tember 14), the army entered the city, and the stars and stripes waved in triumph over the palace of the Mon te zu'mas.

Peace. The fall of the capital virtually closed the war. A treaty was concluded, February 2, 1848. The United States gained the vast territory reaching south to the Gila (hẽ lan) and west to the Pacific (see maps of IVth and VIth Epochs).

Domestic Affairs.-The Wilmot Proviso.-The new territory, the prize of the war, became at once the bone of contention. David Wilmot offered in Congress (August, 1846) an amendment to an appropriation bill forbidding slavery in any of this territory. This measure, though lost, excited violent debate, and became the great feature of the fall election.

Discovery of Gold in California.—A workman in digging a mill-race in the Sacramento valley (February, 1848) discovered shining particles of gold. A further search proved that the soil for miles around contained the precious metal. The news flew in every direction. Emigration began from all parts of America, and even from Europe and Asia. In eighteen months, one hundred thousand persons went from the United States to this El Do ra'do, where a fortune was to be picked up in a few days. Thousands made their way across the desert, amid privations which strewed the route with skeletons. The bay of San Francisco was quickly surrounded by an extemporized city of shanties and booths. All ordinary employments were laid aside. Ships were deserted by their crews, who ran to the mines, sometimes, it is said, headed by their officers. Soon, streets were laid out, houses erected, and from this Babel, as if by magic, grew up a beautiful city. For a time, lawlessness reigned supreme. But, driven by the necessity of events, the most respectable citizens took the law into their own hands, organized vigi

lance committees, and administered a rude but prompt

justice which presently

restored order.

Political Parties.

Three parties now di

vided the suffrages of the

people. The whigs nomi

nated General Taylor for President; the democrats, Lewis Cass; and the free-soilers, who were opposed to the extension of slavery, Martin Van Buren. The personal popularity of General Taylor, on account of his many sterling qualities

and his brilliant victo

ries in the Mexican

war,

WASHING OUT GOLD.

made him the favorite candidate, and he was elected.

TAYLOR AND FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION.* (TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH PRESIDENTS: 1849-1853.)

General Taylor, like General Harrison, died soon after his elevation to the Presidency. Millard Fillmore, Vice-President, succeeded him.

* Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia in 1784. Soon after his birth, his parents removed to Kentucky. His means of education were extremely scanty, and until he was twenty-four years of age he worked on his father's plantation. Madison, who was a relative and at that time Secretary of State, then secured for him an appointment in the army as lieutenant. From this, he rose by regular and rapid degrees to a major-generalship. Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena Vista won him great applause. He was the hero of a successful war, and the soldiers admiringly called him "Old Rough and Ready". Many whig leaders violently opposed

Domestic Affairs.-Slavery questions were the great political topic of this administration. When California applied for admission to the Union as a free State, all these subjects were brought to a focus. A hot debate ensued, and for

awhile it seemed as if the Union would be rent asunder. At this terrible crisis, Henry Clay, the "Great Pacificator", came forward, and, with his wonderful eloquence, urged the his nomination. Daniel Web'ster called him "an ignorant frontier colonel". The fact that he was a slave-holder was warmly urged against him. He knew nothing of civil affairs, and had taken so little interest in politics that he had not voted in forty years. His nomination caused a secession from the whigs, resulting in the formation of the free-soil party; yet he maintained his popularity as President, and was one of the most esteemed who have filled that office. He died July 9, 1850, at the Presidential mansion, after an illness of five days.

Millard Fillmore was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., 1800; died at Buffalo, 1874. He learned the trade of fuller, taught school, practiced law, served as Assemblyman for three terms and as Congressman for four terms, ran unsuccessfully for governor, and was comptroller of the State of New York when he was nominated for the VicePresidency. By his integrity, industry, and practical ability, he won a place among the first statesmen of his day. Signing the Fugitive Slave Law, however, cost him much of his popularity at the North.

necessity of mutual compromise and forbearance. Daniel Webster* warmly seconded this effort at conciliation,

The Compromise of 1850.-The Omnibus Bill, Clay's measure, proposed (1) that California should come in as a free State; (2) that the Territories of Utah and New Mexico should be formed without any provision concerning slavery; (3) that Texas should be paid $10,000,000 to give up its claim on the Territory of New Mexico; (4) that the slave trade should be prohibited in the District of Columbia; and (5) that a FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW should be enacted providing for the return to their owners of slaves escaping to a free State. The various provisions of this bill were finally, though separately, adopted as the best solution of the problem.

