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1848]

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION.

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1848, a discovery was made which startled the world, and showed that the United States had indeed gained a prize. In a bed of sand deposited by the waters of the American River, a tributary of the Sacramento, were found some glittering particles that proved to be gold. An abundance of the precious metal was soon discovered in the neighborhood. The excited people deserted their ranchos, and hastened to the favored spot with picks and pans. The news spread to the States, was borne over the Atlantic, crossed the Pacific to distant China, and attracted hundreds of emigrants from all lands to California. Within four years the population reached a quarter of a million. San Francisco, from a village of a few mean huts, assumed the proportions of a flourishing city. Gold was found in various quarters. In twenty years the yield amounted to $900,000,000. The supply is still unexhausted, averaging about $20,000,000 annually.

Wisconsin was added to the Union in 1848, and the following March Minnesota Territory was organized. Railroads were rapidly developing the West, and cities springing up as if by magic. The Map on page 238 shows the situation of some of the states formed from the Louisiana Purchase, with a few of their principal cities and the dates at which they were founded.

Political Matters.-An attempt to exclude slavery from territory that might be acquired by the war, had been made as early as 1846. The Wilmot Proviso, so called from its proposer, had been rejected by Congress; but a party was organized, under the name of "Free-Soilers," to support the principle it involved. They brought into the field, as their presidential candidate at the next election, Ex-President Van Buren. The democrats nominated Gen. Lewis Cass, U. S. senator from Michigan; the whigs, Gen. Taylor, whose faithful services in Mexico gave him strong claims on the nation. Taylor was elected, and at the same time Millard Fillmore, of New York, became vice-president.

ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF THE

MEXICAN WAR.

Use as a review in the way heretofore directed.

1846. Mexicans commence hostilities, capturing Captain Thornton, Apr. 26.
Gen. Taylor defeats Gen. Arista (ah-rees'tah) at Palo Alto, May 8.
Gen. Taylor defeats Gen. Arista at Resaca de la Palma, May 9.
Fort Brown bombarded by Gen. Ampudia, May 2-9.
Congress formally declares that war exists, May 11.
Taylor takes possession of Matamoras, May 18.
Revolutionary movements in California, July, August.
Taylor takes Monterey from Ampudia, Sept. 24.

[Dec. 25.

Col. Doniphan defeats Gen. Ponce de Leon at Bracito (brah-the' to) 1847. Battle of San Gabriel (sahn gah-bre-el'), California, Jan. 8.

Taylor defeats Santa Anna at Buena Vista, Feb. 23.

Col. Doniphan defeats Gen. Trias (tre'ahs) at Sacramento, Feb. 28.
Gen. Scott lands at Vera Cruz, March 9.

Vera Cruz and the adjacent castle surrender to Scott, March 27.
Scott defeats Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo, Apr. 18.

[May 15. Scott takes Jalapa (hah-lah'pah), Apr. 19; Perote, Apr. 22; Puebla, Scott defeats Gen. Valencia at Contreras, Aug. 20.

Scott defeats Santa Anna at Churubusco, Aug. 20.

Worth takes San Antonio, Aug. 20.

Worth defeats Gen. Alvarez (ahl'vah-reth) at Molino del Rey, Sept. 8.
Heights of Chapultepec carried by the Americans, Sept. 13.

Americans enter the capital in triumph, Sept. 14.

1848. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed, Feb. 2.

Peace proclaimed in the United States by President Polk, July 4.

CHAPTER XXIX.

TAYLOR, FILLMORE, PIERCE, BUCHANAN.

TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION, 1849-1850.

President Taylor was a resident of Louisiana, though ne had been born in Virginia and reared in Kentucky. He had never held any political position, but in his military career had, as we have seen, been eminently successful. John M.

1849]

TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION.

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Clayton, of Delaware, was appointed secretary of state. The vice-president was a New Yorker by birth and residence. He had attained distinction at the bar, and served in Congress.

Slavery Discussions. During this administration, the Union was shaken to its centre by exciting discussions on questions connected with the territory recently acquired from Mexico. California, peopled with unexampled rapidity, asked to be admitted as a state, with a constitution prohibiting slavery. But part of its territory was south of the line fixed by the Missouri Compromise; its admission as a free state would give the North a preponderance of votes in the Senate, and would be the signal, so the Southern leaders declared, for the disruption of the Union. Then it was that Henry Clay came forward a second time as the great peacemaker, advocating concession and forbearance with an eloquence that melted every heart, and inducing Congress, after long debate, to pass a compromise bill that settled all the important points at issue.

The Omnibus Bill, as it was called, provided that California should be admitted as a free state; that $10,000,000 should be paid to Texas, in consideration of her giving up all claim to New Mexico; that New Mexico and Utah, which had before been without governments, should be organized as territories with no restrictions as to slavery; that the return of fugitive slaves should be insured by a more rigorous law; and that the slave-trade should be abolished in the District of Columbia.

National Bereavements.-While the pulse of the nation was still beating high under the excitements of the slavery agitation, President Taylor died (July 9, 1850). Mr. Fillmore succeeded to the presidency, and Clayton gave way to Daniel Webster as secretary of state.

Nor was the loss of the president the only affliction that tried the nation about this time. There had been three

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great statesmen acknowledged for years as leaders, though never called by politicians to the highest office-Calhoun, the champion of states'-rights and Southern interests-Clay, the idol of the West-and Webster, the giant intellect of New England. Seldom has any deliberative body listened to eloquence that could rival the close and vehement reasoning of Calhoun, the persuasive and infectious enthusiasm of Clay, or Webster's grand diction and trenchant arguments. One after another, these bright ornaments of the Senate passed away; Calhoun shortly before the president's death, Clay and Webster during the succeeding administration, in 1852.

FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1850-1853.

Foreign Relations.-After Fillmore's signature to the Omnibus Bill had for a time settled the slavery question, his term was undisturbed, except by temporary troubles with Spain and Great Britain.

In the former case, "filibusters" under Gen. Lopez, fitting out an expedition in the United States contrary to law, and making a descent on Cuba for the purpose of revolutionizing it, came near embroiling our government with Spain. Lopez

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