CHAPTER the admission of Kansas. A Congressional committee ap- PAGES His address. The Cabinet. The Dred Scott decision. effect upon sectional sentiment. The factions in Kansas. Governor Shannon resigns. Atchison raids Ossawatomie. Lane moves against Lecompton. Harvey's raid on Slough Creek pro-slavery camp. Geary appointed governor. He tries to secure peace. Efforts at judiciary reform. His compromise with the free State governor. The governor and the Terri- torial legislature at odds. The governor resigns. Walker the new appointee. Free State party convention. The Lecomp- ton convention. Free State men win the fall election. The governor demands submission of the Lecompton constitution to the people. The president favors the Lecompton plan. Walker resigns governorship. Financial panic. Lecompton constitution defeated. The president recommends admission of Kansas as a slave State. The debates thereon. The Senate accepts the Lecompton constitution. The House favors its sub- mission. A land bribe offered to Kansas. Bill passed enabling Kansas to enter the Union under the Lecompton constitution. The Territory rejects it. Walker's filibustering expedition to Central America. The Mormons. Their organization and migrations. Settle at Salt Lake. Establish their government. The "State of Deseret. Brigham Young appointed Terri- torial governor. Rebellion. Growth of social and religious associations. The Smithsonian Institute. Leaders in litera- ture and science. In theology. The Paulist Order. Later Arctic expeditions. Wilkes's Antarctic expedition. Immi- CHAPTER courtship with Douglas. His opponent's advantages. Lin- APPENDIX I. . Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850. APPENDIX II Treaty with Mexico, December 30, 1853. PAGES THE GROWTH OF THE NATION 1837 TO 1860 From the beginning of Van Buren's administration to the close of that of Buchanan SIKES KEENER CHAPTER I ADMINISTRATION OF VAN BUREN And THE election of Martin Van Buren to the presidency in November, 1836, was in no sense epochal, as it inaugurated no new policy and was the precursor of no reforms. yet the election of the eighth president was a transitional event in the history of the country. So closely is his administration linked with that of his predecessor, Andrew Jackson, that the particulars, which otherwise would have been more dwelt upon in estimates of it, and might have been regarded as worthy of marking Van Buren's presidency as a distinct point in the path of national progress, have attached to them but incidental importance. It would have been a misfortune to any man to succeed such a strong personality as Jackson, and to have entered upon the presidency under the shadow of such vigorous policies as he had inaugurated. Van Buren was the legatee of Jackson in matters of policy, but, although he assumed the cloak of the people's prophet, he did not with it inherit a double portion of his spirit. He was handicapped both by circumstances and his personal limitations. Van Buren was the first president who had not been related to the earlier period of national construction. He had been born too late to be a factor in the events prior or related to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and he had not, like his predecessor, been identified with military events; he had contributed nothing either to the formation or to the defence of the Union. Also, in |