1856 United States presidential election
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. Domestic political turmoil was a major factor in the nominations of both Buchanan and Fillmore, who appealed in part because of their recent time abroad, and with it the fact that they had not had to take a position on the divisive questions related to slavery.


1856 United States presidential election
The Democrats supported expansionist slave-holding policies generally of varying intensities. They called for "popular sovereignty", which in theory would allow the residents in a territory to decide for themselves what the status of enslavement would be before statehood were to be achieved. In practice, in Kansas Territory, it produced a state-level civil war which they blamed on abolitionists in general and John Brown in particular. Frémont opposed the expansion of slavery. Buchanan called that position "extremist", warning that a Republican victory would lead to disunion, a then constant issue of political debate which had already been long discussed and advocated. The Know Nothings attempted to present themselves as the one party capable of bridging the sectional divides. All three major parties found support in the North, but the Republicans had virtually no backing in the South.


1856 United States presidential election
Buchanan won a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote, taking all but one slave state and five free states. His popular vote margin of 12.2% was the greatest margin between 1836 and 1904. However, the election was far closer than it appeared: if Fillmore had won any two of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana (or all three) and Frémont had won Illinois—a total shift of fewer than 25,000 votes—a contingent election would have been required in the House of Representatives, controlled by a new coalition of inchoate parties united in opposing the Democrats.


1856 United States presidential election
Frémont won a majority of 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 soon collapsed as a national party, as most of its anti-slavery members joined the Republican Party after the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court ruling. 1856 also proved to be the last Democratic presidential victory until 1884, as Republicans emerged as the dominant party during and after the Civil War.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination, Democratic candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican candidates gallery
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; Seward and Chase did not feel that the party was yet sufficiently organized to have a realistic chance of taking the White House and were content to wait until the next election, while Sumner, even had he been interested, was in no fit condition to run after being violently assaulted on the Senate floor a month before the convention. 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. Frémont was nominated for president overwhelmingly on the formal ballot, and William L. Dayton was nominated for vice-president over Abraham Lincoln.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination, American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination, American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination, American Party candidates gallery
Delegates from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, New England, and other northern states bolted when a resolution that would have required all prospective nominees to be in favor of prohibiting slavery north of the 36'30' parallel was voted down. 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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination, American Party candidates gallery
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". Fillmore was nominated with 179 votes out of the 234 votes cast.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, American (Know-Nothing) Party nomination, American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, North American Party nomination, North American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, North American Party nomination, North American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, North American Party nomination, North American Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, North American Seceders Party nomination, North American Seceders Party candidates gallery
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party nomination
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party nomination
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.


1856 United States presidential election, Nominations, Liberty Party nomination
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."


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
None of the three candidates did any public campaigning. 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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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. The main Democratic campaign was a counter-crusade against the Republicans.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
They ridiculed Frémont's military record and warned that his victory would bring civil war. Much of the private rhetoric of the campaign focused on unfounded rumors regarding Frémont—talk of him as president taking charge of a large army that would support slave insurrections, the likelihood of widespread lynchings of slaves, and whispered hope among slaves for freedom and political equality.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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. Because of the Republican candidate's French-Canadian ancestry and surname, many voters accepted the allegation at face value. The Democrats ran with it, and the Republicans found themselves unable to counteract the rumor 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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
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 would not be broken until 1964, over a century later.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
The presidential election of 1856 was also the last time to date that a Democrat was elected to succeed a fellow Democrat as president, and the last one in which a former president ran for election to the presidency on a third party ticket until 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt ran on the Progressive Party ticket.


1856 United States presidential election, General election, Results
(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election, Results by state
Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.


1856 United States presidential election, Counting Wisconsin electors: February 11, 1857
During the Joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, a kerfuffle took place that some, well over a century and a half later, would attempt to use as a precedent to try to overturn a presidential election.


1856 United States presidential election, Counting Wisconsin electors: February 11, 1857
The electors of Wisconsin, delayed by a snowstorm, did not cast their votes for Frémont and Dayton until several days after the appointed time and sent a certificate mentioning this fact. When the votes for the state were opened by acting Vice President James Mason, he counted them over the objections of the leadership of both Houses of Congress.


1856 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1856 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 4, 1856. Alabama voters chose 9 electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by Senator James Buchanan (D–Pennsylvania), running with Representative and future presidential candidate in the 1860 presidential election John C. Breckinridge, with 62.08% of the popular vote, against the 13th president of the United States Millard Fillmore (A–New York), running with the 2nd United States Ambassador to Germany Andrew Jackson Donelson, with 37.92% of the popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Alabama
The Republican Party nominee John C. Frémont was not on the ballot.


1856 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1856 United States presidential election in Arkansas was held on November 4, 1856. Arkansas voters chose four electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas voted for the Democratic nominee James Buchanan, who received 67% of the vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Republican Party nominee John C. Frémont was not on the ballot.


1856 United States presidential election in California
The 1856 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1856 as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State James Buchanan, over the American Party nominee, former Whig President Millard Fillmore, and the Republican nominee, former U.S. Senator and Military Governor of California John C. Frémont.


1856 United States presidential election in California, Campaign
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 counter-crusaded by warning that a Republican victory would bring a civil war.


1856 United States presidential election in California, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election in California, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election in California, Campaign
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.


1856 United States presidential election in California, Results
This would prove the last occasion the Democratic Party carried Alameda County until Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, the last in which the Democrats carried Santa Cruz County and Placer County until Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and the last when Napa, Solano and Marin Counties voted Democratic until Wilson in 1912. California's electoral votes would not be again carried by the Democratic Party until 1880.


1856 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1856 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont won the state by a margin of 9.61%.


1856 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1856 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore.


1856 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1856 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Florida by a margin of 13.62%.


1856 United States presidential election in Florida
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1856 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Georgia by a margin of 14.28%.


1856 United States presidential election in Georgia
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1856 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over Republican candidate John C. Frémont and American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Illinois by a narrow margin of 3.86%.


1856 United States presidential election in Illinois
This would be the final time a Democratic presidential candidate would win Illinois until Grover Cleveland won it in 1892.


1856 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1856 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over Republican candidate John C. Frémont and American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Indiana by a margin of 10.32%.


1856 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1856 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over Democratic candidate, James Buchanan and American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Frémont won Iowa by a margin of 8.13%.