Foreign Affairs.-Invasion of Cuba.-About five hundred adventurers, "filibusters", undertook the annexation of Cuba to the United States. The attempt ended in defeat, and in the execution, at Havana, of Lopez, the leader (1851).

Political Parties. The democratic and whig parties both declared that they stood by the provisions of the Omnibus Bill. The free-soil party was outspoken against it. Frank

* When Daniel Webster, the great American statesman and jurist, was fourteen years old, he first enjoyed the privilege of a few months schooling at an academy. The man whose eloquence was afterward to stir the nation, was then so shy that he could not muster courage to speak before the school. He says, "Many a piece did I commit and rehearse in my own room, over and over again; yet when the day came, when my name was called, and I saw all eyes turned toward me, 1 could not raise myself from my seat." In other respects, however, he gave decided promise of his future eminence. One year after, his father resolved to send him to college-a dream he had never dared to cherish. "I remember the very hill we were ascending through deep snow, in a New England sleigh, when my father made known this purpose to me. I could not speak. How could he, I thought, with so large a family, and in such narrow circumstances, think of incurring so great an expense for me? A warm glow ran all over me, and I laid my head on my father's shoulder and wept." Having finished his collegiate education and entered his profession, he at once rose to emi nence. By rapid strides, he placed himself at the head of American orators. It was a disappointment to Webster's friends, as it was, perhaps, to himself, that he was never placed in the Presidential chair. But, like Clay, although he might have honored that position he needed it not to enhance his renown. His death, in 1852, called out more orations and sermons, than had any other except that of Washington.

lin Pierce, the Presidential nominee of the democratic party, was elected by a large majority over General Scott, the whig candidate.

PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION.*

(FOURTEENTH PRESIDENT: 1853-1857.)

Domestic Affairs.-Kansas-Nebraska Bill.-The Compromise Bill of 1850 produced only a lull in the slavery excitement. It burst out anew when Stephen A. Douglas brought into Congress his famous bill organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and advocating the doctrine of "squatter sovereignty"; i. e., the right of the inhabitants of each Territory to decide for themselves whether the State should come into the Union free or slave. This bill

* Franklin Pierce was born 1804; died 1869. He had barely attained the requisite legal age when he was elected to the Senate. He there found such men as Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Seward, Benton, and Silas Wright. Nathaniel Hawthorne says in his biography of Mr. Pierce: "With his usual tact and exquisite sense of propriety, he saw that it was not the time for him to step forward prominently on this highest theater in the land. He beheld these great combatants doing battle before the eyes of the nation, and engrossing its whole regards. There was hardly an avenue to reputation save what was occupied by one or another of those gigantic figures." During Mr. Tyler's administration he resigned. When the Mexican war broke out, he enlisted as a volunteer, but soon rose to the office of brigadier-general. He distinguished himself under General Scott, against whom he afterward successfully ran for the Presidency, and upon whom, during his administration, he conferred the title of lieutenant-general. Pierce opposed anti-slavery measures in every shape. He, however, espoused the national cause at the opening of the Civil War. + The public lands have often threatened the peace of the nation. 1. The question of their ownership was one of the greatest obstacles to the union of the States. In 1781, New York was the first to present her western territory to the general government. Virginia followed her example in 1784, donating the great North-western Territory-a princely domain, which, if retained, would have made her the richest of the States; she reserved only 3,709,848 acres in Ohio, which she subsequently sold in small tracts to settlers. Massachusetts, in 1785, relinquished her claim, retaining a proprietary right over large tracts in New York. Connecticut, in 1786, did the same, and from the sale of her lands in Ohio (the "Western Reserve") laid the foundation of her school fund. Georgia and the Carolinas gave up their right to territory from which have been carved the States of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, 2. After these lands became the property of the general government, a perplexing question was, Shall they be free? Upon it, for years, hinged largely the politics of the