n 1836 he presented
petition after petition, praying Congress to forbid slavery in the
District of Columbia. Southerners, like Calhoun, thought these petitions
were insulting to Southern slaveholders. Congress could not prevent the
antislavery people petitioning. They could prevent the petitions being
read when presented. This they did by passing "gag-resolutions." Adams
protested against these resolutions as an infringement on the rights of
his constituents. But the resolutions were passed. Petitions now came
pouring into Congress. Adams even presented one from some negro slaves.

[Sidenote: Growth of antislavery feeling in the North.]

328. Change in Northern Sentiment.--All these happenings brought
about a great change of sentiment in the North. Many people, who cared
little about negro slaves, cared a great deal about the freedom of the
press and the right of petition. Many of these did not sympathize with
the abolitionists, but they wished that some limit might be set to the
extension of slavery. At the same time the Southerners were uniting to
resist all attempts to interfere with slavery. They were even determined
to add new slave territory to the United States.

CHAPTER 32

THE MEXICAN WAR

[Sidenote: The Mexican Republic, 1821.]

[Sidenote: Texas secedes from Mexico, 1836, _McMaster_, 320-322; _Hero
Tales_, 173-181.]

329. The Republic of Texas.--The Mexicans won their independence
from Spain in 1821 and founded the Mexican Republic. Soon immigrants
from the United States settled in the northeastern part of the new
republic. This region was called Texas. The Mexican government gave
these settlers large tracts of land, and for a time everything went on
happily. Then war broke out between the Mexicans and the Texans. Led by
Samuel Houston, a settler from Tennessee, the Texans won the battle of
San Jacinto and captured General Santa Anna, the president of the
Mexican Republic. The Texans then established the Republic of Texas
(1836) and asked to be admitted to the Union as one of the
United States.

[Sidenote: Question of the admission of Texas to the Union.]

330. The Southerners and Texas.--The application of Texas for
admission to the Union came as a pleasant surprise to many Southerners.
As a part of the Mexican Republic Texas had been free soil. But Texas
was well suited to the needs of the cotton plant. If it were admitted to
the Union, it would surely be a slave state or, perhaps, several s