1856 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1856 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Kentucky by a margin of 5.08%.


1856 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1852 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Louisiana by a narrow margin of 3.40%.


1856 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1856 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont won the state by a margin of 25.66%.


1856 United States presidential election in Maine
With 61.34% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be Frémont's third strongest state in the 1856 election after Vermont and Massachusetts.


1856 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1856 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland voted for the Know Nothing candidate, former president Millard Fillmore, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and Republican candidate, John C. Frémont.


1856 United States presidential election in Maryland
Fillmore won the state by a margin of 9.59%. Maryland became the only state to vote for Fillmore during the election.


1856 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1856 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont won Massachusetts by a margin of 40.53%.


1856 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With 63.61% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would prove to be Frémont's second strongest state in the 1856 election after neighboring Vermont.


1856 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1856 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over Democratic candidate, James Buchanan. Frémont won Michigan by a margin of 15.63%.


1856 United States presidential election in Michigan
With 57.15% of the popular vote, Michigan proved to be Fremont's fifth strongest in the 1856 election after Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.


1856 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1856 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 1856. Mississippi voters chose seven electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by Senator James Buchanan (D–Pennsylvania), running with Representative and future presidential candidate in the 1860 presidential election John C. Breckinridge, with 59.44% of the popular vote, against the 13th president of the United States Millard Fillmore (A–New York), running with the 2nd United States Ambassador to Germany Andrew Jackson Donelson, with 40.56% of the popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The Republican Party nominee John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1856 United States presidential election in Missouri was held on November 4, 1856. Voters chose nine electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri voted for the Democratic nominee James Buchanan, who received 54% of the vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Missouri
Republican Party nominee John C. Frémont was not on the ballot.


1856 United States presidential election in Missouri
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Gasconade County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1856 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1856 United States presidential election in the New Hampshire took place on November 4, 1856 as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1856 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire was won by former California Senator John C. Frémont, who won the state by a narrow vote margin of less than 6,000 votes. He then lost nationally to former United States Minister to the United Kingdom James Buchanan.


1856 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1856 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won the state by a margin of 13.43 percentage points, and would be the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry Cumberland County until Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, and the last to carry Passaic County until Roosevelt in 1932.


1856 United States presidential election in New York
The 1856 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 35 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by California Senator John C. Frémont (R–California), running with former Senator William L. Dayton (New Jersey), with 46.27% of the popular vote, against Senator James Buchanan (D–Pennsylvania), running with Representative and future presidential candidate in the 1860 presidential election John C. Breckinridge, with 32.84% of the popular vote and the 13th president of the United States Millard Fillmore (A–New York), running with the 2nd U.S. Ambassador to Germany Andrew Jackson Donelson, with 20.89% of the popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in New York
James Buchanan went on to win the presidential election but this election would end the Democratic Party's support from New York which they won five out of seven times since 1828 and for the next 12 years a Democrat would not win New York until Horatio Seymour's narrow victory in 1868.


1856 United States presidential election in New York
Frémont's victory in the state made him the first Republican presidential candidate to win New York as well as the first one to win the state without winning the election. The other 2 Republican presidential candidates to win New York without winning the election were Charles Evans Hughes in 1916 and Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. It was also the first time since voting for DeWitt Clinton in 1812 that New York backed a losing presidential candidate. This remains the only presidential election in history where New York voted Republican while neighboring Pennsylvania voted Democratic.


1856 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1856 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over Whig candidate Millard Fillmore. Fillmore ran under the American Party ticket in most states, but ran as a Whig in North Carolina after receiving the endorsement of the party at the 1856 Whig National Convention. Buchanan won North Carolina by a margin of 13.56%.


1856 United States presidential election in North Carolina
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1856 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 23 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Ohio
Ohio was won by California Senator John C. Frémont (R–Georgia), running with New Jersey Senator William L. Dayton, with 48.51% of the popular vote, against Senator James Buchanan (D–Pennsylvania), running with Representative and future presidential candidate in the 1860 presidential election John C. Breckinridge, with 44.21% of the popular vote and the 13th president of the United States Millard Fillmore (A–New York), running with the 2nd United States Ambassador to Germany Andrew Jackson Donelson, with 7.28% of the popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1856 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 27 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Buchanan, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, won his home state by a margin of 18.12%.


1856 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Following the election, Pennsylvania would establish itself as a Republican stronghold. This would be the final time that the Keystone State would vote for a Democratic candidate until Franklin D. Roosevelt won the state in 1936. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the final time Snyder County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1856 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1856 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont won the state by a margin of 24.15%.


1856 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
With 57.85% of the popular vote, Rhode Island proved to be Frémont's fourth strongest state in the 1856 election after Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine.


1856 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1856 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose 8 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in South Carolina
South Carolina cast 8 electoral votes for the Democratic candidate James Buchanan. These electors were chosen by the South Carolina General Assembly, the state legislature, rather than by popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1856 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Tennessee voted for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, over American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Tennessee by a margin of 4.36%.


1856 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Republican Party candidate John C. Frémont was not on the ballot in the state.


1856 United States presidential election in Tennessee
This was the only instance between 1832 and 1876 when a Democrat won Tennessee.


1856 United States presidential election in Texas
The 1856 United States presidential election in Texas was held in November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Texas
Texas voted for the Democratic nominee James Buchanan, who received 67% of the vote. Texas was Buchanan's second strongest state.


1856 United States presidential election in Texas
Republican Party nominee John C. Frémont was not on the ballot.


1856 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1856 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont voted for the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont, over the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, and the Know Nothing candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont won the state by a margin of 57.12%.


1856 United States presidential election in Vermont
With 77.96% of the popular vote, Vermont would be his strongest victory in the Union in terms of percentage in the popular vote.


1856 United States presidential election in Vermont
Frémont's victory also started the 104 year long streak of Republican presidential candidate victories within the Green Mountain State, which would last for 27 consecutive presidential elections from 1856 through 1960--as of 2020, still the most of any state. A Democratic presidential candidate would not win Vermont until Lyndon B. Johnson won the state against Barry Goldwater 108 years later in 1964.


