ts, American
judges, customhouses, revenue laws; in a word, there must be a complete
change from the Mexican way of governing to the American way. To do this
ought not to have been a hard thing; but Mexico had abolished slavery in
all this territory in 1827. It was free soil, and such the
anti-extension-of-slavery people of the North insisted on keeping it.
The proslavery people of the South, on the other hand, insisted that it
should be open to slavery, and that any slaveholder should be allowed to
emigrate to the new territory with his slaves and not have them set
free. The political question of the time thus became, Shall, or shall
not, slavery exist in New Mexico and California?

%373. The Free-soil Party.%--As a President to succeed Polk was to be
elected in 1848, the two great parties did their best to keep the
troublesome question of slavery out of politics. When the Whig
convention met, it positively refused to make a platform, and nominated
General Zachary Taylor of Louisiana, and Millard Fillmore of New York,
without a statement of party principles.

When the Democratic convention met, it made a long platform, but said
nothing about slavery in the territories, and nominated Lewis Cass of
Michigan and William O. Butler.

This refusal of the two parties to take a stand on the question of the
hour so displeased many Whigs and Wilmot-Proviso Democrats that they
held a convention at Buffalo, where the old Liberty party joined them,
and together they formed the "Free-soil party." They nominated Martin
Van Buren and Charles F. Adams, and in their platform made four
important declarations:

1. That Congress has no more power to make a slave, than to make a king.

2. That there must be "free soil for a free people."

3. "No more slave states, no more slave territories."

4. That we will inscribe on our banners "Free soil, free speech, free
labor, and free men."

They also asked for cheaper postage, and for free grants of land to
actual settlers.

The Whigs won the election.

%374. Zachary Taylor, Twelfth President.%--Taylor and Fillmore were
inaugurated on March 5,1849, because the 4th came on Sunday. Their
election and the triumph of the Whigs now brought on a crisis in the
question of slavery extension.

[Illustration: %Zachary Taylor%]

%375. State of Feeling in the South.%--Southern men, both Whigs and
Democrats, were convinced that an attempt would be made by Northern and
Western men opposed to the