%	3,083
Clark	1,950	55.46%	492	13.99%	1,074	30.55%	3,516
Clay	1,108	62.63%	365	20.63%	296	16.73%	1,769
Clinton	1,364	51.30%	1,261	47.42%	34	1.28%	2,659
Crawford	735	57.97%	24	1.89%	509	40.14%	1,268
Daviess	1,115	53.61%	26	1.25%	939	45.14%	2,080
Dearborn	2,619	58.34%	1,573	35.04%	297	6.62%	4,489
Decatur	1,639	47.95%	1,718	50.26%	61	1.78%	3,418
DeKalb	1,247	51.55%	1,097	45.35%	75	3.10%	2,419
Delaware	992	35.94%	1,736	62.90%	32	1.16%	2,760
Dubois	1,191	82.25%	21	1.45%	236	16.30%	1,448
Elkhart	1,651	45.36%	1,971	54.15%	18	0.49%	3,640
Fayette	1,002	44.91%	1,189	53.29%	40	1.79%	2,231
Floyd	1,767	54.25%	228	7.00%	1,262	38.75%	3,257
Fountain	1,588	49.16%	1,606	49.72%	36	1.11%	3,230
Franklin	2,259	60.45%	1,437	38.45%	41	1.10%	3,737
Fulton	835	50.12%	822	49.34%	9	0.54%	1,666
Gibson	1,286	53.21%	365	15.10%	766	31.69%	2,417
Grant	1,035	40.93%	1,395	55.16%	99	3.91%	2,529
Greene	1,129	55.32%	379	18.57%	533	26.11%	2,041
Hamilton	1,185	39.89%	1,748	58.84%	38	1.28%	2,971
Hancock	1,343	57.66%	962	41.31%	24	1.03%	2,329
Harrison	1,681	52.91%	873	27.48%	623	19.61%	3,177
Hendricks	1,378	44.00%	1,680	53.64%	74	2.36%	3,132
Henry	1,229	30.58%	2,741	68.20%	49	1.22%	4,019
Howard	686	38.63%	1,057	59.52%	33	1.86%	1,776
Huntington	1,181	47.79%	1,232	49.86%	58	2.35%	2,471
Jackson	1,700	67.59%	299	11.89%	516	20.52%	2,515
Jasper	548	44.05%	633	50.88%	63	5.06%	1,244
Jay	880	48.43%	883	48.60%	54	2.97%	1,817
Jefferson	1,936	41.41%	2,314	49.50%	425	9.09%	4,675
Jennings	1,159	44.17%	1,293	49.28%	172	6.55%	2,624
Johnson	1,608	56.30%	1,095	38.34%	153	5.36%	2,856
Knox	1,512	58.06%	557	21.39%	535	20.55%	2,604
Kosciusko	1,075	39.09%	1,662	60.44%	13	0.47%	2,750
LaGrange	640	31.19%	1,406	68.52%	6	0.29%	2,052
Lake	346	27.20%	923	72.56%	3	0.24%	1,272
LaPorte	2,239	46.49%	2,532	52.57%	45	0.93%	4,816
Lawrence	1,126	49.69%	480	21.18%	660	29.13%	2,266
Madison	1,603	54.05%	1,309	44.13%	54	0.82%	2,966
Marion	3,738	48.93%	3,696	48.38%	205	2.68%	7,639
Marshall	1,039	52.85%	927	47.15%	0	0.00%	1,966
Martin	769	64.35%	76	6.36%	350	29.29%	1,195
Miami	1,513	51.45%	1,390	47.26%	38	1.29%	2,941
Monroe	1,191	57.23%	498	23.93%	392	18.84%	2,081
Montgomery	2,088	50.43%	1,910	46.14%	142	3.13%	4,140
Morgan	1,528	48.22%	1,573	49.64%	63	2.15%	3,164
Noble	1,198	47.86%	1,257	50.22%	48	1.92%	2,503
Ohio	505	51.11%	104	10.53%	379	38.36%	988
Orange	1,207	64.82%	49	2.63%	606	32.55%	1,862
Owen	1,239	53.59%	487	21.06%	586	25.35%	2,312
Parke	1,284	43.23%	1,494	50.30%	192	6.46%	2,970
Perry	1,066	59.42%	96	5.35%	632	35.23%	1,794
Pike	772	54.14%	80	5.61%	574	40.25%	1,426
Porter	614	41.74%	847	57.58%	10	0.68%	1,471
Posey	1,819	66.15%	306	11.13%	625	22.73%	2,750
Pulaski	557	60.22%	341	36.86%	27	2.92%	925
Putnam	1,882	51.56%	1,345	36.85%	423	11.59%	3,650
Randolph	1,253	37.36%	2,042	60.88%	59	1.76%	3,354
Ripley	1,661	50.80%	1,425	43.58%	184	5.63%	3,270
Rush	1,685	49.38%	1,644	48.18%	83	2.43%	3,412
St. Joseph	1,509	45.36%	1,812	54.46%	6	0.18%	3,327
Scott	693	56.11%	278	22.51%	264	21.38%	1,235
Shelby	2,075	55.67%	1,510	40.52%	142	3.81%	3,727
Spencer	1,260	54.71%	235	10.20%	808	35.08%	2,303
Starke	155	56.57%	112	40.88%	7	2.55%	274
Steuben	553	30.95%	1,215	67.99%	19	1.06%	1,787
Sullivan	1,650	71.61%	257	11.15%	397	17.23%	2,304
Switzerland	1,121	46.92%	228	9.54%	1,040	43.53%	2,389
Tippecanoe	2,307	44.97%	2,778	54.15%	45	0.88%	5,130
Tipton	738	56.86%	546	42.06%	14	1.08%	1,298
Union	710	47.59%	763	51.14%	19	1.27%	1,492
Vanderburgh	1,880	60.80%	372	12.03%	840	27.17%	3,092
Vermillion	824	46.55%	866	48.93%	80	4.52%	1,770
Vigo	1,808	46.89%	1,165	30.21%	883	22.90%	3,856
Wabash	1,096	36.67%	1,785	59.72%	108	3.61%	2,989
Warren	767	38.16%	1,167	58.06%	76	3.78%	2,010
Warrick	1,506	71.95%	107	5.11%	480	22.93%	2,093
Washington	1,778	63.50%	331	11.82%	691	24.68%	2,800
Wayne	1,958	34.08%	3,688	64.18%	100	1.74%	5,746
Wells	931	55.65%	726	43.40%	16	0.96%	1,673
White	746	50.03%	703	47.15%	42	2.82%	1,491
Whitley	851	49.91%	797	46.74%	57	3.34%	1,705
Totals	118,670	50.41%	94,375	40.09%	22,356	9.50%	235,401

See also

• United States presidential elections in Indiana

Notes

1. Dubin 2002, p. 135.
2. "1856 Electoral College Results". National Archives. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
3. Lampi n.d.; Ratcliffe 2014, p. 57.
4. Dubin 2002, p. 35.
5. "Our Campaigns - IN US President Race - Nov 04, 1856". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved March 12, 2025.

Bibliography

• "1856 Electoral College Results". National Archives. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
• Dubin, Michael J. (2002). United States Presidential Elections, 1788-1860. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN   978-0-7864-6422-7.
• Lampi, Philip J. (n.d.). "Electoral College". A New Nation Votes. American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
• Ratcliffe, Donald J. (Spring 2014). "Popular Preferences in the Presidential Election of 1824". Journal of the Early Republic. 34 (1): 45–77. JSTOR   24486931.