1856 United States presidential election in Virginia
The 1856 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15  representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia voted for the Democratic candidate, former United States Minister to the United Kingdom James Buchanan over the American candidate, former President Millard Fillmore. Former U.S. Senator John C. Frémont was also the Republican candidate in this election, but he was not on the ballot in Virginia. Buchanan won the state with a margin of 19.92%.


1856 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
The 1856 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 4, 1856 as part of the 1856 United States presidential election. State voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1856 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
John C. Frémont of the newly formed Republican Party won Wisconsin with 55% of the popular vote, winning the state's five electoral votes.


1856 Vancouver Island election
Members elected to the First House of Assembly of Vancouver Island which sat from August 12, 1856, to December 7, 1859. The election was two years before the first newspaper started so there is no known record of the actual vote totals.


1856 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 1856 Vermont gubernatorial election for governor of Vermont was held on Tuesday, September 2. In keeping with the "Mountain Rule", incumbent Republican Stephen Royce was not a candidate for a third one-year term. The Republican nomination was won by Ryland Fletcher, the incumbent lieutenant governor. The Democratic nominee was Henry Keyes, a former member of the Vermont House of Representatives and Vermont Senate.


1856 Vermont gubernatorial election
Vermont continued its strong support for abolitionism and Republicans, and Fletcher was easily elected to succeed Royce. Fletcher took the oath of office for a one-year term that began on October 17.


1856 Western Division of Camden colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Western Division of Camden on 16 June 1856 because James Macarthur was concerned about the constitutionality of the transition to responsible government and resigned.


1856 Whig National Convention
The 1856 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held from September 17 to September 18, in Baltimore, Maryland. Attended by a rump group of Whigs who had not yet left the declining party, the 1856 convention was the last presidential nominating convention held by the Whig Party. The convention nominated a ticket consisting of former President Millard Fillmore and former Ambassador Andrew J. Donelson; both had previously been nominated by the 1856 American National Convention. The Whig ticket finished third in the 1856 presidential election behind the winning Democratic ticket of James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge, the runner-up Republican ticket of John C. Fremont and William L. Dayton.


1856 Whig National Convention, Fall of the Whigs
The Whig party had been declining in power for some time before its last national convention in 1856. In the 1850 midterm elections, Democrats strengthened their majority as the Whigs lost 23 seats in the House and 2 seats in the Senate. In 1852, the Whigs lost another 14 House seats and one Senate seat. Furthermore, they lost the 1852 presidential election, their third loss in five campaigns.


1856 Whig National Convention, Fall of the Whigs
A major reason for the Whig party's decline was a loss of its most influential leaders. Whig leaders from Southern slave states joined the Democratic party. Additionally, the Whigs' New York state convention in Syracuse voted to join with the newly formed Republican Party.


1856 Whig National Convention, Fall of the Whigs
On March 10, 1856, the Whig National Committee met and voted to reject the New York Whigs' merger with the Republican party. Whig leaders from Kentucky met and held their state convention in April. There they voted to call a national convention.


1856 Whig National Convention, Fall of the Whigs
In the months leading up to the national convention, Whigs met in convention in several states to select which delegates would be sent to Baltimore in September. Delegates to these state conventions debated several options for the upcoming general election: the party could choose former President Millard Fillmore as its candidate, nominate another Whig, or endorse the Democratic candidate James Buchanan. As the state conventions met, Fillmore emerged as the clear choice.


1856 Whig National Convention, Convention site
The convention was held at the 1851 landmark Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts over the old Centre ("Marsh") Market in Market Place (formerly Harrison Street) between East Baltimore Street and Water Street along South Gay Street and the west bank of the Jones Falls stream through downtown Baltimore, in Maryland on September 17 and September 18, 1856. The same site had hosted the 1852 Whig National Convention.


1856 Whig National Convention, The Last Whig Convention
Twenty-six states out of thirty-one sent 150 delegates to the national convention in late September 1856. The convention met for only two days and on the second day (and only ballot) quickly nominated Fillmore for president, who had already been nominated for president by the Know Nothing party. Andrew J. Donelson was nominated for vice president.


1856 Whig National Convention, The Last Whig Convention
Among the delegates to the convention was John Bell of Tennessee.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 35th Congress were held at various dates in different states from August 1856 to November 1857.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
The elections briefly returned a semblance of normalcy to the Democratic Party, restoring its House majority alongside election of Democratic President James Buchanan. However, superficial victory masked severe, ultimately irretrievable divisions over slavery. Voters next would return a Democratic House majority only in 1874.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
Party realignments continued. In 1856, the Whig Party disbanded, the Know Nothing movement declined, and its vehicle, the American Party, began to collapse. Many Northern Whig, American, and other Opposition Party Representatives joined the new, rapidly consolidating Republican Party, which contested the Presidency in 1856. Though the Republican Party did not yet demand abolition, its attitude toward slavery was stridently negative. It was an openly sectional Northern party opposing fugitive slave laws and slavery in the territories, and for the first time offered a mainstream platform to outspoken abolitionists.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
In March 1857, after almost all Northern states had voted, the Supreme Court issued its infamous Dred Scott decision, amplifying tensions and hardening voter divisions. Remaining elections were concentrated in the South. Southern voters widely drove the American Party from office, rallying to the Democrats in firm opposition to the Republicans.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
In October 1857, the pending new state of Minnesota elected its first Representatives, to be seated by the 35th Congress. Between the admissions of Vermont in 1791 and Wisconsin in 1848, Congress had admitted new states roughly in pairs: one slave, one free. California was admitted alone as a free state in 1850 only as part of a comprehensive compromise including significant concessions to slave state interests.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
Admission of Minnesota in May 1858, also alone but with no such deal, helped expose the declining influence of the South, destroying the formerly binding concept that slave and free state power was best kept in balance even in the Senate while solidifying a sense that the West would exclude slavery.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections, Election summaries
Two seats were added for the new state of Minnesota, which was unrepresented for part of the 1st session.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections
There were special elections in 1856 and 1857 during the 34th United States Congress and 35th United States Congress.


1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections, Minnesota
Minnesota Territory elected three members in advance of Minnesota's 1848 statehood. "Although three men won this election, which was held before Minnesota was actually a state, only two representatives from Minnesota were allowed in the congressional bill creating the state in 1858. George L. Becker lost in the drawing of lots to decide who would present their credentials, therefore he did not serve in Congress."


