For those who think the current presidential election is a strange one, join HSP as we take a look back at the 1856 contest, perhaps the most consequential election in our nation’s history. There were two new parties: the Republicans and the Know-Nothings. The Republicans nominated a celebrity involved in land development with no elective experience, while the Know-Nothings had as their major party plank stopping immigration and even sending some immigrants back to their home country. The third party, the Democrats, nominated an old face with vast governmental experience.

“What came out of that," says Robert Strauss, author of Worst. President. Ever., "is the most devastating presidential term in American history and, ultimately, the Civil War."