CHAPTER XXVII

THE TAYLOR-FILLMORE ADMINISTRATION

WHIG-1849-1853

469. Taylor and Fillmore Are Elected. At the election of 1848, Zachary Taylor of Louisiana, the Whig nominee, was elected as the twelfth President by a majority of thirty-six votes over Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Democratic candidate. Millard Fillmore of New York was chosen Vice-president,

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was a native of Virginia. He fought in the War of 1812, in the Black Hawk War, and gained great fame in the Mexican War. He was, on the whole, more of a soldier than a politician. In fact, he took little interest in politics and had not even voted for forty years. He was a plain, straightforward man, and when nominated for the presidency, he declared that, if elected, he would be the President of no party or faction, but of the entire nation. Though a slaveholder, he did not desire to see the system extended to the territories where the people opposed it. He was much loved by his soldiers, who called him "Old Rough and Ready."

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) was a native of New York. He practiced law and later became a Congressman from his state. He supported Clay's compromise measures and won for himself strong opposition in the North by favoring the Fugitive Slave Law.

470. Able Statesmen in Congress. The thirty-first Congress was noted for two things: in the Senate for the last time were heard the familiar voices of the great triumvirate-Webster, Clay, and Calhoun-all of whom had for forty years figured in every important political movement. Ready to supplant these

famous leaders were a number of young men of a new generation. William H. Seward of New York, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, now gained prominence in political life. In fact, never before had there been such a group of able statesmen in the Senate.

At this time, there were fifteen free and fifteen slave states. There was no other slave territory to enter the Union, and if California were admitted as a free state, the northerners would have a majority in the Senate; as it was, they already controlled the House of Representatives.

471. Debates on the Extension of Slavery in the Territories. When General Taylor was inaugurated President, the North and the South were already engaged in passionate disputes over the slavery problem; from the founding of the government to the Civil War, the year 1850 was the darkest and most threatening. The question of slavery, especially its extension to the great Southwest, was like a wedge, forcing the North and the South farther and farther apart. The points in dispute between the two sections were chiefly the following: (a) the North wanted California admitted as a free-soil state;

the South would not consent, unless the Missouri Compromise line (the parallel of 36 degrees 30 minutes) was extended to the Pacific.

(b) the northerners insisted that slavery be abolished in the District of Columbia; the southerners complained that the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 was not enforced in the free states;

(c) the North demanded that there be no more slave states and no more slave territory;

(d) Texas claimed the part of New Mexico lying east of the Rio Grande. This met with strenuous opposition from the North.

472. The Compromise of 1850. Clay at this perilous time once more came forward as peacemaker, and proposed the

measure known as the "Compromise of 1850," or the "Omnibus Bill," because of the many points it contained. Its chief provisions were:

(a) that California be admitted as a free state to favor the North;

(b) that New Mexico and Utah be organized as territories without provision as to slavery-to appease the South; (c) that Texas be paid ten million dollars to give to the Federal government her claim on New Mexico-to appease the

South;

(d) that the slave trade (not slavery) be abolished in the Dis

trict of Columbia-to please the North.

During a period of seven months the Omnibus Bill was the one great topic for debate in Congress and for discussion in the press and by the people of the entire country. As might be expected, the compromise measures occasioned scenes of intense excitement in Congress. The debates that followed in the Senate were brilliant.

Clay, now a venerable man of seventy-three, physically weak, himself a slaveholder, made an earnest appeal for peace and compromise; his plea was for "keeping the Union together in one family, in harmony and concord," that the "gaping wounds of the country might be healed." For two days he swayed the audience, which filled the Senate chamber to overflowing.

John C. Calhoun, the great champion of states' rights, was so feeble that his speech had to be read for him by a friend. Wrapped in a cloak, his long white hair hanging down the sides of his pale, emaciated face, the great leader of the South sat in his chair motionless, statue-like, and, with the hand of death upon him, listened to his own words of appeal and warning to the North in behalf of his beloved South. He demanded an equal division of territory between the two sections; more effective laws for the return of fugitive slaves, and the complete and lasting cessation of slavery agitation; and closed

with the words, "if you of the North will not do this, say so, and let our Southern states agree to separate and part in peace. Though Calhoun wished to preserve the Union, he looked upon it as a union of a northern section and a southern section, rather than a union of states.

Webster, in his "Seventh of March Speech," which he himself regarded as the most important of his life, expressed his sincere love for the Union, and denounced both the northern and the southern agitators. He placed the chief blame, however, on the anti-slavery men, and they were greatly disappointed to find their famous champion seemingly deserting their cause. Webster felt that the great duty of the hour was to save the Union, not to oppose slavery. The Union could be best preserved, he thought, by Clay's compromise bill. Though Webster's influence helped not only to secure the compromise, but also to postpone the awful war for a decade of years, he never again regained his former political prestige. (Read Whittier's "Ichabod.")

William H. Seward of New York and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio now took the place of Webster as leaders of the antislavery party. They both opposed the compromise, and Seward startled the slavery advocates by declaring that "a higher law than the Constitution, the law of God and of reason, made the territories free." Seward's "higher law" doctrine was wrongly interpreted by his opponents as meaning that "the law of God and of reason" should always be superior to the Constitution. He, however, meant to say that the law of God and of reason, as well as the Constitution, condemned slavery.

Jefferson Davis and Stephen A. Douglas took the place of the dying Calhoun in behalf of the South, and were, like Seward and Chase, much more outspoken than the older statesman had been.

473. Taylor's Death. The debate went on day after day. Separate provisions of Clay's compromise were passed; but

while the question was still being considered, Taylor suddenly died, after being in office only sixteen months. Vice-president Fillmore, an advocate of the compromise, now became President, and signed the last of the bills, the Fugitive Slave Law (September, 1850).

474. California Becomes a State The Pony Express. The "pony express" carried to California the news that she was admitted to the Union as a free state (1850). The pony express established a means of communication between the East and the Pacific coast. Stations some twenty miles apart were erected all the way from the Missouri River to the Sacramento, a distance of about two thousand miles. A messenger mounted on a fast pony set out across the plains to the first station, whence he took another horse and again sped away toward the next station. At every third station another rider took the mail. Eight days were required to traverse the distance and frequently riders perished in the wintry blizzards or were killed by the Indians. The cost of sending a letter by the pony express was five dollars, which charge, however, was soon reduced one-half. Some years later, stage coaches were used along similar routes.

475. The Fugitive Slave Law. The last of the measures included in the Omnibus Bill having been adopted, a wave of relief swept over the country. The people, with Clay, hoped that harmony and good will would once more prevail, as after the Missouri Compromise. But, alas, these hopes were not to be realized; the Fugitive Slave Law stood in the way. This law:

(a) gave United States officers power to turn over a colored man to anyone who claimed the negro as an escaped slave, even if the slave in question had been free for a number of years;

(b) denied the negro the right of trial by jury;

(c) demanded that all citizens, if called upon by officers, should aid in securing the return of a fugitive slave;