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections
The United States Senate elections of 1856 and 1857 were elections which had the young Republican Party assume its position as one of the United States's two main political parties. The Whigs and Free Soilers were gone by the time the next Congress began.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections
As this election was prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, senators were chosen by state legislatures.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections during the 34th Congress
In these elections, the winners were seated during 1856 or in 1857 before March 4; ordered by election date.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Races leading to the 35th Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1857; ordered by state.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections during the 35th Congress
In these elections, the winners were elected in 1857 after March 4; ordered by election date.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
The New York election was held February 3, 1857, by the New York State Legislature. Whig Hamilton Fish had been elected in 1851 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1857.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
In 1855, the Whig Party and the Anti- Nebraska Party merged in New York to form the Republican Party.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
At the State election in November 1855, 16 Republicans, 11 Americans, 4 Democrats and 1 Temperance man were elected for a two-year term (1856-1857) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1856, 81 Republicans, 31 Democrats and 8 Americans were elected to the Assembly for the session of 1857. The 80th New York State Legislature met from January 6 to April 18, 1857, at Albany, New York.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
Preston King was nominated by a caucus of Republican State legislators. King had been a Democratic congressman from 1843 to 1847, a Free Soil congressman from 1849 to 1853, and had joined the Republican Party upon its foundation at the State convention in September 1855. The convention nominated King for Secretary of State, but he was defeated by Joel T. Headley in a four-way race. Secretary of State Joel T. Headley was the candidate of the American Party. State Senator Daniel E. Sickles was the candidate of the Democratic Party.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
In the Assembly the vote confirmed the party caucus selections. When State Senator Sickles received votes, the same objection to his eligibility was raised as was in 1833 regarding Nathaniel P. Tallmadge. This time, Speaker DeWitt C. Littlejohn ruled that the objection was "partially tenable and partially not so." However, the Speaker held that any member could vote for anybody, and only if the candidate received sufficient votes to win the election, a decision would be required. Otherwise, like in this case, the eligibility of an also-ran was irrelevant.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
In the State Senate, only 24 votes were given. Zenas Clark (Rep.) and John B. Halsted (Rep.) were sick at home. Eaton J. Richardson (Rep.) paired with Sidney Sweet (Am.). Joseph H. Petty (Am.) was absent. William Kelly (Dem. ), Mark Spencer (Dem. ), and the Democratic candidate Sickles himself, declined to vote.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
State Senator Justin A. Smith (Am.) raised the question if the vote for Sickles could be counted. A new State Constitution had been adopted in 1846, which had clarified the question of eligibility of State legislators.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
Smith quoted from the State Constitution: "No member of the Legislature shall receive any civil appointment within this State, or to the Senate of the United States, from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected; and all votes given for any such member, for any such office or appointment, shall be void."


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
Lt. Gov. Henry R. Selden (later a judge of the New York Court of Appeals) decided to count the vote, holding that the United States Constitution described the eligibility for the office and devolved on the State legislatures only the power to prescribe the "times, places and manners of holding the elections for that office", thus not implying a right for the State governments to exclude any person who would be eligible under the U.S. Constitution.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, New York
Preston King was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (special)
The Class 3 election was held on January 14, 1856. William Bigler was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (special)
The Pennsylvania General Assembly had previously convened on February 13, 1855, for the regularly scheduled Senate election for the term beginning on March 4, 1855. Two ballots were recorded on February 13, followed by three on February 27, 1855. On the fifth and final ballot during this convention, former Senator Simon Cameron had led with 55 votes to future Senator Charles R. Buckalew's 23. No candidate was elected, however, and the hung election convention adjourned by a vote of 66 to 65. Upon the expiration of incumbent James Cooper's term on March 4, 1855, the seat was vacated and would remain vacant until William Bigler's election in January 1856.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (special)
On January 14, 1856, the election convention of the General Assembly re-convened and elected Democratic former Governor of Pennsylvania William Bigler on the first ballot to serve the remainder of the term that began on March 4, 1855 and would expire on March 4, 1861. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (regular)
The Class 1 election in Pennsylvania was held on January 13, 1857. Simon Cameron was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.


1856 and 1857 United States Senate elections, Complete list of states, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (regular)
The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on January 13, 1857, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1857. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:


1856 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1856 in Australia.


1856 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1856 in Chile.


1856 in France
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by BrownHairedGirl (talk | contribs) at 17:17, 19 June 2020 (use Template:Year in France header, which needs no parameters and applies categories, replaced: {{Year in France|1856}} → {{Year in France header}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1856 in India, Deaths
This Indian history-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .


1856 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1856 in New Zealand.


1856 in New Zealand
After several previous attempts, New Zealand finally achieves "Responsible Government", with a majority of the members of the House of Representatives supporting the Government.


1856 in New Zealand, Population
The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1856 is 58,300 Māori and 45,540 non-Māori. The total population reaches the 100,000 mark during the year.


1856 in New Zealand, Incumbents, Government and law
The 2nd Parliament is formed on 15 April. The election of its members had in fact concluded on 28 December the previous year.


1856 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1856 in South Africa.


1856 in Switzerland
The following is a list of events, births, and deaths in 1856 in Switzerland.


1856 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1856 to Wales and its people.


1856 in architecture
The year 1856 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1856 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1856.


1856 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1856.


1856 in paleontology, Insects
A protosmyline Osmylid lance lacewing Moved to "Protosmylus" picta (1913) moved to Osmylidia picta (2021)


1856 in paleontology, Vertebrates, Archosauromorphs, Newly named dinosaurs
Preoccupied by a genus erected by Fischer von Waldheim in 1847. Renamed Gresslyosaurus


1856 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1856 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1856 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1856 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1856.


1856 in science
The year 1856 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.


1856 in sports
1856 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1856 in the United States
1856 in the United States included some significant events that pushed the nation closer towards civil war.


185638 Erwinschwab
185638 Erwinschwab, provisional designation 2008 EU7, is a potentially sub-kilometer Nysian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 1 March 2008, by OAM-astronomers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain. The asteroid is estimated to measure between 950 meters and 1.8 kilometers in diameter and was named after German astronomer Erwin Schwab in 2009.


185638 Erwinschwab, Orbit and classification
Erwinschwab is a member of the Nysa family (405), the main belt's largest asteroid family with nearly 20 thousand members. The family also known as the Nysa-Polana complex, consisting of several distinct subfamilies.


