| 1856 presidential election | |
  Nominees Buchanan and Breckinridge | |
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | June 2–6, 1856 |
| City | Cincinnati,Ohio |
| Venue | Smith and Nixon's Hall |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee | James Buchanan of Pennsylvania |
| Vice-presidential nominee | John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky |
| ‹ 1852 · 1860 › | |
The1856 Democratic National Convention was apresidential nominating convention that met from June 2 to June 6 inCincinnati,Ohio. It was held to nominate theDemocratic Party's candidates forpresident andvice president in the1856 election. The convention selected former Secretary of StateJames Buchanan of Pennsylvania for president and former RepresentativeJohn C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for vice president.
Incumbent Democratic PresidentFranklin Pierce's standing with the public had been badly damaged by "Bleeding Kansas," the civil strife inKansas Territory overslavery. Many dissatisfied Democrats lined up behind Buchanan, who had served as Pierce's ambassador toBritain and thus had avoided the controversy over Bleeding Kansas, while a smaller group of Democrats supported SenatorStephen A. Douglas of Illinois. Buchanan led on the first ballot and slowly grew his support on subsequent ballots, leading Pierce to instruct his delegates to back Douglas. Douglas agreed to withdraw his name after receiving assurances that Buchanan would not seek re-election in 1860, allowing Buchanan to clinch the nomination on the seventeenth ballot. Pierce became the first and only elected president who was an active candidate for reelection to be denied his party's nomination for a second term.
Eleven candidates received votes on the first vice presidential ballot, with CongressmanJohn A. Quitman winning a plurality of the vote. The delegates lined up unanimously behind Breckinridge on the second ballot, giving him the vice presidential nomination. The Democratic ticket went on to win the 1856 election, defeating theRepublican ticket ofJohn C. Frémont andWilliam L. Dayton and theAmerican Party ticket ofMillard Fillmore andAndrew J. Donelson.
 |  |  |
| SenatorsJames A. Bayard,Jesse D. Bright, andJohn Slidell (of Delaware, Indiana, and Louisiana respectively) helped to organize and orchestrate James Buchanan's eventual nomination in the convention. | ||
TheDemocratic Party was wounded from its major losses in the 1854–1855 midterm elections. The party faced continued north–south sectional division overslavery-related issues, especially theKansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 and subsequent violence known as "Bleeding Kansas" from the civil strife in theKansas Territory during its campaign for statehood. Two notable Democratic politicians, President Pierce and SenatorStephen Douglas ofIllinois, were seen as being at the center of the controversies, which led many party members to look elsewhere for a new compromise candidate for president.
James Buchanan had been a candidate for president at the1852 Democratic National Convention, and after the1852 election he agreed to serve as Pierce'sambassador to Britain.[1] Buchanan's service abroad conveniently placed him outside of the country while the debate over theKansas–Nebraska Act roiled the nation.[2] Powerful Senators likeJohn Slidell,Jesse Bright, andJames A. Bayard lined up behind Buchanan, presenting him as an experienced leader who could appeal to the North and South.[3] While Buchanan did not overtly seek the presidency, he also took no action to discourage his supporters.[4]
Called to order at noon on Monday, June 2, by the National Committee chairRobert Milligan McLane,Samuel Medary was made the temporary president. The first day, the convention appointed committees on credentials, organization, and resolutions.
On the second day the organization committee (John L. Dawson, chair) report was adopted andJohn Elliot Ward of Georgia was made the convention's president. The committee on credentials (James A. Bayard Jr., chair) settled a dispute over the Missouri delegation, but needed more time for the thorny problem of competing delegations fromNew York.
June 4 saw the adoption of a platform (former National Committee chairBenjamin F. Hallett headed the committee on resolutions); the domestic portions were supported unanimously, the foreign policy planks by large margins. A separately reported plank on a railroad to the Pacific coast failed by a vote of 120 to 154.
On June 5, the New York problem was finally settled by seating half of each of the competing delegations. Nominations for President were then made.
On the first ballot, Pierce received 122 votes, many of them from the South, to Buchanan's 135, with Douglas andLewis Cass receiving the remaining votes. By the following morning fourteen ballots had been completed, but none of the three main candidates were able to get two-thirds of the vote. Pierce, whose support had been slowly declining as the ballots passed, directed his supporters to break for Douglas, withdrawing his name in a last-ditch effort to defeat Buchanan. Douglas, only 43 years of age, believed that he could be nominated in 1860 if he let the older Buchanan win this time, and received assurances from Buchanan's managers that this would be the case. After two more deadlocked ballots, Douglas's managers withdrew his name, leaving Buchanan as the clear winner. To soften the blow to Pierce, the convention issued a resolution of "unqualified approbation" in praise of his administration.[5] This loss marked the first (and until 2024, only) time in U.S. history that an elected president who was an active candidate for reelection was not nominated for a second term.[6]
| Presidential Ballot (1st Day) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | |
| Buchanan | 135.5 | 139 | 139.5 | 141.5 | 140 | 155 | 143.5 | 147.5 | 146 | 147.5 | 147.5 | 148 | 150 | 152.5 |
| Pierce | 122.5 | 119.5 | 119 | 119 | 119.5 | 107.5 | 89 | 87 | 87 | 80.5 | 80 | 79 | 77.5 | 75 |
| Douglas | 33 | 31.5 | 32 | 30 | 31 | 28 | 58 | 56 | 56 | 62.5 | 63 | 63.5 | 63 | 63 |
| Cass | 5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 7 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Not Voting | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Ballot (2nd Day) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 15th | 16th | 17th | |
| Buchanan | 168.5 | 168 | 296 |
| Pierce | 3.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Douglas | 118.5 | 122 | 0 |
| Cass | 4.5 | 6 | 0 |
| Not Voting | 1 | 0 | 0 |
1st Day of Presidential Balloting / 4th Day of Convention (Thursday, June 5, 1856)
2nd Day of Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (Friday, June 6, 1856)
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Eleven 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 supported fellow KentuckianLinn Boyd for the vice presidential nomination. However, following a draft effort led by the delegation from Vermont, Breckinridge was nominated on the second ballot. As Vermont'sDavid Allen Smalley stated, "No Democrat has a right to refuse his services when his country calls."
| Vice Presidential Ballot | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (Before Shifts) | 1st (After Shifts) | 2nd (After Shifts) | |
| Quitman | 60 | 59 | 0 |
| Breckinridge | 37 | 50 | 296 |
| Boyd | 33 | 33 | 0 |
| Bayard | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| Johnson | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| Brown | 29 | 29 | 0 |
| Butler | 27 | 27 | 0 |
| Dobbin | 15 | 13 | 0 |
| Rusk | 15 | 7 | 0 |
| Fitzpatrick | 13 | 11 | 0 |
| Polk | 5 | 5 | 0 |
The Buchanan-Breckinridge ticket went on to win the1856 presidential election, defeatingJohn C. Frémont withWilliam L. Dayton from the newRepublican Party, and a strongthird party showing from theAmerican Party of the "Know Nothings" represented by former PresidentMillard Fillmore andAndrew J. Donelson.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Preceded by 1852 Baltimore, Maryland | Democratic National Conventions | Succeeded by 1860 Baltimore, Maryland |
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