CHAPTER X

THE LATER STATE CAMPAIGNS,  1857-I860

The campaign of 1856 left the American movement in New
York state exhausted, but the leaders of its state organization
were not yet ready to acknowledge the futility of further
effort. In the summer of 1857 It began to be seen that the
year would be a " quiet" one, politically. In the field of
state politics there was a reaction against the forced sen¬
timent of anti-slavery and also the usual apathy following a
presidential contest. The re-arrangement of parties which
had kept the political world in a ferment for four years past
seemed to be now about completed also. The leaders of
political nativism viewed these new and unusual conditions
with hopefulness. It was thought that the reaction against
anti-slavery might bring former Know-Nothings back to the
fold from which they had strayed, while lack of interest in
politics might keep from the polls the unorganized voters of
the opposition forces. Sanguine nativists dreamed of re-claim¬
ing the membership that the movement had lost and of again
making a grasp at the control of the state. Less sanguine
and more practical leaders saw that much could be gained In
any event by a large poll of their party in November, even
though the state were not carried. There was consequently
no real opposition to the plan of setting up an American
ticket for the fall election. The matter was thoroughly talked
over by the delegates at the August Grand Council.

In obedience to the call of the Grand Council a state con¬
vention met at Syracuse on September 15, 1857.^    The grow-

' Account from Herald s^xdi Times reports.
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