185638 Erwinschwab, Orbit and classification
The asteroid orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,342 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.


185638 Erwinschwab, Orbit and classification
The body's observation arc begins with its first identification as 1995 UZ53 by Spacewatch at Kitt Peak Observatory in October 1995, more than 12 years prior to its official discovery observation at La Sagra in 2008.


185638 Erwinschwab, Physical characteristics
The asteroid's spectral type is unknown. The Nysa family complex consist of S-, F- and C-type asteroids (SFC).


185638 Erwinschwab, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
Erwinschwab has not been observed by any space-based telescope such as the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite or the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Based on an assumed albedo of 0.20, which is typical for silicaceous asteroid, the asteroid measures 0.95 kilometers in diameter for an absolute magnitude of 17.5. Since members of the Nysa family complex also include carbonaceous asteroid, Erwinschwab's albedo may also be estimated at 0.057, which translates into a larger diameter of 1.8 kilometers.


185638 Erwinschwab, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of Erwinschwab has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole axis and shape remain unknown.


185638 Erwinschwab, Naming
This minor planet was named after German amateur astronomer Erwin Schwab (born 1964), a prolific discoverer of minor planets at the Starkenburg Observatory, Tzec Maun and Taunus observatories since the early 1980s. During his astrometric observation at Taunus, Schwab has collaborated with astronomer Rainer Kling. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 7 June 2009 (M.P.C. 66244).


1857
1857 (MDCCCLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1857th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 857th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th  year of the 19th century, and the  8th   year of the 1850s decade. As of the start of 1857, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1857 (film)
1857   is a 1946 Indian Bollywood film. It was the fifth highest grossing Indian film of 1946. The film was directed by Mohan Sinha for Murari Pictures. The story was by M. Zahur with screenplay and dialogue by Safdar 'Ah'. The film starred the singer-actor pair of Surendra and Suraiya, along with Wasti, Nigar, Munshi Khanjar, Madan Puri.


1857 (film)
1857 was a historical fiction drama set against the backdrop of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 also known as the First war of independence.


1857 (film), Soundtrack
The music composer was Sajjad Hussain and the lyricists were Anuum Pilibhiti, Pandit Ankur, Shewan Rizvi, and Y.N.Joshi. The singers were Suraiya, Surendra, Shamshad Begum, Khan Mastana and Rajkumari.


1857 Alabama gubernatorial election
The 1857 Alabama gubernatorial election took place on August 3, 1857, in order to elect the Governor of Alabama. Democrat Andrew B. Moore won his first term as Governor. John A. Winston did not run because he was term-limited.


1857 Argyle colonial by-election
A by-election was to be held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Argyle on 17 February 1857 because the seat of John Plunkett was declared vacant due to his appointment as President of the Legislative Council.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season
The 1857 Atlantic hurricane season was the earliest season documented by HURDAT – the official Atlantic hurricane database – to feature no major hurricanes. A total of four tropical cyclones were observed during the season, three of which strengthened into hurricanes. However, in the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies, only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea are known, so the actual total could be higher. An undercount bias of zero to six tropical cyclones per year between 1851 and 1885 has been estimated. Additionally, documentation by Jose Fernandez-Partagas and Henry Diaz included a fifth tropical cyclone near Port Isabel, Texas; this storm has since been removed from HURDAT as it was likely the same system as the fourth tropical cyclone.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season
The first storm was tracked beginning on June 30 offshore North Carolina. It moved eastward and was last noted on the following day. However, no tropical cyclones were reported in the remainder of July or August. Activity resume when another tropical storm was located southeast of the Bahamas on September 6. It intensified into a hurricane before making landfall in North Carolina and was last noted over the north Atlantic Ocean on September 17. The SS Central America sank offshore, drowning 424 passengers and crew members.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season
Another hurricane may have existed east of South Carolina between September 22 and October 26, though little information is available. The final documented tropical cyclone was initially observed east of Lesser Antilles on September 24. It traversed the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, striking the Yucatán Peninsula and later Port Isabel, Texas. The storm dissipated on September 30. In Texas, damage was reported in several towns near the mouth of the Rio Grande River.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season
The season's activity was reflected with a low accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) rating of 43. ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time, as well as particularly strong hurricanes, have high ACEs. It is only calculated at six-hour increments in which tropical and subtropical systems are either at or above sustained wind speeds of 39 mph (63 km/h), which is the threshold for tropical storm intensity.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm One
The ship Star of the South experienced heavy gales offshore the East Coast of the United States on June 30. HURDAT lists the first tropical cyclone of the season beginning at 0000 UTC, while located about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The storm moved slightly north of due east with winds of 60 mph (95 km/h). It was last noted about 265 miles (425 km) north-northwest of Bermuda by the bark Virginia late on July 1.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Two
A tropical storm was first observed east of the Bahamas on September 6. It moved slowly northwestward towards the coast of the United States and attained hurricane strength early on September 9. The cyclone continued travelling northwest along the US coast, becoming a Category 2 hurricane whilst off the coast of Georgia on September 11. On September 13 the cyclone made landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina, but then quickly weakened to a tropical storm and turned eastward into the Atlantic on September 14. Throughout September 15, whilst over water, the storm regained hurricane strength and continued northward before becoming extratropical in the mid-Atlantic on September 17.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Two
The hurricane caused much coastal damage particularly in the Cape Hatteras area during September 9 and September 10 and then to other parts of the North Carolina coast. Flooding was reported at New Bern. Considerable wind damage also occurred. An article from the Wilmington Journal reported that, "It looked as though everything that could be blown down, was down. Fences were prostrated in all directions, and the streets filled with the limbs and bodies of trees up-rooted or twisted off.". Several ships were caught in rough seas of the East Coast of the United States.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Two
The Norfolk was abandoned in pieces ten miles south of Chincoteague early on the morning of September 14. Further south, on September 11, the hurricane struck the steamer Central America which sprung a leak and eventually sank on the night of September 12 with the loss of 424 passengers and crew. Also on board the ship were 30,000 pounds of gold, the loss of which contributed to the financial Panic of 1857.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Three
Based on reports bark Aeronaut and the schooner Alabama indicating a severe gale, Partagas and Diaz identified a Category 1 hurricane about 405 miles (650 km) east of Charleston, South Carolina between September 22 and September 26. Sustained wind speeds of 80 mph (130 km/h) were observed. No evidence was found for a storm track so the hurricane was assigned a stationary position, at latitude 32.5°N, 3.5°W. Among the ships which encountered the hurricane was the brig Jerome Knight, which sprung a leak and sunk on the night of September 22.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Four
The final tropical cyclone was first observed at 0000 UTC on September 24, while located about 420 miles (680 km) east of Guadeloupe. Initially a tropical storm, it strengthened slightly before crossing the Leeward Islands on September 25. In Guadeloupe, several ships at the port in Basseterre were swept out to sea. Continuing eastward, the storm soon entered the Caribbean Sea. Early on September 26, the system strengthened into a hurricane. By September 28, it was west of the Cayman Islands and had reached Category 2 strength.


