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 County Results
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The1856 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1856, as part of the1856 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.California voted for theDemocratic nominee, formerSecretary of StateJames Buchanan, over theAmerican Partynominee, formerWhigPresidentMillard Fillmore, and theRepublican nominee, formerU.S. Senator andMilitary Governor of CaliforniaJohn C. Frémont.
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 againstthe Slave Power, warning it was destroying republican values. Democrats counter-crusaded by warning that a Republican victory would bring acivil war.
The Republican platform opposed the repeal of theMissouri Compromise through theKansas–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 theKansas Territory, thus engendering the violence that had raged inBleeding Kansas. They advocated the immediate admittance of Kansas as a free state. Along with opposing the spread of slavery into the continental territories of the United States, the party also opposed theOstend Manifesto, which advocated the annexation ofCuba fromSpain. 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.
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 theTopeka 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.
This would prove the last occasion the Democratic Party carriedAlameda County untilFranklin Delano Roosevelt in1932, the last in which the Democrats carriedSanta Cruz County andPlacer County untilWoodrow Wilson in1916, and the last whenNapa,Solano[a] andMarin Counties voted Democratic until Wilson in1912.[1] California's electoral votes would not be again carried by the Democratic Party until1880.
| Party | Pledged to | Elector | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | James Buchanan | A. C. Bradford | 52,534 | |
| Democratic Party | James Buchanan | George Freanor | 52,532 | |
| Democratic Party | James Buchanan | P. Della Torre | 52,525 | |
| Democratic Party | James Buchanan | Augustin Olivera | 52,516 | |
| American Party | Millard Fillmore | Balie Peyton | 35,733 | |
| American Party | Millard Fillmore | R. N. Wood | 35,727 | |
| American Party | Millard Fillmore | O. C. Hall | 35,694 | |
| American Party | Millard Fillmore | J. S. Pitzer | 35,688 | |
| Republican Party | John C. Frémont | Alexander Bell | 20,622 | |
| Republican Party | John C. Frémont | F. P. Tracy | 20,613 | |
| Republican Party | John C. Frémont | Lewis G. Gunn | 20,612 | |
| Republican Party | John C. Frémont | C. N. Ormsby | 20,595 | |
| Write-in | Scattering | 502 | ||
| Votes cast[c] | 91,387 | |||
| County | James Buchanan Democratic | Millard Fillmore American | John C. Frémont Republican | Scattering Write-in | Margin | Total votes cast[d] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alameda | 729 | 43.78% | 213 | 12.79% | 723 | 43.42% | 0 | 0.00% | 6[e] | 0.36% | 1,665 |
| Amador | 1,784 | 44.58% | 1,557 | 38.91% | 657 | 16.42% | 4 | 0.10% | 227 | 5.67% | 4,002 |
| Butte | 2,501 | 50.56% | 1,702 | 34.40% | 744 | 15.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 799 | 16.15% | 4,947 |
| Calaveras | 2,615 | 50.49% | 1,515 | 29.25% | 561 | 10.83% | 488 | 9.42% | 1,100 | 21.24% | 5,179 |
| Colusa[f] | 289 | 47.22% | 305 | 49.84% | 18 | 2.94% | 0 | 0.00% | -16 | -2.61% | 612 |
| Contra Costa | 457 | 48.62% | 293 | 31.17% | 190 | 20.21% | 0 | 0.00% | 164 | 17.45% | 940 |
| El Dorado | 4,048 | 48.20% | 2,959 | 35.23% | 1,391 | 16.56% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,089 | 12.97% | 8,398 |
