VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION (1837 to 1841).

The successor of Jackson was Martin Van Buren, of New York, also a Democrat. Early in his administration (1837) the country was overwhelmed by a disastrous and general mercantile failure, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. This was the direct consequence of land speculations and long credits. All the banks suspended specie payment, and Mississippi and Florida repudiated the debts of their commonwealths. An independent United States treasury, with sub-treasury offices in New York and other ports of collection, was organized in 1839. Treasury notes to the amount of $10,000,000 were authorized to be issued. These measures, however, did not succeed in restoring health to trade; and as the disasters of the country were attributed to the action of the Democratic party, the result in the next presidential election was the success of the Whigs by a majority much larger than was expected by any one.

HARRISON AND TYLER'S ADMINISTRATIONS (1841 to 1845). General Harrison, the "hero of the Thames and Tippecanoe, lived but a month after his inauguration, and Mr.Tyler, the Vicepresident, became acting President. The sub-treasury bill was repealed, and a general bankrupt act declared, but as Mr. Tyler vetoed two separate bills chartering a U. S. bank, he was denounced in the strongest terms by the party which had elected him, and his entire cabinet resigned except Daniel Webster, Secretary of State. Nevertheless, the finances of the country rapidly improved. In 1842 a treaty was negotiated with Great Britain, relating to the N. W. boundary of the United States, or the Oregon line. Late in this administration, Texas, a province of Mexico, settled chiefly by emigrants from the United States, which had declared its independence, applied for admission into the Union. was strongly resisted by the Whig party, but early in 1845 Congress authorized the President to negotiate with Texas terms of annexation.

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION (1845 to 1849).

This

The contest of 1844 was between Henry Clay, the Whig candidate, and James K. Polk, who was elected by the Democrats. The action of Congress with reference to Texas necessarily led to a rupture with Mexico, and that her troops might not move upon that state in an unprepared condition, General Taylor was ordered to lead his forces to the Rio Grande, and a naval squaddron was dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico to support him.

Hostilities began

THE MEXICAN WAR.

by an attack on a body of United States dragoons, April 27, 1846, on the east bank of the Rio Grande, above Matamoras. On the 8th and 9th of May, General Taylor

fought the successful battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, which drove the Mexicans beyond the river. When the news of these engagements reached Washington, the President was authorized to call out 50,000 volunteers, and a warlike enthusiasm was displayed in all the states. The army was not ready for action until the fall of 1846. It was then divided into three columns, the main body under General Taylor to march upon Monterey, while a second division under General Wool was to attack Chihuahua, and the third, under General Kearney, was to direct its course to Santa Fe. These objects were promptly accomplished, Monterey surrendering on the 24th Sept., Santa Fe shortly previous, and Chihuahua on the 28th of Feb., 1847. Meanwhile Captain J. C. Fremont, of the typographical engineers, with several other officers, had possessed himself of San Francisco, and gained the entire control of Upper California.

As in Feb., 1847, General Taylor's forces had become reduced to less than 5,000 men by detachments sent elsewhere, Mexican General Santa Anna considered this a favorable moment to attack him, and on the 23d of that month assaulted his works on the heights of Buena Vista, three miles south of Saltillo, with an army of 20,000 men. In spite of this numerical superiority he was driven in disorder from the field, with a loss of more than 1,500 men. A few days after this event, General Scott at the head of 12,000 men landed near Vera Cruz (March 9, 1847), and began to invest the city. It yielded after a vigorous resistance on the 29th, and shortly afterward the troops were put in motion for the Mexican capital. Santa Anna resisted them on the heights of Cerro Gordo, but was routed with heavy loss (April 18). The cities of Jalapa and Puebla fell, and on the 18th of August the entire army, numbering 9,000 men reached a position ten miles from the city of Mexico. Here they were opposed by over 30,000 Mexicans under Santa Anna. With desperate bravery they carried by assault the batteries on the heights of Contreras, the fortified post of Cherubusco, and the fortress of Chapultapec, which had been deemed impregnable. Terrified by these losses, Santa Anna and the civil officers of the government fled from the city by night, the army dissolved, and on the 14th of September the American flag floated over the national palace of Mexico. This ended the war and on February 22, 1848, a treaty of peace was concluded between the two powers. The United States obtained New Mexico and California, and agreed to pay to and for Mexico about $18,

000,000.

TAYLOR AND FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATIONS (1849 to 1853).

