But the Democratic party prevailed in the October election, and the supporters of Fremont at once recognized the hopelessness of their cause.

The triumph of Governor Curtin was the sure precursor of Mr.Lincoln's election, and that very fact added immeasurably to his popular strength in the closing month of the prolonged and exciting struggle.
In reviewing the agencies therefore which precipitated the political revolution of 1860, large consideration must be given to the influence of the movement for Protection.

To hundreds of thousands of voters who took part in that memorable contest, the tariff was not even mentioned.

Indeed this is probably the fact with respect to the majority of those who cast their suffrages for Mr.Lincoln.
It is none the less true that these hundreds of thousands of ballots, cast in aid of free territory and as a general defiance to the aggressions of the pro-slavery leaders of the South, would have been utterly ineffectual if the central and critical contest in Pennsylvania had not resulted in a victory for the Republicans in October.

The tariff therefore had a controlling influence not only in deciding the contest for political supremacy but in that more momentous struggle which was to involve the fate of the Union.