DBWI: James Buchanan wins the 1856 election?

What if Democratic candidate James Buchanan won the 1856 election instead of Republican John C. Fremont as in OTL?
 
What if Democratic candidate James Buchanan won the 1856 election instead of Republican John C. Fremont as in OTL?

A Later Civil War, possibly even worse as both sides have 4 or more years to start preparing. Then again given Buchanan's age and experience, maybe he could find a way to avert it (Admittedly I don't know how he would govern), but a Democrat might be able to get the South to co-operate and not jump-ship. Or not given how far-back the North-South divide was.
 
What if Democratic candidate James Buchanan won the 1856 election instead of Republican John C. Fremont as in OTL?

The civil war would only be delayed. Though it could be delayed indefinitely by constantly electing Democratic presidents, the string of Democratic presidents cannot be continued for long.

OOC: There is a timeline where the POD of Fremont winning actually happened, though I forgot the title of the timeline.
 
Perhaps a good starting point would be to have former president Milard Filmore follow through with his plans to run under the anti-immigrant "America Party" as he originally planned. While I doubt that a 100% charisma free wet blanket like Filmore could do what no president in American history could do and pull of a second non-consecutive term, it could've split the vote in a few key northern states. For example New York, at the time, the most heavily populated state, with the most electoral votes, as well as Filmore's home state, and a hot bed of anti-immigrant sentiment could easily have lost Fremont the election if it's electoral votes went to someone else.
 
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The civil war would only be delayed. Though it could be delayed indefinitely by constantly electing Democratic presidents, the string of Democratic presidents cannot be continued for long.

OOC: There is a timeline where the POD of Fremont winning actually happened, though I forgot the title of the timeline.

It is Story of a Party 2.0, one of my favorite stories on this site.
 
It is Story of a Party 2.0, one of my favorite stories on this site.

OOC: Seconded.

IC: It might be delayed, as per Johnny Martin's excellent 'Confederacy' trilogy(2 published in 1960, and the other in 1962), which had VP and later, SecState Lincoln, of all people, winning in 1860 on top of Buchanan.
The official Steve Jackson fan series from 1977 later extrapolated, all the way out into 1976 in fact, about the ATL history of the U.S.(and the world to a lesser extent) after the war. Surprisingly enough, there are quite a few similarities to OTL, such as Teddy Roosevelt winning two terms in office(and a cousin of his wins four terms, and leads us right through this universe's World War 2....or most of it, anyway), the creation of a Soviet Union in Russia(though ours was much less screwed up. Only Steve Jackson could come up with a guy like Joseph Stalin......), and even drops a tribute to OTL baseball player John E. Carter(though his counterpart's from Georgia and named Jimmy: John Carter was from Missouri originally). And they both make it work so well.

Anyway, John C. Fremont may have been from S.C. originally, but he was hated even more than even Abe Lincoln, let alone James Buchanan, would have been, simply because he was viewed as, in the words of Alexander Stephens, "A goddamn traitor to kith and kin", for his increasingly radical anti-slavery attitudes above all else.
 
OOC: Seconded.

IC: It might be delayed, as per Johnny Martin's excellent 'Confederacy' trilogy(2 published in 1960, and the other in 1962), which had VP and later, SecState Lincoln, of all people, winning in 1860 on top of Buchanan.
The official Steve Jackson fan series from 1977 later extrapolated, all the way out into 1976 in fact, about the ATL history of the U.S.(and the world to a lesser extent) after the war. Surprisingly enough, there are quite a few similarities to OTL, such as Teddy Roosevelt winning two terms in office(and a cousin of his wins four terms, and leads us right through this universe's World War 2....or most of it, anyway), the creation of a Soviet Union in Russia(though ours was much less screwed up. Only Steve Jackson could come up with a guy like Joseph Stalin......), and even drops a tribute to OTL baseball player John E. Carter(though his counterpart's from Georgia and named Jimmy: John Carter was from Missouri originally). And they both make it work so well.

Anyway, John C. Fremont may have been from S.C. originally, but he was hated even more than even Abe Lincoln, let alone James Buchanan, would have been, simply because he was viewed as, in the words of Alexander Stephens, "A goddamn traitor to kith and kin", for his increasingly radical anti-slavery attitudes above all else.

Interesting, how did Reconstruction go there? Was there as many harsh penalties on Southerners and State Governments coming back in (Iron-Clad oath, waiting x number of years to come back in, soldiers keeping insurrections down at the ballots, etc.)? Was the push for the 13th-16th amendments (slavery, citizenship, voting rights, and anti-secession as Story of a Party did it)?
 
Interesting, how did Reconstruction go there? Was there as many harsh penalties on Southerners and State Governments coming back in (Iron-Clad oath, waiting x number of years to come back in, soldiers keeping insurrections down at the ballots, etc.)? Was the push for the 13th-16th amendments (slavery, citizenship, voting rights, and anti-secession as Story of a Party did it)?

Reconstruction wasn't as harsh towards the states' governments but just about everything else largely happened as per OTL for the rest of the century, with a few exceptions: for examples, there were far fewer lynchings(About 5,000 ITTL versus 80,000 IOTL) and instances of Klan terrorism, but as a trade-off, the Klan became a lot bigger in the '20s(6 million members!), than it did in 1906-08 IOTL(2.5 million members, and 90% of them in the South. Only Indiana, Ohio, and Nebraska had any significant numbers of Klansmen north of the Mason-Dixon even then), and laws banning interracial marriage became quite a bit more widespread(IOTL, they were never introduced in any Western states outside of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, and both of the former states had repealed their laws by the time WWII ended in 1944, though Utah's remained in place 'til Apr. 1962.).
 
If we have 4 more years of the same failed Dough-face policies, could William Henry Seward (Fremont's 1st Sec of State) win in 1860 rather than 1864? He was a New York Governor and Senator, wonderful orator, and had many different appeals to him. Imagine him as President over the Civil War rather then Fremont. He did rather well in his 1 term (1865-1869), how would 2 terms from 1861-1869 go?
 
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