History

Maps

1850 Political map of the United States

William C. Reynolds published this "Political Map of the United States" using 1850 Census data. The map defined the nation by free or slave states and as territories open or closed to the expansion of slavery.

Published in time for the 1856 Presidential Election, the map features the portrait of the Republican Party's first presidential candidate John C. Fremont and his vice-presidential running mate William L. Dayton. The Republican Party campaigned with the motto "Free Soil, Free Men, and Fremont" as Fremont was ardently opposed to the westward expansion of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law.

Following a brutal mudslinging campaign by both parties, Democratic candidate James Buchanan won the popular vote 1,836,072 to 1,342,345, and 174 electoral votes to Fremont's 114.

Learn more about the 1850 Census at 1850 Through the Decades Web pages.

View larger image.
Reynolds Political Map of the United States.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.