1857 Atlantic hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Four
The storm weakened to a tropical storm after passing Cancún early on September 29 and impacted the Gulf coastline, near the United States–Mexico border, at that strength the next day before dissipating. At Port Isabel, Texas, several hundred homes were swept away, and several towns near the mouth of the Rio Grande also sustained damage.


1857 Basilicata earthquake
The 1857 Basilicata earthquake (also known as the Great Neapolitan earthquake) occurred on December 16 in the Basilicata region of Italy southeast of the city of Naples. The epicentre was in Montemurro, on the western border of the modern province of Potenza. Several towns were destroyed, and estimated fatalities were around 10,000. At the time it was the third largest known earthquake, and has been estimated to have been of magnitude 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale.


1857 Basilicata earthquake, Earthquake
The principal shock occurred at about 10pm on December 16, 1857, and had been preceded by minor disturbances and was followed by numerous aftershocks which continued for some months.


1857 Basilicata earthquake, Effects
The earthquake was felt as far away as Terracina to the northwest, the main places suffering damage being Potenza, Polla, Diano, Sala, and Padula in the Val di Diano, and Tito, Sarconi, Spinoso, Marsico Nuovo, Saponara, and Montemurro. The latter two places, along with Padula and Polla, were virtually completely destroyed.


1857 Basilicata earthquake, Scientific study
Early in 1858, aided by a grant from the Royal Society, Robert Mallet visited the devastated area, and spent over two months studying the effects of the disaster, paying special attention to the damage caused to buildings. His extensive report was published in 1862, and remains a memorable work in the history of seismology. It is believed that Mallet was the first to use photography to record the aftermath of an earthquake.


1857 Basilicata earthquake, Scientific study
Much of Mallet's work was devoted to determining the position and magnitude of the subterranean focus of the earthquake. He calculated that the focal cavity was a curved fissure, about 10 miles (16 km) long and 31 miles (50 km) high and of negligible width. He estimated that the central point of the fissure, the theoretical seismic centre, was 62 miles (100 km) deep. Mallet located his epicentre near the village of Caggiano, not far from Polla, but later examination of his data suggested that there was a second focus near Montemurro, about 25 miles (40 km) to the southeast.


1857 Belgian general election
General elections were held in Belgium on 10 December 1857, the first full general elections since 1848. The elections were called by royal order of 12 November 1857, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives that had convened in a new session only two days earlier.


1857 Belgian general election
Going into the elections, Liberals held a majority in the Senate and the Catholics in the Chamber of Representatives. The unionist (Catholic–liberal) De Decker government resigned and a liberal government led by Charles Rogier took over shortly before the elections were called.


1857 Belgian general election
In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives the result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 70 of the 108 seats. The Liberal Party now had a majority in both chambers of parliament.


1857 Belgian general election
Voter turnout was 79.3%, although only 90,543 men (2% of the country's population) were eligible to vote.


1857 Belgian general election, Campaign
Twelve of the 108 seats were uncontested, of which the Liberals won three and the Catholics nine.


1857 Bharuch riot
There was communal violence between Parsis and Bohra Muslims in May 1857 in Broach (now Bharuch, Gujarat) in India.


1857 Bharuch riot, Background
Bharuch was a major trading port on the west coast of India. As Bharuch was an old settlement of Parsis, there were a  considerable number of Parsis in the town. Bahram Mowbed, the younger brother of Zanhosht Mowbed, was one of the early priests to settle in Bharuch. A tower of silence in Bharuch was established in 1309. There was a riot in Bombay six months before the event.


1857 Bharuch riot, Riot
On 10 May 1857, just five days after the beginning of the Indian rebellion of 1857, a Parsi named Bejonji Sheriaiji Bharuch was accused of disrespecting a mosque by some Muslims and the riots broke out. After five days, 200 Muslims gathered near Bawa Rahan shrine in the north of the town. The police approached but were unable to stop the mob. The mob attacked Dastur Kamdin Dar-e Mihr, a fire temple, and killed its High Priest, Ervad Ardeshir Hormazdji Kamdin. They lynched Bejonji Sheriaiji Bharuch and dragged his body for several lanes.


1857 Bharuch riot, Riot
They also attacked Shapurji Narielwala Fire Temple (consecrated in 1783) and also injured its High Priest, Ervad Meherwanji Muncherji Kamdin. Mr. Davies, the Magistrate of Bharuch and the Collector, could not stop the riots. The troops were brought in from nearby towns of Vagra, Amod, Ankleshwar and Hansot. Lt . Richardson led the British contingent sent to bring the peace.


1857 Bharuch riot, Aftermath
The Parsis of Bharuch petitioned the Chief of Police of the Bombay Presidency, Bettington, on 19 May 1857 to examine the role of Head Constable. They also petitioned the Governor's Council to establish a commission for investigation. They told Parsi Panchayat to use their influence.


1857 Bharuch riot, Aftermath
Alexander Kinloch Forbes, the Sessions Judge, sentenced imprisonments to 39 out of 61 persons arrested. Two were hanged for the killing of Bharucha and the High Priest.


1857 Bharuch riot, Aftermath
The riots were examined in their connection with the rebellion in 1857 by historians. Taking advantage of the situation, there were attempts to incite the Muslim population to organise disturbance against the British government by the rebels.


1857 Bharuch riot, Aftermath
There was another riot between Parsis and Muslims on 26 November 1885 when a land to build Dargah was not granted by the authorities. As there were Parsi members in the Municipal Council, they were accused for not granting.


