But there was other capital which obeyed the same law,
and which had investments in the North; and with this capital the
Republicans had been trafficking. They had succeeded in winning
over the powerful manufacturing interests of Pennsylvania, the
pivotal State that had elected Buchanan in 1856.
The steps by which the new party of enthusiasm made its deal with
the body of capital which was not at one with Belmont and the
Democrats are not essential to the present narrative. Two facts
suffice. In 1857 a great collapse in American business--"the
panic of fifty-seven"--led the commercial world to turn to the
party in power for some scheme of redress. But their very
principles, among which was non-intervention in business, made
the Democrats feeble doctors for such a need, and they evaded the
situation. The Republicans, with their insistence on positivism
in government, had therefore an opportunity to make a new
application of the doctrine of governmental aid to business. In
the spring of 1860, the Republican House of Representatives
passed the Morrill tariff bill, consideration of which was
postponed by the Democratic Senate. But it served its purpose:
it was a Republican manifesto. The Republicans felt that this
bill, together with their party platform, gave the necessary
guarantee to the Pennsylvania manufacturers, and they therefore
entered the campaign confident they would carry Pennsylvania nor
was their confidence misplaced.
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