The indignation of the people knew no bounds.

Old political landmarks disappeared, and party prejudices of three generations were swept aside in a day.

With such success in the outset, the Republicans prepared for a vigorous struggle in the approaching Presidential election.
The anti-slavery development of the North was not more intense than the pro-slavery development of the South.

Every other issue was merged in the one absorbing demand by Southern slave-holders for what they sincerely believed to be their rights in the Territories.
It was not viewed on either side as an ordinary political contest.
It was felt to be a question not of expediency but of morality, not of policy but of honor.

It did not merely enlist men.