laws of the state would not protect their lives and property, they would know how to defend themselves; and thus they cowed the bigots.

During the agitation of the "School Question" (1841) Bishop Hughes again, with matchless ability, defended the Catholic side in the Legislature. When this body denied him justice, he influenced the votes of his flock at the polls to such an extent as to convince the politicians that the Catholics were no longer to be trifled with or despised.

It is well to note here that the system of education against which the Catholics protested (1841) was more than insidiously dangerous. Not merely were the textbooks used, replete with sneers and libels against the Church, but the teachers, by their explanations, imparted additional authority to the calumnies.

455. The Annexation of Texas and the Occupation of Oregon Become Party Issues. Texas had applied for admission into the Union during Van Buren's administration, but the President did not favor its annexation. The matter was again urged during Tyler's administration; Calhoun, the slavery advocate, accepted the office of Secretary of State for the express purpose of carrying out his project of adding this new slave territory to the South. The question now became the leading issue in the presidential campaign of the year. There was much opposition in the North to the admission of Texas, partly because it threatened to involve the country in war with Mexico, and partly because it would increase the area of slavery. On these grounds Clay, though in favor of annexation, opposed immediate action.

A treaty (1818) with Great Britain had left the Oregon country for ten years to joint occupancy, and another treaty made by the United States, Great Britain, and Russia had fixed the parallel of 54° 40′ as the boundary line between the Oregon territory and Alaska. Meanwhile about twelve thousand Americans had settled in Oregon, and they naturally demanded a

settlement of the boundary and an end of joint occupancy. Soon this matter also became a party measure.

The platform of the Democratic party now included the annexation of Texas and the re-occupation of Oregon. It claimed that the annexation of Texas, which was slave soil, could be offset by the acquisition of the whole of Oregon, which was free soil; hence, the Democratic campaign cries were: "The

"Fifty

The missionaries were among the first Americans to find their way to the Oregon country. Through the Canadian fur trading posts a number of them, among whom were Fathers Blanchet and Demers, came from Montreal to Oregon and established many missions. Two years later the youthful and

saintly Father De Smet, the famous Jesuit missionary of Florrissant, Missouri, set out from the Missouri River with a large party of Oregon-bound emigrants, and founded (1841) the first of his many missions among the Flathead Indians. Not long after, he brought from Europe to the Oregon missions four priests and six sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. The sisters at once opened a school for girls. So rapid was the progress of the Catholic Church in Oregon that Father Blanchet was soon appointed bishop (1843).

456. New States. Tyler, foreseeing the outcome of the presidential campaign, urged the annexation of Texas. Three days before the expiration of his term a resolution annexing it to the United States as a slave state (twenty-eighth state) passed Congress, and was immediately signed by the President (1845). Florida had been admitted into the Union the same year as the twenty-seventh state, with slavery.

CHAPTER XXVI

JAMES POLK'S ADMINISTRATION

DEMOCRAT-1845-1849

457. Polk and Dallas Are Elected. The nominating conventions of both Whigs and Democrats met in Baltimore, a few weeks apart, The Democrats, after several preliminary votes for three or four prominent candidates, eventually turned to a comparatively unknown man, James K. Polk, of Tennessee. He is termed the first "dark horse" in American politics, because he had not been publicly mentioned before the convention. The Whigs nominated their great leader, Henry Clay, who had twice been defeated. The Whigs had undoubtedly chosen the far more brilliant candidate, but the Democratic platform was more in accordance with the policy of the people at large. It promised not only the immediate annexation of Texas, of which the South was in favor, but also the occupancy of Oregon, which pleased the North. The election of 1844, therefore, resulted in the election of Polk. George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania was elected Vice-president.

James K. Polk (1795-1849) was a native of North Carolina. He was successively lawyer, congressman and governor of his state, but was in no wise an eminent or brilliant man. In private life, his standards of honor were high, but his public career was marred by questionable dealings with Mexico. He was, nevertheless, a man of staunch character, not unlike Jackson, his intimate friend. No sooner had he been inaugurated than he proceeded with much vigor to carry out his party's policy.

458. Polk's Program. Polk was elected mainly to effect the annexation of Texas, but he found this task performed before

he came into office. He at once determined upon four measures, all of which, with a Democratic majority in Congress, he carried out successfully:

(a) the readjustment of the tariff, which was reduced by the enactment of the Walker Tariff, named after its author who was Secretary of the Treasury. By this tariff luxuries were to be taxed from forty to one hundred per cent, and iron, wool, and other ordinary manufactures thirty per cent; besides this, there was an extended free list;

(b) the Independent Treasury was re-established (1846); (c) the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute by a treaty with Great Britain (1846), which provided that the line of 49° (the boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the crest of the Rocky Mountains) be extended through the Oregon country to the Pacific;

(d) the acquisition of California by war with Mexico.

459. Pretexts for War with Mexico-War Declared. A boundary dispute between Texas and Mexico was the pretext for our war with Mexico. When Texas was still claimed by the United States as a part of the Louisiana Purchase, the Rio Grande was considered her southern and western boundary, but when it was a part of one of the states of Mexico, the Nueces River formed its boundary limits. President Polk, siding with the Texans, claimed the country as far west as the Rio Grande, and ordered General Zachary Taylor (April, 1846) to occupy the disputed territory.

The Mexicans crossed the Rio Grande and attacked the Americans. Shortly before this, Mexico had refused to receive our minister. Polk promptly informed Congress, "Mexico has refused to receive our minister, has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and has shed American blood upon American soil." Congress, adopting the assertions of the President without any inquiry into their truth, affirmed (May 13, 1846) that the action of the Republic