on a like tenure. It was not till the militia were called out (1846) and some of the leading Anti-renters were taken and punished, that peace was restored.

MORMON TROUBLES agitated Illinois. The Mormons, or "Latter-Day Saints," originated with Joseph Smith, who professed to have received a divine revelation in his "Book of Mormon." Their creed, allowing polygamy, or a plurality of wives, was not very moral, nor were their practices any more so; therefore, when about 1,200 of them settled in Missouri, the Missourians drove them out. They crossed to Illinois, and there in 1840 founded the city of Nauvoo on the bank of the Mississippi.

Various crimes were charged upon the Mormons, and collisions soon occurred with the authorities of Illinois. Smith and his brother were arrested, and while in jail killed by a mob. Popular feeling became so strong against the sect that they could not remain in Illinois, but migrated westward. They finally settled in Utah Territory, and built their capital and temple on the borders of Great Salt Lake. Here, under the leadership of Brigham Young and joined by immigrants from Europe as well as from the States, they have grown into a powerful community. "Gentiles," as the Mormons call outsiders, attracted by the mineral riches of the territory, have lately helped to populate Utah, though their coming was at first discouraged.

New States. Florida became a state in 1845. Iowa, admitted at the same time, did not enter the Union until the following year.

The Annexation of Texas was provided for during Tyler's This event requires us to glance at what had taken place in Mexico since the beginning of the century.

term.

The oppression of Spanish officials led the creoles, or native Mexicans, after the royal family of Spain had been dethroned by Napoleon, to make an effort for their independence. The first insurrectionary movement, begun in

1844]

TYLER'S ADMINISTRATION.

245

1810, failed; a second, in 1821, succeeded. Gen. Iturbide (e-toor'be-da), under whom the revolution was effected, having been proclaimed emperor and assumed arbitrary power, was finally put to death by those who favored a free government; and under Santa Anna and Victoria, who next rose to the head of affairs, a federal republic was formed. One by one, we have seen Spain lose all her possessions on the mainland of America: Louisiana, by cession to France; Florida, by sale to the United States; her South American provinces, Mexico, and Central America, by revolution. Cuba and Porto Rico are about all that remains to her of her once proud domain in the New World.

Texas had been a province of Mexico, largely colonized by Americans. Oppressed by the government, the Texans had declared their independence, and had virtually established it after a hard struggle, closed in 1836 with the battle of San Jacinto. On this sanguinary field Santa Anna was signally defeated by Gen. Sam Houston (hew'stun), afterward president of Texas and U. S. Senator. The American population of "the Lone Star* Republic," having rapidly increased, in 1844 desired to be admitted into the Union; and, the people of the United States having plainly signified their wishes on the sub

ject, Texas was annexed in 1845.

Election of Polk.-The annexation of Texas was made the issue at the presidential election of 1844. The democrats,

*The "lone star," the emblem of the republic, has, since her admission into the Union galaxy, been adopted as the device on her state seal.

with James K. Polk as their standard-bearer, declared in favor of that measure; the whigs and their favorite leader, Henry Clay, opposed it. Polk was successful, and George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was chosen vice-president.

Magnetic Telegraph. The proceedings of the convention that nominated Mr. Polk were transmitted from Baltimore to Washington by the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH, the success of which was demonstrated by these first dispatches. For this great invention in its simplest practical workingform, the world is indebted to Samuel F. B. Morse, a native of Massachusetts; it may be ranked among the crowning triumphs of human ingenuity. Telegraph-wires were soon threading the country in all directions, and now hand in hand with the railroad they unite the Atlantic with the Pacific.

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION, 1845-1849.

James Knox Polk was a native of North Carolina, but a resident of Tennessee, of which state he had been governor. James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, served as his secretary of state.

War with Mexico resulted, as a matter of course, from the annexation of Texas, for the Mexican government had never recognized the independence of the latter. The old south-western boundary of Texas had been the Nueces (nwa'sès) River, but the Texans had claimed to the Rio Grande (re'o grahn'da—great river; see Map, p. 249): and when the United States offered to adjust the boundary by negotiation, Mexico rejected the proposal with contempt. The U. S. government, therefore, directed Gen. Zachary Taylor, "old Rough and Ready," as he was nicknamed, heretofore mentioned in connection with the Seminole War, to occupy the disputed territory. This he did with a small force, taking post at the mouth of the Rio Grande- -a movement which Mexico accepted as a declaration of war.

We must reserve the history of the Mexican War for

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MEXICAN WAR.

IN treating of the Mexican War, we may consider first the movements on the frontier under Gen. Taylor; next, the operations in the north and west directed against Upper California; and, finally, the march upon the capital, which ended the contest.

TAYLOR'S CAMPAIGN.

Movements on the Rio Grande.-We left Gen. Taylor at the mouth of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamo'ras. Here Gen. Ampudia (ahm-poo'de-ah) by the middle of April, 1846, had collected a large body of Mexicans, and soon afterward a reconnoitring party of Americans was cut off. The news awakened intense excitement in the United States; and, when a call was made for 50,000 volunteers, four times that number offered.

Gen. Taylor had left a garrison in charge of his supplies on the Gulf, twenty miles farther north, at Point Isabel'. The Mexicans beginning to swarm across the Rio Grande, there was danger of their getting in his rear and taking this post. So, leaving a few brave men to hold the fort he had erected, afterward called Fort Brown, he marched to Point Isabel' with his main body. The necessary arrangements for its defence having been made, he then set out with a provision-train on his return, and on reaching Palo Alto (pah'lo ahl'to), May 8, 1846, found a Mexican army nearly three times as large as his own drawn up across his path.

There was a hard struggle, but Taylor was completely victorious. And so he was the following day, at Resaca de là Palma (ra-sah'kah da lah pahl'mah), where the defeated Mexicans again disputed his passage. It was here that Captain May and his dragoons brilliantly charged up to the