nd has
continued uninterruptedly ever since. One peculiar feature marked the
Harrison campaign of 1840. The convention which nominated Martin Van
Buren met in Baltimore in May of that year. On the same day, the young
Whigs of the country held a mass-meeting in Baltimore, at which fully
twenty thousand persons were present. They came from every part of the
Union, Massachusetts sending fully a thousand. When the adjournment took
place, it was to meet again in Washington at the inauguration of
Harrison. The railway was then coming into general use, and this greatly
favored the assembling of mass-conventions.

[Illustration: FREMONT, THE GREAT PATHFINDER, ADDRESSING THE INDIANS AT
FORT LARAMIE.]

CHAPTER XIII.

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK, 1845-1849.

James K. Polk--_The War with Mexico_--The First Conflict--Battle of
Resaca de la Palma--Vigorous Action of the United States
Government--General Scott's Plan of Campaign--Capture of Monterey--An
Armistice--Capture of Saltillo--Of Victoria--Of Tampico--General
Kearny's Capture of Santa Fe--Conquest of California--Wonderful March of
Colonel Doniphan--Battle of Buena Vista--General Scott's March Toward
the City of Mexico--Capture of Vera Cruz--American Victory at Cerro
Gordo--Five American Victories in One Day--Santa Anna--Conquest of
Mexico Completed--Terms of the Treaty of Peace--The New Territory
Gained--The Slavery Dispute--The Wilmot Proviso--"Fifty-Four Forty or
Fight"--Adjustment of the Oregon Boundary--Admission of Iowa and
Wisconsin--The Smithsonian Institute--Discovery of Gold in
California--The Mormons--The Presidential Election of 1848.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Illustration: JAMES K. POLK.

(1795-1849.) One term, 1845-1849.]

James K. Polk, eleventh President, was born in Mecklenburg County, North
Carolina, November 2, 1795, and died June 15, 1849. His father removed
to Tennessee when the son was quite young, and he therefore became
identified with that State. He studied law, was a leading politician,
and was elected to Congress in 1825, serving in that body for fourteen
years. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1839, his next
advancement being to the presidency of the United States.

The President made George Bancroft, the distinguished historian, his
secretary of the navy. It was he who laid the foundation of the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was opened October 10, 1845. It
is under the immediate care and supervision of the navy depart