The elections took place during a major national debate over slavery, with the issue of "Bleeding Kansas" taking center stage.

In the presidential election, Democratic former Secretary of State James Buchanan defeated Republican General John Fremont and the American Party candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

[4] Buchanan swept the South and split the North with Fremont, while Fillmore won Maryland.

Buchanan had defeated incumbent President Franklin Pierce (the first elected president to lose his party's presidential nomination) and Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois on the 17th ballot at the 1856 Democratic National Convention.

The American Party lost numerous seats, but continued to maintain a presence in the House.