They would perhaps have been disappointed.

Possibly they did not give sufficient heed to the influences which were steadily working against slavery in such States as Delaware and Maryland, threatening desertion in the rear, while the defenders of slavery were battling at the front.

They argued, however, and not unnaturally, that prejudice can hold a long contest with principle, and that in the general uprising of the South the tendency of all their old allies would be to remain firm.

They reckoned that States with few slaves would continue to stand for Southern institutions as stubbornly as States with many slaves.

In all the States of the South emancipation had been made difficult, and free negroes were tolerated, if at all, with great reluctance and with constant protest.
The struggle for Kansas was therefore to be maintained and possession secured at all hazards.