of Jefferson. The term Democrat was gradually substituted under the
leadership of Jackson before 1830. Some of the men who participated
in the organization of the later Republican party had themselves been
Republicans in the party of Jefferson. They not only accepted the name
which Jefferson gave to his party, but they adopted the principles which
Jefferson proclaimed on the subject of slavery, free soil, and human
rights in general. This was the final stage in the identification of the
later anti-slavery crusade with the earlier contest for liberty.

CHAPTER VII. THE PASSING OF THE WHIG PARTY

The middle of the last century was marked by many incidents which have
left a permanent impress upon politics in general and upon the slavery
question in particular. Europe was again in the throes of popular
uprisings. New constitutions were adopted in France, Switzerland,
Prussia, and Austria. Reactions in favor of autocracy in Austria and
Germany sent multitudes of lovers of liberty to America. Kossuth, the
Hungarian revolutionist, electrified American audiences by his appeals
on behalf of the downtrodden in Europe. Already the world was growing
smaller. America did not stop at the Pacific but crossed the ocean to
establish permanent political and commercial relations with Japan and
China.

The industries of the country were being reorganized to meet new
conditions created by recent inventions. The electric telegraph was
just coming into use, giving rise to a new era in communication. The
discovery of gold in California in 1848 was followed by competing
projects to construct railroads to the Pacific with Chicago and St.
Louis as the rival eastern terminals. The telegraph, the railway,
and the resulting industrial development proved great nationalizing
influences. They served also to give increased emphasis to the contrast
between the industries of the free and those of the slave States. The
Census of 1850 became an effective anti-slavery argument.

The telegraph also gave new life to the public press. The presidential
campaign of 1848 was the last one in which it was possible to carry on
contradictory arguments in support of the same candidate. If slavery
could not endure the test of untrammeled discussion when there were no
means of rapid intercommunication such as the telegraph supplied, how
could it contend against the revelations of the daily press with the new
type of reporter and interviewer which was now develope