A map of the United States during the heated presidential election of 1856, showing the States carried by the Republican Party (John Fremont), Democrat Party (James Buchanan), and the newly formed American Party, or 'Know-Nothing’ Party (Millard Fillmore). This election was unusually contentious due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the issue of slavery. The Republican Party campaigned against the Act, the Democrat Party endorsed "popular sovereignty," and the American Party chose to ignore the slavery issue and focused on anti-immigration policies. This map shows the clear majority of pro-slavery southern States carrying the election, the abolitionist northern States, and the American Party carrying only Maryland and Delaware. In the election, only states were entitled to vote, while the territories, whose admission into the Union was an issue of the election, were not allowed a vote. Republican John Fremont was not able to carry his home state, California.