UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



3US5 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



British Possessions 



THE UNITED STATES IN 1804 



The Louisiana Purchase pushed the American boundary westward half way to the Pacific Ocean. 

 Spain still retained Florida and the mountain section. 



in the majority in Congress, and they kept 

 Tyler practically helpless. The Senate vetoed 

 a treaty, negotiated by the administration, for 

 the future annexation of Texas. The Texas 

 question now became of paramount impor- 

 tance; if Texas were not annexed, the time 

 iniL'ht come when the free states could control 

 the Senate as they now controlled the House of 

 Representatives. This possibility was far from 

 remote, as the growth of the Liberty party 

 showed ; in 1840 James G. Biraey, its candidate, 

 polled only 7,000 votes, whereas, in the election 

 wlu<li now ensued, he polled nearly 70,000, a 

 sufficient number drawn from the Whigs to 

 cause the election of James K. Polk over Henry 

 Clay. 



Polk was elected on a platform which de- 

 manded the "rcanncxation of Texas" and the 

 "reoccupation of Oregon" to the line of 64 40' 

 N. The campaign cry was "fifty-four forty or 

 ." hut a treaty was signed on June 15, 1846, 

 made both these conditions impossible 

 (see OREGON, subtitle G<> ' and History). 



375 



Meanwhile, the Texas question was settled by 

 annexation and the admission of Texas as a 

 state. 



The Mexican War, which followed, was 

 caused by Polk's order to General Zachary Tay- 

 lor to take possession of territory claimed by 

 both the United States and Mexico. The war 

 result. <1 in tiic addition of considerable terri- 

 tory to the United States (see page 3764) and 

 in the increased importance of the slavery 

 question (see WILMOT PROVISO). The Demo- 

 cratic party split into two groups, the Southern 

 element favoring squatter e>- . and the 



Northern element joining with the Liberty and 

 the :mti.-l.i\rry Whigs to form the Free-Soil 

 party. The disorders in California, which fol- 

 lowed the discovery' of the gold in 1848, and the 

 great rush of tin tiers" was another 



complication in iho situation which confronted 

 the administration. Congress was so hopelessly 

 divided into factions that Pblk took it upon 

 himself to authorise the Califoraians to organ- 

 ize a state government. Polk, however, was 



