The issues presented in the campaign of 1856, like those of 1860, were the most remarkable in our political history, and a canvass attended by such circumstances and so portentous in results could not but be exciting in the highest degree, and the bitterness of the situation grew in intensity as the days of the fall elections approached. All eyes now turned with anxiety on the few State elections which were to be held in the North prior to the presidential election in November, because they would unquestionably foreshadow the final result. Iowa came first, and, in August, went Republican, and was joined in September by Maine and Vermont, both overwhelmingly Republican. These successes were to the highest gratification of the members of the new party, and now came the final test, the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio. The first of these States, with its twenty-seven electoral votes, was the most important. Thousands of dollars were poured into the campaign funds of the State by both sides, the Democratic Committee having the greater amount to spend and having the better organization. Several hundred speakers, representing both sides, traversed the State in all directions. The Democrats used the disunion argument with great effect, and added to it the campaign cry of "Buck, Breck and Free Kansas," and on October 14th Pennsylvania went Democratic by a very narrow majority. Ohio, as was expected, went Republican, but Indiana was lost, and the result of the presidential issue was thus practically known before the election, on November 4th. Fremont received the electoral votes of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin, one hundred and fourteen in all. Buchanan received the vote of all the slave States and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois and California, a total of one hundred and seventy-four votes; the eight votes of Maryland going to Fillmore, the only State won by the Know-Nothings. The popular vote gave Buchanan 1,838,169; Fremont 1,341,264; Fillmore 874,534. The popular vote of South Carolina is not included, as the electors in that State were chosen by her Legislature. When the first wave of bitter disappointment passed away, the Republicans saw the enormous headway that had been made and they immediately began to prepare for the national contest four years hence. The Democrats had lost ten States which they carried in 1852, and their electoral vote of 254 in 1852 had shrunken to 174. The South elected Buchanan, and he became the tool of the Slave Power, and, as subsequent events developed, it was fortunate that the Republicans were not successful in the campaign. [Illustration: William H. Seward.] CHAPTER X. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES.