The President then had his own way, especially since our troops were in possession of the desired territory. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) 'not only established the Rio Grande instead of the Nueces as a boundary, but also gave us New Mexico and Upper California.

This imperial domain cost the United States but eighteen million dollars. Mexico received fifteen million dollars, and the rest was paid to American citizens holding claims against Mexico. A dispute, however, arose over the boundary line of the new territory running from the Rio Grande to the Gila River. But the United States satisfied Mexico by buying a strip of land since known as the Gadsden Purchase (1853). (See map above.)

395. The Campaign of 1848 and the Free Soil Party. The defeat of the Wilmot Proviso did not put an end to the agitation over slavery. The old parties had both antislavery and pro-slavery men in them, and in their national nominating conventions they voted down all references

1 Constitution, Article II., Sec. 2.

to slavery. They went further. The Whigs, whose majority was in the North, nominated for President a Southern man and a slaveholder, General Zachary Taylor; while the Democrats, whose majority was in the South, nominated a Northern man and a non-slaveholder, Senator Lewis Cass.

Anti-slavery men declared that the old parties were afraid of the slavery question, and that a new party ought to be formed to oppose the extension of slavery into the territories. Amid great enthusiasm such a party was formed at Buffalo (1848) and named the "Free Soil" party. Many Northern Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats, together with the Liberty party men, united in this convention. It nominated Martin Van Buren for President and Charles Francis Adams for Vice-President. The platform asserted the following principles: (1) That history shows "it was once the settled policy of the nation to discourage and not encourage slavery"; (2) that "we propose no interference by Congress with slavery within the limits of any state"; (3) that Congress should prohibit the extension of slavery into all free territory; (4) that "there must be no more compromises with slavery"; (5) that "we inscribe on our own banner: Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men."

The Whigs won the election and once more we had a soldier President.

Taylor, the Whig slaveholder, received strong support in the South where the Democrats were usually strongest; while Cass, the Democrat and non-slaveholder, did well in the North where the Whigs were usually strongest. Taylor carried New York because several thousand Democrats, called "Barnburners," voted for Van Buren instead of Cass. This election showed that even the two old parties were beginning to break up on the slavery question.

396. Disputing Over California. The election of 1848 did not settle the question of slavery in the territories, and neither could Congress settle it in the next two years. Some wanted to exclude slavery from the new territory, others to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, while still others proposed to leave the question to the people of the territories. This last plan was favored by many slaveholders, but to their astonishment, President Taylor had a plan of his own. He proposed to admit California directly as a state without her first becoming a territory. California was already knocking for admission with a free constitution in her hand. How did it come about that while Congress was disputing, California decided the question of slavery for herself?

397. The Discovery of Gold. Early in 1848 a mechanic digging a mill-race along the American River, about one hundred miles northeast of San Francisco, suddenly saw yellow particles in the sand. Gathering specimens, he carried them to the owner of the mill, a Mr. Sutter, who decided that they were gold. As the news spread, great excitement arose and the "gold fever" raged. Everybody wanted to dig gold. The old slow ways of earning a living in California were given up. Men found no attraction in lumbering, milling, herding, clerking, or farming. Even the soldiers deserted their posts of duty. Vessels coming into California ports lost their crews before they could unload their cargoes. Within four months four thousand people were on the Sacramento, living in rude huts or tents, and digging gold with all sorts of instruments from a knife to a pick.

398. The "Forty-niners." As the news of the discovery of gold spread over the country the rush to the gold fields was such as America had never seen.

Many crossed the mountains, some went around Cape Horn, while others reached California by way of Panama. By the fall of 1849 California had a hardy population of

about one hundred thousand who needed an orderly government as badly as

they wanted gold. The slave states, so deeply interested in California's fate, had

sent but few emigrants, and a constitution prohibiting slavery was adopted by an overwhelming majority.

399. Henry Clay as Peacemaker Again. The South was disappointed over California, A CALIFORNIA MINING CAMP OF '49 and, under the lead of Calhoun, her Congressmen sent an address to the Southern people calling on them to unite in maintaining their rights. Southern leaders now began to assert that Congress had no power to interfere with slavery in any of the territories, and some threatened secession.

The Northern people meanwhile were daily growing more and more opposed to slavery. Some demanded the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. One legislature after another declared that Congress had the right to prohibit slavery in the territories, and extreme abolitionists even demanded that the North escape blame for slavery by dissolving the Union.

Henry Clay had retired from the Senate, an aged and broken man, to seek rest at Ashland, his plantation in Kentucky. He had said farewell to public life. But when the mutterings of the political storm reached

Kentucky, her legislature gave its unanimous vote for his return to the Senate. He resolved to give his last days to healing the nation's wounds. Clay proposed (January, 1850): (1) That California be admitted into the Union as a free state; (2) that the territories of Utah and New Mexico be organized without reference to slavery; (3) that the slave trade be abolished in the District of Columbia; (4) that a new and more stringent law for the return of runaway slaves be passed; (5) that the dispute between Texas and New Mexico be settled by paying Texas to give up her claim to portions of New Mexico.

400. Great Debates in the Senate (1850); Clay and Calhoun. Never before had there been such an assembly of ability and oratory in Congress. Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were all there, with Thomas H. Benton and

JEFFERSON DAVIS IN THE COMPROMISE DEBATES IN CONGRESS

Jefferson Davis from the South, and Stephen A. Douglas, William H. Seward, and Salmon P. Chase from the North. On February 5th Henry Clay arose to address a Senate filled to overflowing with visitors, some of whom

1 Constitution, Article IV., Sec. 2, ¶ 3.