A Short History of the United States Part 40

[Sidenote: The "Bear Republic," 1846.]

[Sidenote: California seized by American soldiers.]

336. Seizure of California.--California was the name given to the Mexican possessions on the Pacific coast north of Mexico itself. There were now many American settlers there, especially at Monterey. Hearing of the outbreak of the Mexican War, they Set up a republic of their own.

Their flag had a figure of a grizzly bear painted on it, and hence their republic is often spoken of as the Bear Republic. Commodore Stockton with a small fleet was on the Pacific coast. He and John C. Fremont a.s.sisted the Bear Republicans until soldiers under Colonel Kearney reached them from the United States by way of Santa Fe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN C. FReMONT.]

[Sidenote: Mexican cessions, 1848.]

[Sidenote: The Gadsden Purchase, 1853. _McMaster_, 334.]

337. Treaty of Peace, 1848.--The direct cause of the Mexican War was Mexico's unwillingness to give up Texas without a struggle. But the Mexicans had treated many Americans very unjustly and owed them large sums of money. A treaty of peace was made in 1848. Mexico agreed to abandon her claims to Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. The United States agreed to withdraw its armies from Mexico, to pay Mexico fifteen million dollars, and to pay the claims of American citizens on Mexico. These claims proved to amount to three and one-half million dollars, In the end, therefore, the United States paid eighteen and one-half million dollars for this enormous and exceedingly valuable addition to its territory. When the time came to run the boundary line, the American and Mexican commissioners could not agree. So the United States paid ten million dollars more and received an additional strip of land between the Rio Grande and the Colorado rivers. This gave the United States its present southern boundary. This agreement was made in 1853 by James Gadsden for the United States, and the land bought is usually called the Gadsden Purchase.

[Sidenote: Oregon.]

[Sidenote: Joint occupation by United States and Great Britain.]

338. The Oregon Question.--It was not only in the Southwest that boundaries were disputed; in the Northwest also there was a long controversy which was settled while Polk was President. Oregon was the name given to the whole region, between Spanish and Mexican California and the Russian Alaska. The United States and Great Britain each claimed to have the best right to Oregon. As they could not agree as to their claims, they decided to occupy the region jointly. As time went on American settlers and missionaries began to go over the mountains to Oregon. In 1847 seven thousand Americans were living in the Northwest.

[Sidenote: "All Oregon or none."]

[Sidenote: Division of Oregon, 1846.]

339. The Oregon Treaty, 1846.--The matter was now taken up in earnest. "All Oregon or none," "Fifty-four forty or fight," became popular cries. The United States gave notice of the ending of the joint occupation. The British government suggested that Oregon should be divided between the two nations. In 1818 he boundary between the United States and British North America had been fixed as the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. It was now proposed to continue this line to the Pacific. The British government, however, insisted that the western end of the line should follow the channel between Vancouver's Island and the mainland so as to make that island entirely British. The Mexican War was now coming on. It would hardly do to have two wars at one time. So the United States gave way and a treaty was signed in 1846. Instead of "all Oregon," the United States received about one-half. But it was a splendid region and included not merely the present state of Oregon, but all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains between the forty-second and the forty-ninth parallels of lat.i.tude.

CHAPTER 33

THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

[Sidenote: Should Oregon and Mexican cessions be free soil?]

[Sidenote: The Wilmot Proviso. _McMaster_, 324.]

340. The Wilmot Proviso, 1846.--What should be done with Oregon and with the immense territory received from Mexico? Should it be free soil or should it be slave soil? To understand the history of the dispute which arose out of this question we must go back a bit and study the Wilmot Proviso. Even before the Mexican War was fairly begun, this question came before Congress. Every one admitted that Texas must be a slave state. Most people were agreed that Oregon would be free soil. For it was too far north for negroes to thrive. But what should be done with California and with New Mexico? David Wilmot of Pennsylvania thought that they should be free soil. He was a member of the House of Representatives. In 1846 he moved to add to a bill giving the President money to purchase land from Mexico a proviso that none of the territory to be acquired at the national expense should be open to slavery. This proviso was finally defeated. But the matter was one on which people held very strong opinions, and the question became the most important issue in the election of 1848.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ZACHARY TAYLOR.]

[Sidenote: Candidates for the presidency, 1848.]

[Sidenote: "Squatter sovereignty."]

[Sidenote: Free Soil party. _McMaster_, 334-335.]

[Sidenote: Taylor and Fillmore elected.]

341. Taylor elected President, 1848.--Three candidates contested the election of 1848. First there was Lewis Ca.s.s of Michigan, the Democratic candidate. He was in favor of "squatter sovereignty," that is, allowing the people of each territory to have slavery or not as they chose. The Whig candidate was General Taylor, the victor of Buena Vista.

The Whigs put forth no statement of principles. The third candidate was Martin Van Buren, already once President. Although a Democrat, he did not favor the extension of slavery. He was nominated by Democrats who did not believe in "squatter sovereignty," and by a new party which called itself the Free Soil party. The abolitionists or Liberty party also nominated a candidate, but he withdrew in favor of Van Buren. The Whigs had nominated Millard Fillmore of New York for Vice-President. He attracted to the Whig ticket a good many votes in New York. Van Buren also drew a good many votes from the Democrats. In this way New York was carried for Taylor and Fillmore. This decided the election, and the Whig candidates were chosen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SITE OF SAN FRANCISCO IN 1847. From an original drawing.]

[Sidenote: Discovery of gold in California, 1848.]

[Sidenote: The "rush" to California, 1849. _McMaster_, 337-338; _Source-Book_, 276-279.]

342. California.--Before the treaty of peace with Mexico was ratified, even before it was signed, gold was discovered in California.

Reports of the discovery soon reached the towns on the western seacoast.

At once men left whatever they were doing and hastened to the hills to dig for gold. Months later rumors of this discovery began to reach the eastern part of the United States. At first people paid little attention to them. But when President Polk said that gold had been found, people began to think that it must be true. Soon hundreds of gold-seekers started for California. Then thousands became eager to go. These first comers were called the Forty-Niners, because most of them came in the year 1849. By the end of that year there were eighty thousand immigrants in California.

[Sidenote: California const.i.tutional convention, 1849.]

[Sidenote: Slavery forbidden.]

343. California seeks Admission to the Union.--There were eighty thousand white people in California, and they had almost no government of any kind. So in November, 1849, they held a convention, drew up a const.i.tution, and demanded admission the Union as a state. The peculiar thing about this const.i.tution was that it forbade slavery in California.

Many of the Forty-Niners were Southerners. But even they did not want slavery. The reason was that they wished to dig in the earth and win gold. They would not allow slave holders to work their mining claims with slave labor, for free white laborers had never been able to work alongside of negro slaves. So they did not want slavery in California.

[Sidenote: Divisions on the question of the extension of slavery.

_McMaster_, 335-336.]

344. A Divided Country.--This action of the people of California at once brought the question of slavery before the people. Many Southerners were eager to found a slave confederacy apart from the Union. Many abolitionists were eager to found a free republic in the North. Many Northerners, who loved the Union, thought that slavery should be confined to the states where it existed. They thought that slavery should not be permitted in the territories, which belonged to the people of the United States as a whole. They argued that if the territories could be kept free, the people of those territories, when they came to form state const.i.tutions, would forbid slavery as the people of California had just done. They were probably right, and for this very reason the Southerners wished to have slavery in the territories. So strong was the feeling over these points that it seemed as if the Union would split into pieces.

[Sidenote: Taylor's policy.]

[Sidenote: California demands admission.]

345. President Taylor's Policy.--General Taylor was now President.

He was alarmed by the growing excitement. He determined to settle the matter at once before people could get any more excited. So he sent agents to California and to New Mexico to urge the people to demand admission to the Union at once. When Congress met in 1850, he stated that California demanded admission as a free state. The Southerners were angry. For they had thought that California would surely be a slave state.

[Sidenote: Clay's compromise scheme, 1850. _McMaster_, 339-341; _Source-Book_, 279-281.]

346. Clay's Compromise Plan.--Henry Clay now stepped forward to bring about a "union of hearts." His plan was to end all disputes between Northerners and Southerners by having the people of each section give way to the people of the other section. For example, the Southerners were to permit the admission of California as a free state, and to consent to the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. In return, the Northerners were to give way to the Southerners on all other points. They were to allow slavery in the District of Columbia. They were to consent to the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories without any provision for or against slavery. Texas claimed that a part of the proposed Territory of New Mexico belonged to her. So Clay suggested that the United States should pay Texas for this land. Finally Clay proposed that Congress should pa.s.s a severe Fugitive Slave Act. It is easily seen that Clay's plan as a whole was distinctly favorable to the South. Few persons favored the pa.s.sage of the whole scheme. But when votes were taken on each part separately, they all pa.s.sed. In the midst of the excitement over this compromise President Taylor died, and Millard Fillmore, the Vice-President, became President.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MILLARD FILLMORE.]

[Sidenote: Art. IV, sec. 2.]

[Sidenote: Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.]

[Sidenote: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. _McMaster_, 341-343.]

[Sidenote: Results of pa.s.sage of this act. _Higginson_, 281; _Source-Book_, 282-284.]

[Sidenote: The "Underground Railway." _Source-Book_, 260-263.]

347. The Fugitive Slave Act.--The Const.i.tution provides that persons held to service in one state escaping into another state shall be delivered up upon claim of the person to whom such service may be due. Congress, in 1793, had pa.s.sed an act to carry out this provision of the Const.i.tution. But this law had seldom been enforced, because its enforcement had been left to the states, and public opinion in the North was opposed to the return of fugitive slaves. The law of 1850 gave the enforcement of the act to United States officials. The agents of slave owners claimed many persons as fugitives. But few were returned to the South. The important result of these attempts to enforce the law was to strengthen Northern public opinion against slavery. It led to redoubled efforts to help runaway slaves through the Northern states to Canada. A regular system was established. This was called the "Underground Railway." In short, instead of bringing about "a union of hearts," the Compromise of 1850 increased the ill feeling between the people of the two sections of the country.