Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/328

290 closely united in support of their views, were powerless in the Union whenever the questions were sectional which Congress must determine. It was this startling fact which gave such serious interest to the approaching election in 1856 for the presidency. Should the same spirit prevail in the national election for the office of the chief executive which had secured the speakership (the next highest office), the South would have reason to fear that its peculiar interests would not be respected.