The Republican Party's first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont's political career is all but forgotten, and memories of him are confined to the explorations he led into western lands and the writings that resulted. Born in 1813 as the illegitimate child of a prominent Virginia woman and a penniless French immigrant, Fremont felt compelled to be a social climber, and sought out politically influential patrons to assist him in this arera. He married the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, a champion of the "manifest Destiny" doctrine, and was selected in 1856 by the fledgeling Republican Party (born out of the powerful Free Soil and Know Nothing parties of previous years) to run as its presidential candidate. Winning 33% of the popular vote, Fremont soon faded into obscurity, and died in 1890 a forgotten man.