The loss of New York and Ohio, the narrow escape from defeat in Pennsylvania, the rebuke of Michigan to their veteran leader General Cass, intensified by the choice of Chandler as his successor in the Senate, the absolute consolidation of New England against them, all tended to humiliate and discourage the party.
They had lost ten States which General Pierce had carried in 1852, and they had a watchful, determined foe in the field, eager for another trial of strength.

The issue was made, the lines of battles were drawn.

Freedom or slavery in the Territories was to be fought to the end, without flinching, and without compromise.
Mr.Buchanan came to the Presidency under very different auspices from those which had attended the inauguration of President Pierce.
The intervening four years had written important chapters in the history of the slavery contest.

In 1853 there was no organized opposition that could command even a respectable minority in a single State.

In 1857 a party distinctly and unequivocally pledged to resist the extension of slavery into free territory had control of eleven free States and was hotly contesting the possession of the others.