| Fresno | 218 | 63.56% | 124 | 36.15% | 1 | 0.29% | 0 | 0.00% | 94 | 27.41% | 343 |
| Humboldt | 204 | 40.96% | 191 | 38.35% | 103 | 20.68% | 0 | 0.00% | 13 | 2.61% | 498 |
| Los Angeles | 722 | 52.36% | 135 | 9.79% | 522 | 37.85% | 0 | 0.00% | 200[e] | 14.50% | 1,379 |
| Marin[f] | 350 | 60.03% | 82 | 14.07% | 151 | 25.90% | 0 | 0.00% | 199[e] | 34.13% | 583 |
| Mariposa | 1,255 | 57.28% | 771 | 35.19% | 165 | 7.53% | 0 | 0.00% | 484 | 22.09% | 2,191 |
| Merced | 249 | 64.34% | 124 | 32.04% | 14 | 3.62% | 0 | 0.00% | 125 | 32.30% | 387 |
| Monterey | 266 | 40.67% | 169 | 25.84% | 219 | 33.49% | 0 | 0.00% | 47[e] | 7.19% | 654 |
| Napa | 444 | 47.13% | 340 | 36.09% | 158 | 16.77% | 0 | 0.00% | 104 | 11.04% | 942 |
| Nevada | 3,498 | 48.58% | 2,240 | 31.11% | 1,462 | 20.31% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,258 | 17.47% | 7,200 |
| Placer | 2,807 | 47.62% | 2,096 | 35.56% | 992 | 16.83% | 0 | 0.00% | 711 | 12.06% | 5,895 |
| Plumas[f] | 1,124 | 50.95% | 865 | 39.21% | 217 | 9.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 259 | 11.74% | 2,206 |
| Sacramento | 3,437 | 44.23% | 3,387 | 43.59% | 939 | 12.08% | 7 | 0.09% | 50 | 0.64% | 7,770 |
| San Bernardino[f] | 314 | 75.85% | 7 | 1.69% | 93 | 22.46% | 0 | 0.00% | 221[e] | 53.38% | 414 |
| San Diego | 172 | 75.44% | 38 | 16.67% | 18 | 7.89% | 0 | 0.00% | 134 | 58.77% | 228 |
| San Francisco | 5,334 | 44.33% | 1,601 | 13.31% | 5,097 | 42.36% | 0 | 0.00% | 237[e] | 1.97% | 12,032 |
| San Joaquin | 1,288 | 44.80% | 1,040 | 36.17% | 547 | 19.03% | 0 | 0.00% | 248 | 8.63% | 2,875 |
| San Luis Obispo[f] | 83 | 40.49% | 15 | 7.32% | 107 | 52.20% | 0 | 0.00% | -24 | -11.71% | 205 |
| San Mateo | 282 | 44.55% | 113 | 17.85% | 238 | 37.60% | 0 | 0.00% | 44[e] | 6.95% | 633 |
| Santa Barbara | 175 | 47.55% | 10 | 2.72% | 183 | 49.73% | 0 | 0.00% | -8 | -2.17% | 368 |
| Santa Clara | 576 | 27.97% | 674 | 32.73% | 809 | 39.29% | 0 | 0.00% | -135[g] | -6.56% | 2,059 |
| Santa Cruz | 320 | 39.80% | 288 | 35.82% | 196 | 24.38% | 0 | 0.00% | 32 | 3.98% | 804 |
| Shasta | 1,537 | 55.11% | 1,083 | 38.83% | 169 | 6.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 454 | 16.28% | 2,789 |
| Sierra | 2,504 | 46.37% | 2,203 | 40.80% | 693 | 12.83% | 0 | 0.00% | 301 | 5.57% | 5,400 |
| Siskiyou[f] | 2,072 | 47.90% | 1,790 | 41.38% | 464 | 10.73% | 0 | 0.00% | 282 | 6.52% | 4,326 |
| Solano | 799 | 49.20% | 634 | 39.04% | 190 | 11.70% | 1 | 0.06% | 165 | 10.16% | 1,624 |
| Sonoma[h] | 1,519 | 63.32% | 498 | 20.76% | 382 | 15.92% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,021 | 42.56% | 2,399 |
| Stanislaus | 436 | 63.46% | 228 | 33.19% | 21 | 3.06% | 2 | 0.29% | 208 | 30.28% | 687 |
| Sutter | 491 | 52.80% | 347 | 37.31% | 92 | 9.89% | 0 | 0.00% | 144 | 15.48% | 930 |
| Tehama | 436 | 55.05% | 312 | 39.39% | 44 | 5.56% | 0 | 0.00% | 124 | 15.66% | 792 |
| Trinity | 1,011 | 48.58% | 882 | 42.38% | 188 | 9.03% | 0 | 0.00% | 129 | 6.20% | 2,081 |
| Tulare[f] | 248 | 60.49% | 139 | 33.90% | 23 | 5.61% | 0 | 0.00% | 109 | 26.59% | 410 |
| Tuolumne | 2,935 | 48.06% | 2,113 | 34.60% | 1,059 | 17.34% | 0 | 0.00% | 822 | 13.46% | 6,107 |
| Yolo[f] | 553 | 43.68% | 583 | 46.05% | 130 | 10.27% | 0 | 0.00% | -30 | -2.37% | 1,266 |
| Yuba | 2,451 | 47.23% | 2,087 | 40.21% | 652 | 12.56% | 0 | 0.00% | 364 | 7.01% | 5,190 |
| Total | 52,534[i] | 48.02% | 35,733[j] | 32.67% | 20,622 | 18.85% | 502 | 0.46% | 16,801 | 15.36% | 109,391 |
State results of the1856 U.S. presidential election | ||
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