TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION.

215

new domain a subject of acrimonious strife between the sections. A provison to exclude slavery from all new territory, called the Wilmot proviso, had been proposed in Congress two years before, but had been rejected. It indicated the purposes of a rapidly growing party, which assumed the name of the "Free-Soil Party."*

43. The Irish famine occurred while Polk was President. Large donations of food and other supplies were made by public and private charity for the relief of the starving people of Ireland. Two new States, Iowa and Wisconsin, were added to the Union, and a territorial government was given to Oregon.

44. Polk was not renominated to the Presidency, nor was Henry Clay. General Zachary Taylor was the candidate of the Whigs, with Millard Fillmore † as Vice-President. They were elected. The new party, the Free-Soilers, assembled at Buffalo, and proposed their own nominees. Thus began the final strife between the abolitionists, of various shades of opinion, and the slave-owners, supported by those who still adhered to the original compromises of the Constitution.

ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR.-1849-1850.

45. California presented a tempting battle-field for

manner.

* The Free-Soil party laid down these principles: "1. That it was the duty of the general Government to abolish slavery wherever it could be done in a constitutional 2. That the States within which slavery existed had the sole right to interfere with it. 3. That Congress can alone prevent the existence of slavery in the Territories. By the first of these principles, it was the duty of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; second, to leave its regulation to the States where it existed; and third, to abolish it in territory now free."

+ Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), of New York, was the son of poor parents, and never saw a grammar or a geography before he was eighteen years of age. He presided over the Senate with great impartiality during the angry discussion of "the Omnibus Bill." He was nominated for the Presidency in 1856, by the American, or "Know-Nothing" party, but received only the electoral vote of Maryland.

political contention. Its gold mines were productive beyond all expectation. They drew multitudes from all quarters, and caused a sudden display of feverish activity along the Pacific

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

shore. The recent acquisition soon sought admission into the Union. After violent debates, it was received as a State, from which slavery was excluded. Utah and New Mexico were organized as territories. Ten millions of dollars were awarded to Texas for the surrender of its claims in New Mexico. An act was passed for the recovery of

fugitive slaves, and the slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia. These measures constituted "Clay's compromise of 1850." "'* Mr. Fillmore said of them: "They are regarded by me as a settlement in principle and substance -a final settlement-of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they einbrace." They were no settlement, but the

THE ADMINISTRATION OF MILLARD FILLMORE.1850-1853.

46. General Taylor died during these discussions. The Vice-President became President. Fillmore's efforts to

1850. 3 June.

enforce the late "compromise measures" were not successful. A Southern convention, composed of delegates from seven States, met at Nashville, to consider the dangers with which the institution of slavery * These several acts were at first included in one bill, nicknamed "the Omnibus Bill." They were founded upon resolutions introduced by Mr. Clay, 29th Jan., 1850.

FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION.

217

was threatened, and to decide upon the remedy. Peaceable secession was proposed. No conclusion was reached.

47. Cuba was twice invaded by adventurers under General Lopez. He was captured and executed. Colonel Crittenden and his com

MILLARD FILLMORE.

tor, who had never returned from an arctic exploration undertaken eighteen years before. Dr. Kane was the most noted leader in these enterprises. The country was singularly prosperous. The public revenue exceeded the expenditures by nearly $18,000,000; and the treasury contained more than $32,000,000 surplus. The population was over twenty-three millions.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL FRANKLIN PIERCE.-1853-1857.

48. General Franklin Pierce succeeded Fillmore in the Presidency. The Whigs had nominated General Winfield Scott. Pierce was soon engaged in difficult negotiations with foreign powers-with Mexico, with Austria, with Great Britain, and with Spain. "The Gadsden Treaty" settled the Mexican

ΙΟ

boundary for an additional payment of $10,000,000. "The

49. Domestic affairs were more important than foreign transactions at this time. The slavery question engrossed the attention of all parties. The Missouri compromise was abrogated by the bill of Senator Douglas † for the organization of the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Kansas lay in the same latitude with Missouri. The contending factions of the North and South hastened to seize it. A local civil war ensued. Emigrant Aid Societies" in the Northern States sent Free-Soil "squatters to engage in the war, and provided them with arms. "Blue Lodges" in Missouri, "Jayhawkers" along the border, and other armed bodies, were encouraged by the South. Skirmishes and raids, outrages and murders, were frequent. John Brown, of Os-sa-wat'o-mie,

99

*This notification led to the negotiations resulting in the treaty of 14th March, 1857, which put an end to the exaction of these duties. The treaty was made between Denmark and the commercial States of Europe, by which a large sum of money was paid in satisfaction of all such demands in future.

+ Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813-1861) was born in Vermont, and settled in Illinois. At twenty-two years of age he was Attorney-General of the State. He was nomirated for the Presidency in 1860,

PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION.

219

rendered himself very prominent by his daring, energy, and fanatical determination.

50. The war of the settlers produced anarchy in Kansas, and alarm throughout the country. The territorial Legislature upheld slavery. The Free-Soil Convention at Topeka framed a constitution excluding it. Governor after gov.

1857. 7 Jan.

eral troops.

ernor tried vainly to establish peace and order. A Free-Soil Legislature, assembled at Topeka, was driven out of their legislative hall by Fed

*

51. "Bleeding Kansas" and "Kansas troubles became party cries in the next election for President. The Free-Soilers, or Republicans, nominated John C. Fremont as their candidate. The Whigs united with the new faction of the "Know-Nothings," or Native Americans, and put forward Millard Fillmore. The Democrats supported James Buchanan ‡ and John C. Breckinridge,§ who were elected as President and Vice-President respectively.

*General John Charles Fremont (1813- ) gained much distinction by his explorations along the line of the Rocky Mountains, and beyond them, from 1842 onwards. He discovered the South Pass. His concern in the conquest of California has been noticed. He was a Major-General on the Union side in the war of secession. He was appointed Governor of Arizona Territory in 1878.

"The Know-Nothings," or Native Americans, constituted a political party bound together by secret signs and passwords. They assembled in secret meetings. They were popularly designated "Know-Nothings," because they were directed to reply to all inquiries by the uninitiated, that they "knew nothing" of the order. The object of the party, from which it derived the name of Native Americans, was to withhold the elective franchise from foreigners settled in the United States till after a long term of probation. They arose as a distinct political party in 1853.

James Buchanan (1791-1868), of Pennsylvania, had been so long engaged in public life (since 1814) that he was ridiculed as "the old functionary "-a designation which he had used in referring to himself.

§ John Cabell Breckinridge (1821-1875), of Kentucky, was the grandson of John Breckinridge, former Senator and Attorney-General of the United States. He was nominated for the Presidency in 1860. He resigned his seat in the Senate, and joined the Southern Confederacy, becoming a Major-General in its service. He was Secretary of War at the time of its overthrow.