The next presidential canvass resulted in the election of General Zachary Taylor, the Whig nominee, but of moderate views. The central political question of the day was whether slavery

should be carried into the new territories. This was strenuously opposed by the majority in the north, and as earnestly advocated by the south. The "compromise" measures, finally passed by Congress, which excluded slavery from California, left it optional with the people of Utah and New Mexico, and allowed owners to capture fugitive slaves in free states, were equally disliked by each party. Secession conventions were held in South Carolina and Mississippi, and armed resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law advocated in the north.

Pending this discussion, President Taylor died, July 9, 1850, and the Vice-president, Millard Fillmore, was installed as acting President.

The discovery of the rich gold deposits of California at this time attracted general attention throughout the world, and led to a vast emigration to that territory.

PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION (1853 to 1857).

In 1852 Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, Democratic candidate for President, was elected over General Winfield Scott, the candidate of the Whig party. The Missouri Compromise was abrogated in 1854. Violent collisions occurred in Kansas between the Free-Soil and Pro-Slavery parties. In March of same year a commercial treaty was effected with Japan. The discussions which sought to give new efficacy to the Fugitive Slave Law, and which culminated on March 6th, 1857, in the famous Dred Scott decision, delivered by Chief Justice Taney, greatly increased party excitement, and intensified the struggle between the friends and opponents of slavery. Under such circumstances the campaign of 1856 took place, the Democratic candidate being James Buchanan and the Free-Soil candidate, General John C. Fremont. The former was elected.

BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION (1857 to 1861).

Party lines became more closely drawn upon the right of extending slavery into the territories, and the capture of fugitives on free soil. In Kansas and Nebraska bloody collisions between the exponents of free and slave ideas were not infrequent. Mr. Buchanan had great trouble with his territorial governors, especially of Kansas. August 24, 1857, began the great commercial panic, which, by December 25, of same year, resulted in 5,123 failures, with an aggregate loss of $291,757,000. The Utah expedition was the only army movement of importance daring 1857-58. October 17, 1859, occured the affair at Harper's Ferry, which resulted in the hanging of John Brown. The presidential canvass of 1860 found the Democratic party divided, one faction claiming that slavery existed by constitutional right in all the territories, the other that the question of its existence depended on the will of

the people thereof. Of the former, John C. Breckenridge became the candidate for the presidency; of the latter, Stephen A. Douglas, while Abraham Lincoln became the candidate of the new Republican party, and John Bell of the conservative or compromise elements of both parties. Mr. Lincoln was chosen (November 6, 1860) by a large majority. His election was the signal for a movement on the part of the southern states in favor of a separate government. On November 7, on receipt of thenews of the election, the "Palmetto Flag" was hoisted on the shipping in Charleston Harbor. November 10, the Legislature of South Carolina introduced a bill to raise and equip 10,000 men, and one ordering a convention to consider the question of secession. Her Senators both resigned. November 18, the Georgia Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 to arm the state. Major Anderson was sent to Fort Moultrie to relieve Colonel Gardner. December 1, Florida Legislature ordered a secession convention. December 3, Congress met, and Mr. Buchanan, in his message, announced the doctrine that while no state had the right to secede, the Federal government was powerless to prevent secession. December 10, Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, and Senator Clay, of Alabama, resigned.

December 13, the President refused to reinforce the forts in Charleston Harbor. December 14, General Cass, Secretary of State, resigned. December 20, South Carolina seceded. December 22, the Crittenden compromise voted down in the Senate. December 24, South Carolina members of Congress resigned. December 26, Major Anderson took possession of Fort Sumter. The President refused to see the South Carolina commissioners. December 28, South Carolina seized the government property in Charleston, including Castle Pickney and Fort Moultrie. December 29, John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigned. January 2, 1861, Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, seized Fort Macon, and Georgia troops seized Forts Pulaski and Jackson and the United States Arsenal at Savannah. January 4, Governor Moore, of Alabama, seized Fort Morgan and the United States Arsenal at Mobile. January 8, Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned. January 9, steamer Star of the West fired on by Confederates in Charleston Harbor. Mississippi seceded. January 10, Florida seceded. The state seized Fort McRae. January 11, Alabama seceded. January 13, Florida troops seized Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Barancas. January 18, Virginia appropriated $1,000,000 for state defense. January 19, Georgia seceded. January 21, Alabama members of Congress resigned

January 23, Georgia members of Congress resigned. January 24, Confederates seized United States Arsenal at Augusta. January 26, Louisiana seceded. January 30, North Carolina Legislature submitted the secession question to the people, and on February 1, the Texas Convention passed an ordinance of secession