The moment had come when this unnatural alliance needed to be exposed and in part repudiated.
The haste with which the Southern leaders advanced step by step, forced every issue, and were now pushing their allies to the wall was, to say the least, bad management, but it grew logically out of their situation.

They were swimming against the stream.

The leading forces of civilization, population, wealth, commerce, intelligence, were bearing them down.

The balance of power was lost.

Already there were sixteen free-States to fifteen slave-States.