BLEEDING KANSAS

The election of 1856 was fought in tracts and pamphlets. This bound volume contains twenty-two pamphlets relating to the 1856 presidential contest between Democrat James Buchanan and John Fremont, representing the newly-formed Republican party, 1856. Many of the tracts address the expansion of slavery to newly formed territories, a critical issue in the campaign. The demise of the Whig party in the 1850s lead to a brief period of party pluralism, in which the American Party, also the called the “Know Nothing Party,” briefly held some power. The book Sons of the Sires...shown here, deals with the American Party.

Items on this page are gifts of the Krasnow Estate.