1857 Bharuch riot, Aftermath
Khasumate Gujarat (August 1858), compiled by a school teacher, Ervad Kaikhushru Pestonji Vakil, in Gujarati, gives a detailed account of the event.


1857 Boston mayoral election
The Boston mayoral election of 1857 saw the election of Frederic W. Lincoln Jr.


1857 California gubernatorial election
The 1857 California gubernatorial election was held on September 2, 1857, to elect the governor of California.


1857 Carmarthenshire by-election
The Carmarthenshire by-election of 1857 was fought in June 1857. The by-election arose because of the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, David Arthur Saunders Davies. It was won by the Conservative candidate David Pugh, who prevailed against the opposition of many within the party.


1857 Carmarthenshire by-election, Candidates
John Lloyd Davies, who had stood down as member for Cardigan Boroughs at the recent election, having faced certain defeat when opposed by Edward Pryse, was first in the field. He issued an address within days of the late member's death and emphasised his role in the public life of the county for thirty years. However, it was soon rumoured that David Pugh had the support of a large proportion of the county gentry.


1857 Carmarthenshire by-election, Candidates
On 3 June, Charles Bishop convened a meeting at the Ivy Bush Hotel in Carmarthen to choose a candidate. The meeting was chaired by Sir John Mansel and addressed by two of the aspirants, John Lloyd Davies and Sir James Hamilton. David Pugh was not present and it was unclear whether he would abide by the decision of the meeting. Howel Gwyn, former MP for Falmouth, was also mentioned but had little support. A lengthy discussion ensued, which ended with Pugh being omitted from a ballot in which John Lloyd Davies secured a majority over Sir James Hamilton.


1857 Carmarthenshire by-election, Candidates
|the county that he would have been heavily defeated at a contested election. Pugh's selection was described by the Welshman as a reflection of a consensus which enabled moderate supporters of both the Liberal and Conservative factions to support him.


1857 Carmarthenshire by-election, Outcome
Pugh was duly returned after the hustings at Llandeilo on 12 June, when he was proposed by W.R.H. Powell of Maesgwynne. The Welshman stated that Pugh "was chosen, not by any party, but by the constituents as a body, without any reference to political distinctions."


1857 Chicago mayoral election
In the 1857 Chicago mayoral election, Republican John Wentworth defeated Democrat Benjamin F. Carver by a ten-point margin.


1857 Chicago mayoral election, Background
The Democratic Party were coming off of the success of their presidential ticket in November 1856 (both nationally, as well as in Illinois). At a celebratory bonfire held across from the Tremont House, Stephen A. Douglas delivered a speech predicting a Democratic victory in the coming municipal elections, declaring "Chicago will yet redeem herself, she will do so at the next election, and after that she will be right at every election."


1857 Chicago mayoral election, Election
Both the Republican Party and Democratic Party held nominating conventions on February 28. Republicans nominated congressman John Wentworth for mayor (who had previously served several terms as a Democratic congressman). Former congressman (and future president) Abraham Lincoln delivered an impassioned speech at the Republican convention on behalf of its ticket. Democrats nominated Benjamin F. Carver, cashier of the Marine Bank and the Chicago Marine and Fire Insurance Company and a relative unknown when compared to political the heavyweight Wentworth. The results of the Democratic convention were not made public until March 2, one day before the election.


1857 Chicago mayoral election, Election
Wentworth's platform aroused some anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiments. Wentworth had well-established support for abolitionist policies.


1857 Chicago mayoral election, Election
Election day was chaotic, with many instances of violence arising across the city. Wentworth ultimately won by a wide margin and demonstrated a possible coattail effect, with his Republican ticket sweeping the city's other municipal elections as well.


1857 Colombian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the Republic of New Granada in 1857. Following constitutional reforms in 1853, they were the first direct presidential elections in the country. The result was a victory for Mariano Ospina Rodríguez of the Conservative Party.


1857 Connecticut gubernatorial election
The 1857 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on April 1, 1857. Former Lieutenant Governor and Republican nominee Alexander H. Holley defeated former congressman and Democratic nominee Samuel Ingham with 50.44% of the vote.


1857 Cumberland (North Riding) colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Cumberland North Riding on 11 December 1857 because of the resignation of John Darvall.


