the 13th of September, and two days later carried the city itself, thus ending the war. In the meantime General Kearny had conquered New Mexico and Commodore Stockton had seized upon California.

4. By the treaty of peace (February 2, 1848,) Mexico gave up a vast territory, including California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado.

5. In 1848 gold was discovered in California, and gold seekers by tens of thousands flocked to that region from all the States and from many other parts of the world.

Collateral Reading.-Rhodes's "History of the United States," I., 82-90. Garland's "Life of Grant," 83-86, 91-102. Rhodes's " ' History of the United States," I., 110-113.

CHAPTER XLII

THE COMPROMISE OF 1850, AND OTHER MATTERS

The Election of 1848.-In 1848 the Whigs took General

Zachary Taylor for their candidate.

He knew little of

politics, and seemingly had no political opinions. But his glory was great on account of his victories in Mexico, and the Whigs took him as a candidate whom they could elect.

General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was the candidate of the Democrats. There was a third candidate, representing the Free Soil party, which had been formed out of the old Liberty party. A great many Democrats and some Whigs had joined this

new party and nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate. Van Buren drew heavily from the Democrats, and at the election Taylor was chosen, with Millard Fillmore for Vice President.

The Wilmot Proviso. In the meantime the slavery question had come up in a new form to vex the old political parties. When it was proposed to purchase lands from Mexico, Congressman David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania country lawyer, serving as a Democratic Congressman, surprised the country by moving to insert in the appropriation bill an amendment providing that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory." This amendment, which was called the Wilmot Proviso, passed the House but failed in the Senate. It had the effect, however, of stirring up angry discussion of the slavery question at a time when the leaders of both parties were doing their utmost to keep such discussion down.

A New Slavery Agitation.-As Mexico had abolished slavery before the war, the territory which we got from her came to us without that institution. The Southern statesmen insisted that as this territory had been paid for with the money of all the people, and fought for by troops from North and South alike, it should be freely open to settlement from both sections, and that slave holders moving into it should be permitted to carry their negroes with them, as they did their other property.

Behind this question of slavery there was another. The North and South were jealously struggling with each other for strength in the Senate. The two sections were equally balanced there, and it was seen that every new State which came in with slavery would add two Senators to the Southern strength, while, if slavery was excluded from the new Territories, all the new States would be free and the North would presently completely outvote the South in the Senate. The contest was a bitter one, and there was grave talk of a dissolution of the Union. The extreme antislavery men at the North, so far from being disturbed by this threat, were willing enough to have the Union dissolved if by that means they could get rid of slavery.

The California Case.—As we have already seen, California rapidly filled up with people after gold was discovered, and

Emigrants on their way to California

its population was now more than great enough to make a State. General Taylor suggested to the Californians that they should adopt a Constitution at once and apply for admission to the Union. They did this, and put into their Constitution a clause forbidding slavery. There were Southern men and Northern men in California, but nobody there wanted negro slaves.

In 1849 California asked for admission as a free State. The Southern members of Congress would not consent to this unless it should be agreed at the same time that the rest of the new territory should be open to slavery. There were hot debates in Congress, and the spirit of disunion continued to grow at the South.

The Three Greatest the Congress of 1849-50, there sat together in the Senate for the last time, three of the greatest men this country has ever known-Clay, Webster, and Calhoun. They had been born within five years of one another, and they died within about two years of one another. Calhoun was a Democrat, Clay and Webster, Whigs. For a whole generation these three had dominated legislation and largely determined the country's policy.

Seeking a Compromise.-Clay, the great compromiser, had come to the capital, old and ill, hoping to be a

quiet looker - on rather than the active leader that he had always been. But he was by instinct a peacemaker, and he loved the Union more than everything else. He had secured peace by the Missouri compromise in 1820; he had put an end to nullification by the compromise tariff of the early thirties; and now had come to him another opportunity, as he believed, to save his country from dissolution and ruin. In consultation with Webster and others he devised a plan and spoke in its behalf with such captivating eloquence that men came from far and near to listen to his winning words, and women kissed him when he had done. Calhoun was

John C. Calhoun

was too old and feeble to speak, but another Senator read for him what he wished to say in this crisis. Finally came Webster with his celebrated "Seventh of March" speech in favor of the compromise. The speech was one of the greatest that Webster had ever made-equal in eloquence to his celebrated reply to Hayne-but it bitterly disappointed his

Henry Clay

friends at the North, who had hoped that he would take ground in favor of the Free Soil movement without compromise.

The Compromise Measures.-Clay carried his point. Five bills were passed by Congress which it was fondly believed would settle the slavery question for

ever.

The first provided that California should come into the Union as a free State (map, p. 285). The second provided that the rest of the region acquired from Mexico should be divided into two Territories, called New Mexico and Utah, with no restriction as to slavery. In any States that might be made from these Territories, the question of slavery or no slavery was to be decided by the people there. The third bill provided for settling a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico. These three bills were originally introduced as one, called the Omnibus Bill.

Daniel Webster

The fourth of the compromise bills forbade the slave trade within the District of Columbia, but permitted the holding of slaves there.

The fifth bill was the Fugitive Slave Law. It provided that United States officers in all the States should arrest all runaway negroes, and return them to the persons who claimed them as their owners.

Effect of the Fugitive Slave Law. This law had very little effect except to increase the anger of the people over the question which the compromise was intended to settle.