Timeline
1856 Elections
Progress continued on the Memphis and Little Rock line including actual laying of track in April. Officers of the company claimed 36,000 cross ties were made, 26 miles of line graded and another eight miles cleared for grading. Later in the year, Roswell Beebe, one of the earliest proponents of railroads in Arkansas, died.
On May 31, Hiram Whittington of Hot Springs announced he had begun the manufacture of whetrocks quarried out of the oilstone near Hot Springs, continuing the practice begun by the Indians. He claimed, "these stones are gaining a just celebrity all over the civilized world," and indeed, Arkansas whetstones continue that reputation to the present day.
The American Party nominated James Yell to oppose Elias Conway for governor, but Yell's opposition proved weak. When the American Party claimed Conway "ruined" Arkansas, Conway pointed to progress in canceling the bonds of both the defunct banks, a reduction of state debt by more than $1 million and a treasury with $156,000 in specie. Although times were not easy, Arkansas had entered a period of comparative prosperity and the citizens of Arkansas reelected Conway-28,159 to 15,436 for Yell.
In the presidential campaign, strife over slavery in Kansas proved to be the major issue. Struggle for control between pro-slavery and abolitionist forces escalated into a small civil war, taking an estimated 200 lives. The Democrats dropped President Pierce as their candidate because of his close association with the Kansas problem and chose James Buchanan. The young Republican Party nominated John C. Fremont of California and the American Party proposed Millard Fillmore. Buchanan, while he failed to get a majority of the popular vote nationwide, carried Arkansas easily and won the election in the electoral college.
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