he Genius of the
Nation--A Patriotic Report--State Builders in the Northwest--Illinois
and the Union--Immigration--British Jealousy--An English Farmer's
Opinion of America--Commerce and Manufactures--England Tries to Prevent
Skilled Artisans From Emigrating--The Beginning of Protection--The
British Turn on their Friends the Algerians--General Jackson Invades
Florida--Spain Sells Florida to the United States, 246

CHAPTER XXX.

The Missouri Compromise--Erie Canal Opened--Political Parties and Great
National Issues--President Jackson Crushes the United States Bank--South
Carolina Pronounces the Tariff Law Void--Jackson's Energetic Action--A
Compromise--Territory Reserved for the Indians--The Seminole War--
Osceola's Vengeance--His Capture and Death--The Black Hawk War--Abraham
Lincoln a Volunteer--Texas War for Independence--Massacre of the Alamo
--Mexican Defeat at San Jacinto--The Mexican President a Captive--Texas
Admitted to the Union--Oregon--American Statesmen Blinded by the Hudson
Bay Company--Marcus Whitman's Ride--Oregon Saved to the Union--The "Dorr
War," 253

CHAPTER XXXI.

War With Mexico--General Zachary Taylor Defeats the Mexicans--Buena
Vista--Mexicans Four to One--"A Little More Grape, Captain Bragg!"--
Glorious American Victory--General Scott's Splendid Campaign--A
Series of Victories--Cerro Gordo--Contreras--Churubusco--Molino del
Rey--Chapultepec--Stars and Stripes Float in the City of Mexico--
Generous Treatment of the Vanquished--Peace--Cession of Vast Territory
to the United States--The Gadsden Purchase, 264

CHAPTER XXXII.

The Union in 1850--Comparative Population of Cities and Rural Districts
--Agriculture the General Occupation--Commercial and Industrial
Development--Growth of New York and Chicago--The Southern States--
Importance of the Cotton Crop--Why the South Was Sensitive to
Anti-Slavery Agitation--Manufactures--Religion and Education--The Cloud
on the Horizon, 272

THE SLAVERY CONFLICT.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Aggressiveness of Slavery--The Cotton States and Border States--The
Fugitive Slave Law--Nullified in the North--Negroes Imported from
Africa--The Struggle in Kansas--John Brown--Abraham Lincoln Plead