The Short-Lived Success of the American Party
The American Party enjoyed some political success from 1852 to 1856. In local and state elections, the American Party elected:
- the Massachusetts governor and all but two members of the Massachusetts state legislature;
- forty members of the New York state legislature;
- the governors of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine;
- thousands of local American Party government officials as well as eight American Party governors by 1855;
- forty-three American Party candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives and five American Party candidates to the U.S. Senate.
By 1856, the American Party had gained enough momentum to launch a bid for the presidency on a singularly focused platform—shutting down immigration to the United States and containing and marginalizing Catholicism.
1856 Electoral Map. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Using the map, assess American Party candidate Millard Fillmore’s performance in the 1856 election.
