1856 United States presidential election in Indiana

Last updated

1856 United States presidential election in Indiana
Flag of the United States (1851-1858).svg
  1852 November 4, 1856 1860  
  James Buchanan Alt Crop.jpg John Charles Fremont Oval Crop Edit.png Fillmore Alt Crop.jpg
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 vote1300
Popular vote118,67094,37522,386
Percentage50.4%40.1%9.5%

Indiana Presidential Election Results 1856.svg
County Results

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]

Contents

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]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic James Buchanan
John C. Breckinridge
118,670 50.41 Decrease2.svg 1.52
Republican John C. Frémont
William L. Dayton
94,37540.09Increase2.svg 40.09
Know Nothing Millard Fillmore
Andrew J. Donelson
22,3869.51Increase2.svg 9.51
Total votes235,431 100.00

Results by county

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

Democratic

John C. Frémont

Republican

Millard Fillmore

Know Nothing

Total
#%#%#%
Adams 84763.73%41331.08%695.19%1,329
Allen 3,21164.88%1,59332.19%1452.93%4,949
Bartholomew 1,84456.25%1,29239.41%1424.33%3,278
Benton 21740.19%31558.33%81.48%540
Blackford 40458.64%23834.54%476.82%689
Boone 1,49351.97%1,29945.21%812.82%2,873
Brown 68174.10%14816.10%909.79%919
Carroll 1,34451.16%1,26148.00%220.84%2,627
Cass 1,53949.92%1,50448.78%401.30%3,083
Clark 1,95055.46%49213.99%1,07430.55%3,516
Clay 1,10862.63%36520.63%29616.73%1,769
Clinton 1,36451.30%1,26147.42%341.28%2,659
Crawford 73557.97%241.89%50940.14%1,268
Daviess 1,11553.61%261.25%93945.14%2,080
Dearborn 2,61958.34%1,57335.04%2976.62%4,489
Decatur 1,63947.95%1,71850.26%611.78%3,418
DeKalb 1,24751.55%1,09745.35%753.10%2,419
Delaware 99235.94%1,73662.90%321.16%2,760
Dubois 1,19182.25%211.45%23616.30%1,448
Elkhart 1,65145.36%1,97154.15%180.49%3,640
Fayette 1,00244.91%1,18953.29%401.79%2,231
Floyd 1,76754.25%2287.00%1,26238.75%3,257
Fountain 1,58849.16%1,60649.72%361.11%3,230
Franklin 2,25960.45%1,43738.45%411.10%3,737
Fulton 83550.12%82249.34%90.54%1,666
Gibson 1,28653.21%36515.10%76631.69%2,417
Grant 1,03540.93%1,39555.16%993.91%2,529
Greene 1,12955.32%37918.57%53326.11%2,041
Hamilton 1,18539.89%1,74858.84%381.28%2,971
Hancock 1,34357.66%96241.31%241.03%2,329
Harrison 1,68152.91%87327.48%62319.61%3,177
Hendricks 1,37844.00%1,68053.64%742.36%3,132
Henry 1,22930.58%2,74168.20%491.22%4,019
Howard 68638.63%1,05759.52%331.86%1,776
Huntington 1,18147.79%1,23249.86%582.35%2,471
Jackson 1,70067.59%29911.89%51620.52%2,515
Jasper 54844.05%63350.88%635.06%1,244
Jay 88048.43%88348.60%542.97%1,817
Jefferson 1,93641.41%2,31449.50%4259.09%4,675
Jennings 1,15944.17%1,29349.28%1726.55%2,624
Johnson 1,60856.30%1,09538.34%1535.36%2,856
Knox 1,51258.06%55721.39%53520.55%2,604
Kosciusko 1,07539.09%1,66260.44%130.47%2,750
LaGrange 64031.19%1,40668.52%60.29%2,052
Lake 34627.20%92372.56%30.24%1,272
LaPorte 2,23946.49%2,53252.57%450.93%4,816
Lawrence 1,12649.69%48021.18%66029.13%2,266
Madison 1,60354.05%1,30944.13%540.82%2,966
Marion 3,73848.93%3,69648.38%2052.68%7,639
Marshall 1,03952.85%92747.15%00.00%1,966
Martin 76964.35%766.36%35029.29%1,195
Miami 1,51351.45%1,39047.26%381.29%2,941
Monroe 1,19157.23%49823.93%39218.84%2,081
Montgomery 2,08850.43%1,91046.14%1423.13%4,140
Morgan 1,52848.22%1,57349.64%632.15%3,164
Noble 1,19847.86%1,25750.22%481.92%2,503
Ohio 50551.11%10410.53%37938.36%988
Orange 1,20764.82%492.63%60632.55%1,862
Owen 1,23953.59%48721.06%58625.35%2,312
Parke 1,28443.23%1,49450.30%1926.46%2,970
Perry 1,06659.42%965.35%63235.23%1,794
Pike 77254.14%805.61%57440.25%1,426
Porter 61441.74%84757.58%100.68%1,471
Posey 1,81966.15%30611.13%62522.73%2,750
Pulaski 55760.22%34136.86%272.92%925
Putnam 1,88251.56%1,34536.85%42311.59%3,650
Randolph 1,25337.36%2,04260.88%591.76%3,354
Ripley 1,66150.80%1,42543.58%1845.63%3,270
Rush 1,68549.38%1,64448.18%832.43%3,412
St. Joseph 1,50945.36%1,81254.46%60.18%3,327
Scott 69356.11%27822.51%26421.38%1,235
Shelby 2,07555.67%1,51040.52%1423.81%3,727
Spencer 1,26054.71%23510.20%80835.08%2,303
Starke 15556.57%11240.88%72.55%274
Steuben 55330.95%1,21567.99%191.06%1,787
Sullivan 1,65071.61%25711.15%39717.23%2,304
Switzerland 1,12146.92%2289.54%1,04043.53%2,389
Tippecanoe 2,30744.97%2,77854.15%450.88%5,130
Tipton 73856.86%54642.06%141.08%1,298
Union 71047.59%76351.14%191.27%1,492
Vanderburgh 1,88060.80%37212.03%84027.17%3,092
Vermillion 82446.55%86648.93%804.52%1,770
Vigo 1,80846.89%1,16530.21%88322.90%3,856
Wabash 1,09636.67%1,78559.72%1083.61%2,989
Warren 76738.16%1,16758.06%763.78%2,010
Warrick 1,50671.95%1075.11%48022.93%2,093
Washington 1,77863.50%33111.82%69124.68%2,800
Wayne 1,95834.08%3,68864.18%1001.74%5,746
Wells 93155.65%72643.40%160.96%1,673
White 74650.03%70347.15%422.82%1,491
Whitley 85149.91%79746.74%573.34%1,705
Totals118,67050.41%94,37540.09%22,3569.50%235,401

See also

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