Know-Nothing Party
The collapse of the Whig Party after the Kansas–Nebraska Act passed left an opening for a new major party in to oppose the Democrats. The Know-Nothings elected congressman Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts and many others in the 1854 elections and created a new party known as the American Party. Particularly in the South, the American Party served as a party for politicians who disagreed with the Democratic Party. Many also hoped that it would seek a middle ground between the pro-slavery positions of many Democratic politicians and the anti-slavery positions of the emerging Republican Party. The American Party nominated former President Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election, although he kept quiet about his membership. Fillmore received 21.5% of the popular vote in the 1856 presidential election, finishing behind the Democratic and Republican nominees.