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chosen to be a candidate for that office, by a national convention held at Philadelphia in June, 1848. His opponent was General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, now [1856] United States senator from that State.' General Taylor was elected by a large majority, with Millard Fillmore, of New York, as Vice

President.

CHAPTER XIII.

TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION. [1849-1850.]

THE 4th of March, 1849, was Sunday, and the inauguration of Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, did not take place until the

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next day. Again people had gathered at the Federal city from all parts of the Union, and the day being pleasant, though cloudy, a vast concourse were

1 Note 2, page 424.

Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia, in November, 1784. He went with his father to Ker tucky the following year, and his childhood was passed near the present city of Louisville. He entered the United States army in 1807. He was a distinguished subaltern during the war of 1812-15, and attained the rank of major. He was of great service in the Florida War [page ; and when hostilities with Mexico appeared probable, he was sent in that direction, and, as w have seen, displayed great skill and bravery. He died in July, 1850, having performed the dis of President for only sixteen months.

assembled in front of the eastern portico of the capitol, long before the appointed hour for the interesting ceremonies. In a clear and distinct voice, he pronounced his inaugural address, and then took the oath of office administered by Chief Justice Taney. On the following day he nominated his cabinet officers,' and the appointments were immediately confirmed by the Senate. With the heart of a true patriot and honest man, Taylor entered upon his responsible duties with a sincere desire to serve his country as faithfully in the cabinet, as he had done in the field. He had the sympathies of a large majority of the people with him, and his inauguration was the promise of great happiness and prosperity for the country.

When President Taylor entered upon the duties of his office, thousands of adventurers were flocking to California from all parts of the Union, and elements of a new and powerful State were rapidly gathering there. Statesmen and politicians perceived the importance of the new Territory, and soon the question whether slavery should have a legal existence there, became an absorbing topic in Congress and among the people. The inhabitants of California. decided the question for themselves. In August, 1849, General Riley, the military Governor of the Territory, established a sort of judiciary by proclamation, with Peter H. Burnet as Chief Justice. Before that time there was no statute law in California. By proclamation, also, Governor Riley summoned a convention of delegates to meet at Monterey, to form a State Constitution. Before it convened, the inhabitants in convention at San Francisco, voted against slavery; and the Constitution, prepared and adopted at Monterey, on the first of September, 1849, excluded slavery from the Territory, forever. Thus came into political form the crude elements of a State, the birth and maturity of which seems like a dream. All had been accomplished within twenty months from the time when gold was discovered near Sutter's Mill.

Under the Constitution, Edward Gilbert and G. II. Wright, were elected delegates for California in the Federal House of Representatives; and the State Legislature, at its first session, elected John Charles Fremont and William M. Gwinn, United States senators. When the latter went to Washington, they carried their Constitution with them, and presented a petition [February, 1850] asking for the admission of that Territory into the Union as a free and independent State. The article of the Constitution which excluded slavery, became a cause for violent debates in Congress, and of bitter sectional feeling between the people of the North and the South. The Union, so strong in the hearts of the people, was shaken to its center, and prophets of evil foolishly

He appointed John M. Clayton, Secretary of State; William M. Meredith, Secretary of the Treasury; George W. Crawford, Secretary of War; William B. Preston, Secretary of the Navy; Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Interior (a new office recently established, in which some of the duties before performed by the State and Treasury departments are attended to); Jacob Collamer, Postmaster-General; and Reverdy Johnson, Attorney-General.

Page 481 to page 486, inclusive.

3 Page 488.

4 At this time our government was perplexed by the claims of Texas to portions of the Territory of New Mexico, recently acquired [page 497], and serious difficulty was apprehended. Early in 1850, the inhabitants of New Mexico petitioned Congress for a civil government, and the Mormons of the Utah region also petitioned for the organization of the country they had recently settled, into a Territory of the United States.

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predicted its speedy dissolution. As in 1832,' there were menaces of secession from the Union, by Southern representatives, and never before did civil war appear so inevitable. Happily for the country, some of the ablest statesmen and patriots the Republic had ever gloried in, were members of the national Legislature, at that time, and with consummate skill they directed and controlled the storm. In the midst of the tumult and alarm in Congress, and throughout the land, Henry Clay again' appeared as the potent peace-maker

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between the Hotspurs of the North and South; and on the 25th of January, 1850, he offered, in the Senate a plan of compromise which met the difficulty. Eleven days afterward [February 5, 1850] he spoke nobly in defense of his plan, denounced secession as treason, and implored his countrymen to make

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1 Page 381.

Page 464. Henry Clay was born in Hanover county, Virginia, in April, 1777. His early edu cation was defective, and he arose to greatness by the force of his own genius. His extraordinary intellectual powers began to develop at an early age, and at nineteen he commenced the study of the law. When admitted to practice, at the age of twenty, he went over the mountains to the fertile valleys of Kentucky, and there laid the foundations of his greatness as a lawyer and orator. The latter quality was first fully developed when a convention was called to revise the Constitution of Kentucky. Then he worked manfully and unceasingly to procure the election of delegates who would favor the emancipation of the slaves. He became a member of the Kentucky Legislature in 1803, and there he took a front rank. He was chosen to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate in 1806, and in 1811 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, and became its Speaker. From that time until his death, he was continually in public life. He long held a front rank among American statesmen, and died, while a member of the United States Senate, in the city of Washington, at the close of June, 1852.

every sacrifice but honor, in support of the Union. Mr. Clay's plan was warmly seconded by Daniel Webster;' and other senators approving of compromise, submitted propositions. Finally, on motion of Senator Foote of Mississippi, a committee of thirteen was appointed to consider the various plans and report a bill. The committee consisted of six northern and six southern senators, and these chose the thirteenth. The Senate appointed Mr. Clay chairman of the committee, and on the 8th of May following, he reported a bill. It was discussed for four months, and on the 9th of September, each measure included in the bill having been thoroughly considered separately, the famous Compromise Act of 1850, having passed both Houses of Congress, became a law. Because several measures, distinct in their objects, were embodied in the act, it is sometimes known as the "Omnibus Bill." The most important stipulations of the act were, 1st. That California should be admitted into the Union as a State, with its anti-slavery Constitution, and its territorial extent from Oregon to the Mexican possessions; 2d. That the vast country east of California, containing the Mormon settlements near the Great Salt Lake, should be erected into a Territory called Utah, without mention of slavery; 3d. That New Mexico should be erected into a Territory, within satisfactory boundaries, and without any stipulations respecting slavery, and that ten millions of dollars should be paid to Texas from the Federal treasury, in purchase of her claims; 4th. That the slave-trade in the District of Columbia should be abolished; 5th. A law providing for the arrest in the northern or free States, and return to their masters, of all slaves who should escape from bondage. The last measure of the Compromise Act produced, and continues to produce, much dissatisfaction at the North; and the execution, evasion, and violation of the law, in several instances, have led to serious disturbances and much bitter sectional feeling.'

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While the great Compromise question was under discussion, the nation was called to lament the loss of its Chief Magistrate. President Taylor was seized with a malady, similar in its effects to cholera, which terminated his earthly career on the 9th of July, 1850. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, he was immediately succeeded in office by

MILLARD FILLMORE,"

who, on the 10th of July, took the oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." President Taylor's cabinet resigned; but the new President, with great delicacy, declined to consider their resignations

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Page 529.

Article II., section 1, of the Federal Constitution.

1 Page 503. Page 503. 5 Millard Fillmore was born in January, 1800, in Cayuga county, New York. His early education was limited, and at a suitable age he was apprenticed to a wool-carder. At the age of nineteen, his talent attracted the attention of Judge Wood, of Cayuga county, and he took the humble apprentice under his charge, to study the science of law. He became eminent in his profession. He was elected to the Assembly of his native State in 1829, and in 1832, was chosen to represent his district in Congress. He was re-elected in 1837, and was continued in office several years. In 1844, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of Governor of his native State, and in 1848 he was elected Vice-President of the United States. The death of Taylor gave him the presidency, and he conducted public affairs with dignity and skill. In the summer of 1856, he was nominated for the office of President of the United States, by the "American" party, with A. J. Donelson for Vice-President. See Note 1, page 479.

until after the obsequies of the deceased President had been performed. At his request, they remained in office until the 15th of the month, when President Fillmore appointed new heads of the departments.'

The administration of President Taylor had been brief, but it was distin

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guished by events which will have an important bearing upon the future destiny of our Republic. One of these was an invasion of Cuba by a force under General Lopez, a native of that island, which was organized and officered in the United States, in violation of existing neutrality laws. For a long time the native Cubans had been restive under the rigorous rule of Spanish GovernorGenerals, and a desire for independence burned in the hearts of many of the best men there. Among these was Lopez, who, in forming this invading expedition, counted largely upon this feeling for co-operation. He landed at Car

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1 Daniel Webster, Secretary of State; Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury; Charles M. Conrad, Secretary of War; Alexander H. H. Stuart, Secretary of the Interior; William A. Graham, Secretary of the Navy; John J. Crittenden, Attorney-General; Nathan K. Hall, Postmaster-General. Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in January, 1782, and was educated chiefly at the Phillips Academy at Andover, and Dartmouth College at Hanover. He studied law in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1805. He commenced practice in his native State, and soon became eminent. He first appeared in public life in 1813, when he took his seat as a member of the Federal House of Representatives. At that session his speeches were remarkable, and a southern member remarked, "The North has not his equal, nor the South his superior." Although in public life a greater portion of the time from that period until his death, yet he always had an extensive and lucrative law practice. He stood foremost as a constitutional lawyer; and for many years he was peerless as a statesman. He died at Marshfield, Massachusetts, in October, 1852, at the age of almost seventy-one years. 2 Page 40.

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