President John C. Frémont

Short Answer: Earlier US Civil War

Slightly Longer Answer: There have been other threads on this subject and I believe that the general consensus was that America simply wasn't ready for a Republican president in 1856.

EDIT: Though I agree with said assumptions, I do not think a Fremont victory is completely out of the question. All that we really have to do is make the Democratic primary of 1856 more like that of 1860. Let's say that the incumbent POTUS Franklin Pierce sees the writing on the wall earlier and shifts his votes to Stephen Douglas, but he doesn't do it early enough to give Douglas the all out win resulting in a protracted number of votes and the decision being made to reconvene later on. The Democrats then split between the Northern Democrats under Douglas and the Southern Democrats under Cass/Buchanan. This coupled with a more aggressive Know Nothing campaign (perhaps Pierce throws his support behind them after being disgusted with the Democratic National Convention) results in the Republican Party under John Fremont losing the Popular vote but winning the states of Illinois, Indiana, California, and New Jersey and thus giving him 149 electoral votes and the Presidency...
 
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