1857 Cumberland (South Riding) colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Cumberland South Riding on 12 June 1856 because William Manning resigned in May 1857 due to ill-health.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
The 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake occurred at about 8:20 a.m. (Pacific time) on January 9 in central and Southern California. One of the largest recorded earthquakes in the United States, with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9, it ruptured the southern part of the San Andreas Fault for a length of about 225 miles (350 kilometers), between Parkfield and Wrightwood.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
Though the shock was centered near Parkfield, the event is referred to as the Fort Tejon earthquake, because that was the location of the greatest damage. Fort Tejon is just north of the junction of the San Andreas and Garlock Faults, where the Tehachapi, San Emigdio, and Sierra Pelona Transverse Ranges come together.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
The earthquake is the most recent large event to occur along that portion of the San Andreas Fault, and is estimated to have had a maximum perceived intensity of IX (Violent) on the Modified Mercalli scale (MM) near Fort Tejon in the Tehachapi Mountains, and along the San Andreas Fault from Mil Potrero (near Pine Mountain Club) in the San Emigdio Mountains to Lake Hughes in the Sierra Pelona Mountains. Accounts of the events' effects varied widely, including the time of the main shock as well as foreshocks that occurred at several locations earlier in the morning.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Tectonic setting
The 1857 earthquake ruptured about 350 kilometers (220 mi) of the southern part of the San Andreas Fault, the structure that accommodates most of the displacement along the transform boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate is moving north relative to the Sierra Nevada-Great Valley Block of the North American Plate at about 38 millimeters (1.5 in) per year.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Tectonic setting
The displacement rate along the various sections that ruptured is 34 millimeters (1.3 in) per year along the Parkfield, Cholame, Carrizo and Big Bend sections and 27 millimeters (1.1 in) and 29 millimeters (1.1 in) per year along the Mojave north and Mojave south sections. Paleoseismic studies have found evidence for many prehistoric earthquakes in the last 3,000 years on this part of the San Andreas Fault.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake ruptured a substantial portion of the southern San Andreas fault, but not the entire length. Thomas H. Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, stated that the slip likely stopped in the area near Cajon Pass, perhaps because the tectonic stresses on that part of the fault had been released several decades earlier during the 1812 Wrightwood earthquake. The average slip along the fault was 4.5 meters (15 ft), and a maximum offset of 6 meters (20 ft) was recorded in the Carrizo Plain area in southeastern San Luis Obispo County. With an estimated magnitude of 7.9, this was the last "Big One" in Southern California. The extreme southernmost portion of the San Andreas fault, which terminates near Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea, last ruptured in 1680.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake
Surface faulting may have extended beyond the boundaries of the regularly acknowledged slip length. Researchers recorded first and second-hand accounts of the ground crack, which was understood to be recent surface faulting and not just the topography of the existing rift. On the extreme northern end of the rupture zone, the surface cracking extended 80 kilometers (50 mi) north of Cholame into San Benito County. On the southern end, the population centers were not as close to the fault, and early observers were probably limited to the stretch of the fault between Fort Tejon and Elizabeth Lake, as that was close to the Stockton – Los Angeles Road, the primary inland north−south route then.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake
Evidence of uprooted and displaced trees south of Elizabeth Lake indicates surface faulting along a mole track (an "array of en echelon primary Riedel shears with linking compressional rolls and minor thrusts") that ran directly under three Jeffrey Pines. Two of the three trees examined were tilted in their lower extremity, while the upper portions remained relatively untilted. Tree ring dating confirmed that the trees had originated 10 and 25 years before 1857 and also that the rings began to grow twice as thick on the side in the direction of the tilt. This is a frequently noted compensation of tree tilt. Seismologist Kerry Sieh determined that fault slip and the associated ground disturbance was the source of the mole track and subsequent tree tilt.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
Various accounts of the event indicate the presence of foreshocks between one and nine hours before the main event, and based on the (uncertain) distribution of those shocks, it is assumed that the beginning of the fault rupture (the epicenter) was in the area between Parkfield and Cholame, about 97 kilometers (60 mi) northwest.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
The lack of standardized timekeeping during this period of California's history contributed to some of the inaccurate reports of when the pre-shocks occurred. Local solar time was being used in 1857 and San Francisco would have been the locality with the most accurate time kept as it was a center of commerce and other activity. Standard time was not followed until the 1880s, with the Pacific Time Zone being aligned with the 120th meridian.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
The differences in local times were substantial, with San Francisco at 122.43 W and San Diego at 117.10 W, the difference between the two would be around 22 minutes (4 minutes per degree). At least one individual reported foreshock times that varied by as much as half an hour when speaking to two different newspapers.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
The firsthand reports were most abundant for the shocks felt at 1, 2, and 4 hours before the main shock which were later labeled the predawn, dawn, and sunrise shocks. The predawn event shook residents of San Francisco (MM II – III), San Jose (MM IV), and Santa Cruz (MM IV). The dawn shock was felt in those locales plus Fort Tejon and possibly the Carrizo Plain. The sunrise shock was felt in San Francisco (MM III), Monterey (MM IV), and Visalia (MM II – III). Sacramento and Los Angeles did not report any of these events.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
Several mid-twentieth-century earthquakes had similar felt reports to the dawn and sunrise shocks and with close inspection, Sieh theorizes that both events were local to coastal central California, probably between Point Conception and Monterey. Also, during that period, no central California earthquake with a magnitude of less than five had a felt area as large as the two foreshocks, while events larger than magnitude six have had "somewhat larger" felt areas, so it could be said that the foreshocks most likely were between magnitude five and six.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
Parkfield earthquakes occurred with exceptionally regular intervals (between 20 and 30 years) between 1857 and 1966. Sieh studied four of these events (1901, 1922, 1934, and 1966) and found that they helped to determine the southeast boundary for the origination of the dawn foreshock. The coverage and intensities of felt reports for that earthquake show a solid resemblance to the Parkfield events.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Foreshocks
Only one of the four Parkfield events was not felt further southeast than the dawn shock, so Sieh concluded that if the San Andreas was the source of the event, then it was reasonable to assume that the Parkfield to Cholame stretch of the fault was responsible for producing the dawn felt intensities, though the San Andreas is not the only possible source for the dawn event. For example, the November 22, 1952, magnitude six Bryson earthquake "nearly duplicates" the felt reports. That event may have occurred west of the San Andreas on the Nacimiento fault, though the highest felt reports were along the Rinconada fault around 56 kilometers (35 mi) southwest of the San Andreas.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Damage
Most of the adobe buildings at Fort Tejon were badly damaged and several people were injured there. More buildings were destroyed along a twenty-mile stretch between Fort Tejon and southeast to Elizabeth Lake, a sag pond that was formed directly on the San Andreas fault. Streams and springs experienced disturbances in San Diego and Santa Barbara Counties, while the Kern River, Kern Lake, and Los Angeles River all spilled over their banks. Farther north in Santa Clara County the flow of well water was affected. Ground cracks from liquefaction of swampy ground were observed near the Pueblo de Los Angeles and in the Oxnard Plain, and ground fissures were reported near the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Santa Clara Rivers.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Damage
Central and southern California were thinly populated at the time and this likely helped limit the damage from the earthquake, but the lack of people present also reduced the number of perspectives to use in determining intensity estimates. Areas with the highest population density like San Francisco, Stockton, and Los Angeles provided enough information about the effects of the earthquake to provide the best estimates of intensity. At downtown Los Angeles, with a maximum perceived intensity of VI, some homes and buildings were cracked, but no major damage was reported.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Damage
In Ventura (MM VII) the roof of Mission San Buenaventura collapsed and the bell tower was damaged, and farther north, the front wall of the old adobe Mission Santa Cruz chapel collapsed. One of the two deaths reported included a woman who was killed by a collapsing adobe house in nearby Gorman, and an elderly man may have collapsed and died in the Los Angeles area as a result of the earthquake.


1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Earthquake, Aftershocks
The main shock was followed by a series of aftershocks that continued for at least 3.75 years, although the total number of large aftershocks was less than would be expected for an earthquake of this size. The four largest aftershocks all had magnitudes greater than 6, although there are large uncertainties in both location and magnitude due to the limited number of data points available. On the night of January 9 there was a large aftershock with an estimated magnitude of about 6.25, with a possible epicenter near the Garlock Fault.