Hayes Diary Entry of the Day

October 30, 1856
[...]
I feel seriously the probable defeat of the cause of freedom in the approaching Presidential election. Before the October elections in Pennsylvania and Indiana, I was confident Colonel Fremont would be elected. But the disastrous results in those
States indicate and will probably do much to produce his defeat. The majorities are small, very small, but they discourage our side. I shall not be surprised if Colonel Fremont receives less than one hundred electoral votes. But, after all, the good cause
has made a great progress. Antislavery sentiment has been created and the people have been educated to a large extent. I did hope that this election would put an end to angry discussion upon this exciting topic by placing the general Government in the right position in regard to it and thereby securing to anti-slavery effort a foothold among those who have the evil in their midst. But further work is to be done and my sense of duty determines me to keep on in the path I have chosen--not to dabble in politics at the expense of duty to my family and to the neglect of my profession, but to do what I can consistently with other duties to aid in forming a public opinion on this subject which will "mitigate and finally eradicate the evil." I must study the subject, and am now beginning with Clarkson's "History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade."