5. While on this expedition, Jackson took possession of St. Mark's. The Spanish troops stationed there were removed to Pensacola. Two Englishmen, named Arbuthnot and Ambrister, charged with inciting the Seminoles to insurrection, were tried by a court-martial and hanged. Jackson then captured Pensacola, and sent the Spanish authorities to Havana. The enemies of General Jackson condemned him for these proceedings, but the President and Congress justified his deeds. The king of Spain now proposed to cede Florida to the United States. On the 22d of February, 1819, a treaty was concluded at Washington City by which the whole province was surrendered to the American government. The United States agreed to relinquish all claim to Texas, and to pay to American citizens, for depredations committed by Spanish vessels, five million dollars.
6. In 1818 Illinois, the twenty-first State, was organized and admitted into the Union. The population of the new commonwealth was forty-seven thousand. In December of 1819 Alabama was added, with a population of one hundred and twenty-five thousand. About the same time Arkansas Territory was organized. In 1820 the province of Maine was separated from Massachusetts and admitted into the Union. The population of the new State had reached two hundred and ninety-eight thousand. In August of 1821 Missouri, with a population of about seventy-four thousand souls, was admitted as the twenty-fourth member of the Union.
7. When the bill to admit Missouri was brought before Congress, a proposition was made to prohibit slavery in the new State. This was supported by the free States of the North, and opposed by the slaveholding States of the South. After long and angry debates the measure brought forward by Henry Clay, and known as the Missouri Compromise, was adopted. Its provisions were—first, the admission of Missouri as a slaveholding State; secondly, the division of the rest of the Louisiana purchase by the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thirdly, the admission of new States south of that line, with or without slavery, as the people might determine; fourthly, the prohibition of slavery in all the new States north of the dividing-line.
8. The President's administration grew into high favor with the people; and in 1820 he was reelected. As Vice-president, Mr. Tompkins was again chosen. The attention of the government was next called to a system of piracy which had sprung up in the West Indies. Early in 1822 an American fleet was sent thither, and more than twenty piratical ships were captured. In the following summer, Commodore Porter was dispatched with a larger squadron. The retreats of the sea-robbers were completely broken up.
9. About this time many of the countries of South America declared their independence of foreign nations. The people of the United States sympathized with the patriots of the South. Henry Clay urged upon the government the duty of recognizing the South American republics. In March of 1822, a bill was passed by Congress embodying his views. In the President's message of 1823 the declaration was made that the American continents are not subject to colonization by any European power. This is the principle ever since known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Henry Clay.
10. In the summer of 1824 the venerated La Fayette, now aged and gray, revisited the land for whose freedom he had shed his blood. The patriots who had fought by his side came forth to greet him. In every city he was surrounded by a throng of shouting freemen. His journey through the country was a triumph. In September of 1825 he bade adieu to the people, and sailed for his native land. While Liberty remains, the name of La Fayette shall be hallowed.
11. In the fall of 1824 four candidates were presented for the presidency. John Quincy Adams was put forward as the candidate of the East; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, as the choice of the South; Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson as the favorites of the West. Neither candidate received a majority of the electoral votes, and the choice of President was referred to the House of Representatives. By that body Mr. Adams was elected. For Vice-president, John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was chosen by the electoral college.
THE new President was a man of the highest attainments in literature and statesmanship. At the age of eleven years he accompanied his father, John Adams, to Europe. At Paris, and Amsterdam, and St. Petersburg the son continued his studies, and became acquainted with the politics of the Old World. In his riper years, he served as ambassador to the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and England. He had also held the offices of United States Senator, and Secretary of State.
John Quincy Adams.
2. The new administration was a time of peace; but the spirit of party manifested itself with much violence. The adherents of General Jackson and Mr. Crawford united in opposition to the President. In the Senate the political friends of Mr. Adams were in the minority, and their majority in the lower House lasted for only one session. In his inaugural address the President strongly advocated the doctrine of internal improvements.
3. When, in the year 1802, Georgia relinquished her claim to Mississippi Territory, the general government agreed to purchase for the State all the Creek lands lying within her borders. This pledge the United States had never fulfilled, and Georgia complained of bad faith. Finally, in March of 1826, a treaty was concluded between the Creek chiefs and the President, by which a cession of all their lands in Georgia was obtained. At the same time, the Creeks agreed to remove beyond the Mississippi.
4. On the 4th July, 1826—fifty years after the Declaration of Independence—John Adams, second President, and his successor, Thomas Jefferson, died. Both had lifted their voices for freedom in the days of the Revolution. One had written, and both had signed, the great Declaration. Both had lived to see their country's independence. Both had reached extreme old age: Adams was ninety; Jefferson, eighty-two.
5. The question of the tariff was much discussed in Congress at this time. By a tariff is understood a duty levied on imported goods. The object is—first, to produce a revenue for the government; and, secondly, to raise the price of the article on which the duty is laid, in order that the domestic manufacturer of the thing taxed may be able to compete with the foreign producer. When the duty is levied for the latter purpose it is called a protective tariff. Mr. Adams and his friends favored the tariff; and in 1828 protective duties were laid on fabrics made of wool, cotton, linen and silk; and those on articles manufactured of iron, lead, etc., were much increased.
6. With the fall of 1828, Mr. Adams, supported by Mr. Clay, was put forward for reelection. General Jackson appeared as the candidate of the opposition. In the previous election Jackson had received more electoral votes than Adams, but the House of Representatives had chosen the latter. Now the people had their way. Jackson was triumphantly elected, receiving one hundred and seventy-eight electoral votes against eighty-three for his opponent.
THE new President was a military hero—a man of great talents and inflexible honesty. His integrity was unassailable; his will like iron. He was one of those men for whom no toils are too arduous. His personal character was impressed upon his administration. At the beginning he removed nearly seven hundred office-holders and appointed in their stead his own political friends.
Andrew Jackson.
2. In his first message the President took ground against rechartering the Bank of the United States. He recommended that the old charter be allowed to expire by its own limitation in 1836. But the influence of the bank was very great; and in 1832 a bill to recharter was passed by Congress. The President opposed his veto; a two thirds majority in favor of the bill could not be secured, and the new charter failed.
3. In the congressional session of 1831-32, additional tariffs were levied upon goods imported from abroad. By this act the manufacturing districts were favored at the expense of the agricultural States. South Carolina was specially offended. Open resistance was threatened in case the officers should attempt to collect the revenues at Charleston. In the United States Senate the right of a State to nullify an act of Congress was boldly proclaimed. On that question had already occurred the great debate between Colonel Hayne, senator from South Carolina, and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
Daniel Webster.
4. The President now took the matter in hand and issued a proclamation denying the right of a State to nullify the laws of Congress. But Mr. Calhoun, the Vice-president, resigned his office to accept a seat in the Senate, where he might defend the doctrines of his State. The President, having warned the South Carolinians, ordered a body of troops under General Scott to proceed to Charleston. The leaders of the nullifying party receded from their position, and bloodshed was avoided.
5. The lands of the Sacs and Foxes had been purchased by the government, but the Indians, influenced by the chief Black Hawk, refused to quit them. The government insisted that they fulfill their contract, and hostilities began in 1832. General Scott was sent with troops to Chicago to cooperate with General Atkinson. The latter waged a vigorous campaign, defeated the Indians, and made Black Hawk prisoner. The captive chief was taken to Washington and the great cities of the East. Returning to his own people, he advised them to make peace. The warriors abandoned the disputed lands and retired into Iowa.
6. Difficulties also arose with the Cherokees of Georgia—the most civilized of all the Indian nations. The President recommended the removal of the Cherokees to lands beyond the Mississippi. The Indian Territory was accordingly set apart in 1834. The Indians yielded with great reluctance. More than five million dollars was paid them for their lands. At last General Scott was ordered to remove them; and during the years 1837-38, the Cherokees were transferred to their new homes in the West.
7. More serious was the conflict with the Seminoles. The trouble arose from an attempt to remove the tribe beyond the Mississippi. Hostilities began in 1835, and continued for four years. Osceola and Micanopy, chiefs of the nation, denied the validity of a former cession of Seminole lands. General Thompson was obliged to arrest Osceola and put him in irons. The chief then gave his assent to the old treaty, and was liberated, but immediately entered into a conspiracy to slaughter the whites.
8. Major Dade, with a hundred and seventeen men, was now dispatched to reinforce General Clinch at Fort Drane, seventy-five miles from St. Augustine. Dade's forces fell into an ambuscade, and all except one man were massacred. On the same day Osceola, with a band of warriors, surrounded a storehouse where General Thompson was dining, and killed him and four of his companions.
9. In two successive engagements in December and February the Seminoles were repulsed. In October Governor Call of Florida, with two thousand men, overtook the savages in the Wahoo Swamp, near the scene of Dade's massacre. Here the Indians were again defeated and driven into the Everglades.
10. In the mean time, the President had put an end to the Bank of the United States. After vetoing the bill to recharter that institution, he conceived that the surplus funds which had accumulated in its vaults had better be distributed among the States. Accordingly, in October of 1833 he ordered the funds of the bank, amounting to ten million dollars, to be distributed among certain State banks designated for that purpose. The financial panic of 1836-37, following soon afterward, was attributed by the Whigs to the destruction of the national bank and the removal of the funds. But the adherents of the President replied that the panic was attributable to the bank itself.
11. In 1834 the strong will of the chief magistrate was brought into conflict with France. In 1831 the French king had agreed to pay five million dollars for injuries formerly done to American commerce. But the government of France neglected the payment until the President recommended to Congress to make reprisals on French merchantmen. This measure had the desired effect, and the indemnity was paid. Portugal was brought to terms in a similar manner.
12. In June of 1836, Arkansas, with a population of seventy thousand, was admitted into the Union. In the following January, Michigan Territory was organized as a State and added to the Republic. The new commonwealth brought a population of one hundred and fifty-seven thousand. In the autumn of 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected President. As to the Vice-presidency, no one secured a majority, and the choice devolved on the Senate. By that body Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was chosen.
MARTIN Van Buren, eighth President, was born at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th of December, 1782. After receiving a limited education he became a student of law. In 1821 he was chosen United States Senator. Seven years afterward he was elected governor of New York, and was then appointed Minister to England. From that important mission he returned to accept the office of Vice-president.
Martin Van Buren.
2. One of the first duties of the new administration was to finish the Seminole War. In the fall, Osceola came to the American camp with a flag of truce; but he was suspected of treachery, seized and sent a prisoner to Fort Moultrie, where he died. The Seminoles, however, continued the war. In December Colonel Zachary Taylor, with a thousand men, marched into the Everglades of Florida, and overtook the savages near Lake Okeechobee. A hard battle was fought, and the Indians were defeated. For more than a year Taylor continued to hunt them through the swamps. In 1839 a treaty was signed, and the Seminoles were slowly removed to the West.
3. In 1837 the country was afflicted with a serious monetary panic. The preceding years had been a time of great prosperity. A surplus of nearly forty million dollars, in the national treasury, had been distributed among the States. Owing to the abundance of money, the credit system was greatly extended. The banks of the country were multiplied to seven hundred. Vast issues of irredeemable paper money increased the opportunities for fraud.
4. The bills of these unsound banks were receivable for the public lands. Seeing that the government was likely to be defrauded out of millions, President Jackson issued an order, called the Specie Circular, by which the land agents were directed to receive nothing but coin in payment for the lands. The effects of this circular followed in the first year of Van Buren's administration. The banks suspended specie payment. In the spring of 1837, the failures in New York and New Orleans amounted to one hundred and fifty million dollars.
5. When Congress convened in the following September, a bill authorizing the issue of ten millions of dollars in treasury notes was passed as a temporary expedient. More important by far was the measure proposed by the President under the name of the Independent Treasury Bill, by which the public funds were to be kept in a treasury established for that special purpose. It was the President's plan thus to separate the business of the United States from the general business of the country.
6. The Independent Treasury Bill was at first defeated, but in the following regular session of Congress the bill was again brought forward and adopted. During the year 1838 the banks resumed specie payments. But trade was less vigorous than before. Discontent prevailed; and the administration was blamed with everything.
7. In the after part of 1837 a portion of the people of Canada attempted to establish their independence. The insurgents found sympathy in the United States. Seven hundred men from New York seized and fortified Navy Island, in the Niagara River. The loyalists of Canada, however, succeeded in firing the Caroline, the supply ship of the adventurers, cut her moorings, and sent the burning vessel over Niagara Falls. For a while the peaceful relations of the United States and Great Britain were endangered. But the President issued a proclamation of neutrality, forbidding further interference with the affairs of Canada.
8. Mr. Van Buren became a candidate for reelection, and received the support of the Democratic party. The Whigs put forward General Harrison. The canvass was one of the most exciting in the history of the country. Harrison was elected. After controlling the government for forty years, the Democratic party was temporarily overthrown. For Vice-president, John Tyler of Virginia was chosen.
William H. Harrison. John Tyler.
PRESIDENT Harrison was a Virginian by birth, the adopted son of Robert Morris. He was graduated at Hampden-Sidney College, and afterwards entered the army of St. Clair. He became governor of Indiana Territory, which office he filled with great ability. He began his duties as President by calling a special session of Congress. An able cabinet was organized, with Daniel Webster as Secretary of State. Everything promised well for the new Whig administration; but before Congress could convene, the President, now sixty-eight years of age, fell sick, and died just one month after his inauguration. On the 6th of April Mr. Tyler became President of the United States.
2. He was a statesman of considerable distinction; a native of Virginia; a graduate of William and Mary College. In 1825 he was elected governor of Virginia, and from that position he was sent to the Senate of the United States. He had been put upon the ticket with General Harrison through motives of expediency; for although a Whig in political principles, he was known to be hostile to the United States Bank.
3. One of the first measures of the new Congress was the repeal of the Independent Treasury Bill. A bankrupt law was then passed for the relief of insolvent business men. The next measure was the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. A bill for that purpose was brought forward and passed; but the President interposed his veto. Again the bill received the assent of both Houses, only to be rejected by the executive. By this action a rupture was produced between the President and the party which had elected him. All the members of the cabinet, except Mr. Webster, resigned their offices.
4. A difficulty now arose with Great Britain about the northeastern boundary of the United States. Since the treaty of 1783 that boundary had been in question. Lord Ashburton, on the part of Great Britain, and Mr. Webster, on the part of the United States, were called upon to settle the dispute. They performed their work in a manner honorable to both nations; and the present boundary was established.
5. In the next year, the country was vexed with a domestic trouble in Rhode Island. By the terms of the old charter of that State the right of suffrage was restricted to property-holders. A proposition was now agreed upon to change the constitution, but in respect to the manner of annulling the old charter there was a division.
6. In 1842 the "law and order party," under Governor King, undertook to suppress the "suffrage party" under Thomas W. Dorr. The latter resisted, and made an attempt to capture the State arsenal. But the militia drove the assailants away. Dorr was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was set at liberty again in 1845.
7. About the same time, a difficulty occurred with the Mormons. Under the leadership of Joseph Smith, they first settled in Missouri. But the people of Missouri opposed them. The militia was called out, and the Mormons crossed into Illinois, and laid out the city of Nauvoo. But serious troubles soon arose with the people of Illinois. Smith and his brother were arrested and lodged in jail. In 1844 a mob broke open the jail doors and killed the prisoners. Two years later the Mormons resolved to leave the States. They made a toilsome march to the far West; crossed the Rocky Mountains; reached the Great Salt Lake; and founded Utah Territory.
Fall of Crockett in the Alamo.
8. Meanwhile, a great agitation had arisen in regard to Texas. From 1821 to 1836 this vast territory had been a province of Mexico. In the year 1835 the Texans raised the standard of rebellion. In a battle at Gonzales, a thousand Mexicans were defeated by a Texan force of five hundred. On the 6th of March, 1836, the Texan fort Alamo was surrounded by eight thousand Mexicans, led by Santa Anna. The garrison was overpowered and massacred. The daring David Crockett was one of the victims of the butchery. In the next month was fought the decisive battle of San Jacinto, which gave to Texas her independence.
9. Texas now asked to be admitted into the Union. At first the proposition was declined by President Van Buren. In 1844 the question of annexation was again agitated; and on that question the people divided in the presidential election. The annexation was favored by the Democrats, and opposed by the Whigs. James K. Polk of Tennessee was put forward as the Democratic candidate; while the Whigs chose their favorite leader, Henry Clay. The former was elected; for Vice-president, George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania was chosen.
10. On the 29th of May, 1844, the news of the nomination of Mr. Polk was sent from Baltimore to Washington by the Magnetic Telegraph. It was the first dispatch ever so transmitted; and the event marks an era in the history of civilization. The inventor of the telegraph, which has proved so great a blessing to mankind, was Professor Samuel F. B. Morse of Massachusetts. Perhaps no other invention has exercised so beneficent an influence on the welfare of the human race.
11. When Congress convened in December of 1844, a bill to annex Texas to the United States was brought forward, and, on the first of the following March, was passed. The President immediately gave his assent; and, on the 29th of December, Texas took her place in the Republic. On the 3d of March in this year, bills for the admission of Florida and Iowa were also signed; but the latter State was not formally admitted until December 28th, 1846.
PRESIDENT Polk was a native of North Carolina. In boyhood he removed with his father to Tennessee, and in 1839 rose to the position of governor of that State. At the head of his cabinet he placed James Buchanan of Pennsylvania.
2. A war with Mexico was at hand. On the 4th of July, 1845, the Texan legislature ratified the act of annexation. The Mexican minister at Washington immediately left the country. The authorities of Texas sent an urgent request to the President to dispatch an army for their protection. Accordingly, General Zachary Taylor was ordered to march thither from Louisiana. Texas claimed the Rio Grande as her western limit, while Mexico was determined to have the Nueces as the separating line. The government of the United States resolved to support the claim of Texas. General Taylor was sent to the mouth of the Nueces, and in January, 1846, he moved forward to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and built Fort Brown.
James K. Polk.
3. On the 26th of April a company of American dragoons was attacked by the Mexicans, east of the Rio Grande, and was obliged to surrender. This was the first bloodshed of the war. General Taylor hastened to Point Isabel and strengthened the defenses. This done, he set out with a provision-train and an army of two thousand men to return to Fort Brown. Meanwhile, the Mexicans had crossed the Rio Grande and taken a position at Palo Alto. On the 8th of May the Americans came in sight and joined battle. After a severe engagement the Mexicans were driven from the field.
4. On the following day General Taylor resumed his march, and came upon the Mexicans again at a place called Resaca de la Palma. Here the enemy fought better than on the previous day. The American lines were severely galled until Captain May's dragoons charged through a storm of grape-shot, rode over the Mexican batteries, and captured La Vega, the commanding general. The Mexicans, abandoning their guns, fled in a general rout.
5. When the news from the Rio Grande was borne through the Union, the war spirit was everywhere aroused. On the 11th of May, 1846, Congress made a declaration of war. The President was authorized to accept fifty thousand volunteers, and ten million dollars was placed at his disposal. Nearly three hundred thousand men rushed forward to enter the ranks.
6. The American forces were organized in three divisions: the Army of the West, under General Kearny, to cross the Rocky Mountains against the northern Mexican provinces; the Army of the Center, under General Scott as commander-in-chief, to march from the Gulf coast into the heart of the enemy's country; the Army of Occupation, under General Taylor, to hold the districts on the Rio Grande.
7. Ten days after the battle of Resaca de la Palma General Taylor captured Matamoras, and in August laid siege to Monterey. On the 21st of September the Americans carried the heights in the rear of the town. The Bishop's Palace was taken by storm on the following day. On the 23d the city was successfully assaulted in front. The American storming parties charged into the town; hoisted the victorious flag of the Union; turned upon the buildings where the Mexicans were concealed; charged up dark stairways to the flat roofs of the houses; and drove the enemy to a surrender.
John Charles Fremont.
8. General Santa Anna was now called home from Havana to take the presidency of Mexico. A Mexican army of twenty thousand men was sent into the field. General Taylor again moved forward, and on the 15th of November captured the town of Saltillo. Victoria, a city in the province of Tamaulipas, was taken by General Patterson.
9. In June of 1846 the Army of the West, led by General Kearny, set out from Fort Leavenworth for the conquest of New Mexico and California. After a wearisome march he reached Santa Fé, and on the 18th of August captured the city. With four hundred dragoons Kearny continued his march toward the Pacific coast to find that California had already been subdued.
10. For four years Colonel John C. Fremont had been exploring the country west of the Rocky Mountains. In California he received dispatches informing him of the war with Mexico, and began to urge the people of California to declare their independence. A campaign was begun to overthrow the Mexican authority. Meanwhile, Commodore Sloat had captured the town of Monterey, on the coast. A few days afterward Commodore Stockton took San Diego. Before the end of summer the whole of California was subdued. On the 8th of January, 1847, the Mexicans were decisively defeated in the battle of San Gabriel, by which the authority of the United States was completely established.
11. General Scott now arrived in Mexico and ordered the Army of Occupation to join him on the Gulf for the conquest of the capital. This left Taylor and Wool in a critical condition at Monterey; for Santa Anna was advancing against them with twenty thousand men. General Taylor was able to concentrate at Saltillo an effective force of but four thousand eight hundred. At the head of this small army he chose a battlefield at Buena Vista. On the 23d of February the battle began. Against tremendous odds the field was fairly won by the Americans. The Mexicans, having lost nearly two thousand men, made a precipitate retreat.
12. On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott, with twelve thousand men, landed to the south of Vera Cruz, and invested the city. On the morning of the 22d a cannonade was begun. On the waterside, Vera Cruz was defended by the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. For four days the bombardment continued without cessation. An assault was already planned, when the authorities of the city proposed capitulation. On the 27th the American flag was raised over Vera Cruz.
13. The route to the capital was now open. On the 12th of the month General Twiggs came upon Santa Anna, with fifteen thousand men, on the heights of Cerro Gordo. On the 18th, the American army advanced to the assault; and before noonday every position of the Mexicans had been successfully stormed. Nearly three thousand prisoners were taken, together with forty-three pieces of bronze artillery.
Operations in Mexico.
14. On the next day the victorious army entered Jalapa. The strong castle of Perote was taken without resistance. Turning southward, General Scott next entered the ancient city of Puebla, no opposition being encountered. Scott here waited for reinforcements from Vera Cruz. On the 7th of August General Scott began his march upon the capital. The army swept through the passes of the Cordilleras to look down on the Valley of Mexico.
15. The city of Mexico could be approached only by causeways leading across marshes and the beds of bygone lakes. At the ends of these causeways were massive gates strongly defended. To the left were Contreras, San Antonio, and Molino del Rey. Directly in front were the powerful defences of Churubusco and Chapultepec.
16. On the 20th of August Generals Pillow and Twiggs stormed the Mexican position at Contreras. A few hours afterwards General Worth carried San Antonio. General Pillow led a column against one of the heights of Churubusco; and after a terrible assault the position was carried. General Twiggs stormed another height of Churubusco. Still another victory was achieved by Generals Shields and Pierce, who defeated Santa Anna's reserves.
Scott's Army Entering the City of Mexico.
17. On the morning after the battles the Mexican authorities came out to negotiate. General Scott rejected their proposals. On the 8th of September General Worth stormed the western defences of Chapultepec, and on the 13th that citadel itself was carried by storm.
18. On the following morning forth came a deputation from the city to beg for mercy; but General Scott, tired of trifling, turned them away with contempt. "Forward!" was the order that rang along the lines at sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the Union floated over the halls of the Montezumas.
19. On leaving his capital, Santa Anna turned about to attack the hospitals at Puebla. Here eighteen hundred sick men had been left in charge of Colonel Childs. A gallant resistance was made by the garrison, until General Lane, on his march to the capital, fell upon the besiegers and scattered them. It was the closing stroke of the war.
20. The military power of Mexico was completely broken. In the winter of 1847-48, American ambassadors met the Mexican Congress at Guadalupe Hidalgo, and on the 2d of February a treaty was concluded. By the terms of settlement the boundary-line between Mexico and the United States was established on the Rio Grande from its mouth to the southern limit of New Mexico; thence westward along the southern, and northward along the western boundary of that territory to the Gila; thence down that river to the Colorado; thence westward to the Pacific. New Mexico and Upper California were relinquished to the United States. Mexico guaranteed the free navigation of the Gulf of California and the river Colorado. The United States agreed to surrender all places in Mexico, to pay that country fifteen million dollars, and to assume all debts due from Mexico to American citizens.
21. A few days after the signing of the treaty, a laborer, employed by Captain Sutter on the American fork of Sacramento River, in California, discovered some pieces of gold in the sand. The news went flying to the ends of the world. Men thousands of miles away were crazed with excitement. From all quarters adventurers came flocking. Before the end of 1850, San Francisco had grown to be a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants. In September of that year, California was admitted into the Union; and by the close of 1852, the State had a population of more than a quarter of a million.
22. In 1848 Wisconsin was admitted into the Union. The new commonwealth came with a population of two hundred and fifty thousand. Another presidential election was already at hand. General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was nominated by the Democrats, and General Zachary Taylor by the Whigs. As the candidate of the new Free Soil party, ex-President Martin Van Buren was put forward. The memory of his recent victories in Mexico made General Taylor the favorite with the people, and he was elected by a large majority. As Vice-president, Millard Fillmore, of New York, was chosen.
THE new President was a Virginian by birth, a soldier by profession. During the war of 1812 he distinguished himself in the Northwest. In the Seminole War he bore a part, but earned his greatest renown in Mexico. His administration began with a violent agitation on the question of slavery in the territories.
2. In his first message the President advised the people of California to prepare for admission into the Union. The advice was promptly accepted. A convention was held at Monterey in September of 1849. A constitution prohibiting slavery was framed, submitted to the people, and adopted.
Zachary Taylor.
3. When the question of admitting California came before Congress the members were sectionally divided. The admission of the new State was favored by the representatives of the North, and opposed by those of the South. The latter claimed that, with the extension of the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific, the right to introduce slavery into California was guaranteed by the general government, and that therefore the proposed constitution of the State ought to be rejected. The reply of the North was that the Missouri Compromise had respect only to the Louisiana purchase, and that the Californians had framed their constitution in their own way.
4. Other questions added fuel to the controversy. Texas claimed New Mexico as a part of her territory, and the claim was resisted by the people of Santa Fé. The people of the South complained that fugitive slaves were aided and encouraged in the North. The opponents of slavery demanded the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia.
Millard Fillmore.
5. Henry Clay appeared as a peacemaker. On the 9th of May, 1850, he brought forward, as a compromise, the Omnibus Bill, of which the provisions were as follows: first, the admission of California as a free State; second, the formation of new States, not exceeding four in number, out of Texas, said States to permit or exclude slavery as the people should determine; third, the organization of territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah, without conditions as to slavery; fourth, the establishment of the present boundary between Texas and New Mexico; fifth, the enactment of a stringent law for the recovery of fugitive slaves; sixth, the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia.
6. When the Omnibus Bill was laid before Congress, the debates broke out anew. While the discussion was at its height, President Taylor fell sick, and died on the 9th of July, 1850. Mr. Fillmore at once took the oath of office and entered upon the duties of the Presidency. A new cabinet was formed, with Daniel Webster at the head as Secretary of State.
7. On the 18th of September the compromise proposed by Mr. Clay was adopted, and received the sanction of the President. The excitement in the country rapidly abated, and the controversy seemed at an end. Shortly afterwards Mr. Clay bade adieu to the Senate, and sought at Ashland a brief rest from the cares of public life.
8. The year 1850 was marked by an attempt of some American adventurers to conquer Cuba. It was thought that the Cubans were anxious to annex themselves to the United States. General Lopez organized an expedition in the South, and on the 19th of May, 1850, effected a landing in Cuba. But there was no uprising in his favor; and he was obliged to return to Florida. Renewing the attempt, he and his band were defeated and captured by the Spaniards. Lopez and the ringleaders were taken to Havana and executed.
9. In 1852 a serious trouble arose with England. By the terms of former treaties the coast-fisheries of Newfoundland belonged to Great Britain. But, outside of a line drawn three miles from the shore, American fishermen enjoyed equal rights. A quarrel now arose as to how the line should be drawn across the bays and inlets; and both nations sent men-of-war to the contested waters. But in 1854 the difficulty was settled happily by negotiation; and the right to take fish in the bays of the British possessions was conceded to American fishermen.
10. During the summer of 1852 the Hungarian patriot Louis Kossuth made a tour of the United States. He came to plead the cause of Hungary before the American people, and was everywhere received with expressions of sympathy and good-will. But the policy of the United States forbade the government to interfere on behalf of the Hungarian patriots.