The Presidential Campaign of '56
lithograph, 1856

Native Pennsylvanian and Democratic candidate James Buchanan crosses the Mason-Dixon's Line riding the "Serpent of Slavery" with the Constitution in hand, while Know-Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore, unable to assume a clear stance on the divisive issue, remains "sitting on the fence." Off in the distance, John C. Frémont races to stop an imminent division of the Union.