considered. It was a proviso to the $2,000,000 bill asked by the
President to arrange peace with Mexico, and it declared it to be "an
express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from
Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist
therein." August 10 the proviso came up for final passage, but John Davis
of Massachusetts, in order to defeat action on the bill, held the floor
till the session expired. Congress adjourned on that day. Great agitation
prevailed in the North over the defeat of this proviso. The Democrats lost
their majority in the Twenty-ninth Congress, owing to the new tariff and
the predominance of pro-slavery issues in the war. Polk had but 110 votes
against 118 when the new Congress met. Now the new tariff went into effect.
Howe, the American inventor, secured a patent for an improvement in
sewing-machines, which embodied the main features of the machine used at
present; to wit, a grooved needle provided with an eye near its point, a
shuttle operating on the side of the cloth opposite the needle to form a
lockstitch, and an automatic feed. On December 28, Iowa was admitted to the
Union as the twenty-ninth State.

1847

[Sidenote: Santa Anna's advance]

[Sidenote: Buena Vista]

General Winfield Scott reached the harbor of Vera Cruz in January, and
assumed command of all the American forces. He took with him the best
officers and troops on the field of action, and left Taylor with only 5,200
men, most of whom were volunteers. Santa Anna, who had gathered 12,000 men
eager to be led against the Americans, was approaching Saltillo. Leaving
Monterey on January 31, Taylor reached Saltillo on February 2, and passed
on to Aqua Nueva, twenty miles south of Saltillo, where he remained three
weeks. Thence he fell back to a mountain gorge opposite Buena Vista. On
February 22, his troops and those of Santa Anna were within sight of each
other. Under a flag of truce, Santa Anna demanded Taylor's surrender, which
was refused. The famous battleground, taking its name from the estate of
Buena Vista, is a rugged valley from two to five miles wide, between rocky
walls a thousand feet high. The slopes on either side are cut by deep
ravines. Taylor placed his forces in groups on the crests of the bluffs, at
the base of the eastern mountain, and in the southern edge of the plateau.
The Mexican troops attempted to flank his position, but were driven off.
The Mexican ca