1846]

Mexican War

423

vided that the United States should pay fifteen million dollars direct to Mexico, and some three millions more to American citizens who held claims against Mexico. That republic, on its part, relinquished to the United States all territory north of the Rio Grande and the Gila rivers; the cession comprised Texas, in the widest sense of the word, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts

of Colorado and Wyoming. During Polk's administration, also, the boundary of the United States on the northwest was established substantially as it is to-day.

1818-46.

United

301. The Oregon Treaty, 1846.-That portion of America Oregon lying west of the water parting of the Mississippi and the question, Pacific coast systems and north of the forty-second parallel Schouler's was called Oregon. Its northern limit had been defined in 1824 and 1825, by treaties between Russia on the one part, and the United States and Great Britain on the other, as the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude (p. 359). The owner

States, IV,

504-513.

Title of the
United
States.

Title of
Great
Britain.

ship of this vast region had remained disputed between the
United States and Great Britain; since 1818, it had been
occupied jointly by the citizens and subjects of the two
powers. The British occupation had taken the form of fur
trading; that of the United States was actual settlement in
the fertile valleys accessible through the passes of the Cor-
dilleras. The title of the United States was extremely
vague. It was composed of many elements: (1) the dis-
covery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray in the Boston
ship Columbia; (2) the assignment under the Florida treaty
of whatever rights the Spaniards might have gained by dis-
covery and exploration; (3) the exploration of Lewis and
Clark; and (4) actual settlement. Many other points
were advanced, but these were the principal ones.
It was
not argued that any one of them gave a good title; but
it was argued that, taken all together, they constituted a
better title than that of any other nation. To this the
British negotiators opposed similar shadowy arguments;
for instance, they maintained (1) that Drake had sailed
along the coast before any Spaniard; (2) that the Spanish
rights amounted to little in view of an agreement as to this
coast in 1790, known as the Nootka treaty; (3) that an
English navigator had made a more thorough exploration
than Gray had undertaken, although it had, in fact, been
made later, and had been based on information furnished
by the American; and (4) that the British fur-trading
companies had practically occupied this region.
claims were so vague that compromise was inevitable.
In 1844, however, the politicians took the matter up as
a means of propitiating the North as to Texas: the cries
of "All Oregon or none," "Fifty-four forty, or fight,"
were raised. For a moment it seemed as if the United
States would go to war with Great Britain and Mexico at
the same time, but more peaceful counsels prevailed. For
some years the United States had been willing to continue
the forty-ninth parallel the boundary between the Lake
of the Woods and the Rockies — westward to the Pacific

1846]

The Oregon Treaty

425

1846, map p

Ocean. This line would have given the southern end of Vancouver Island to the United States, and with it the control of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, affording the best Oregon route from the Pacific to the great bays and sounds between treaty, Vancouver Island and the continent; but Great Britain would not consent. It was now agreed (1846) that the boundary between the two powers should be the forty-ninth parallel, as far as Vancouver Sound, and should thence follow the middle of the channel to the ocean.

302. The Walker Tariff, 1846. The triumphant election of Polk, and the consequent return of the Democrats to power, was naturally signalized by a reversal of the financial policy of the Whigs, and a return to that of the preceding decade. This change was brought about by the re-enactment of the Independent Treasury Act, and by the passage of a new tariff law. The former was substantially a repetition of the act of 1840 (p. 409): subtreasuries were to be re-established at the more important commercial centers, and provision was made for the safe and economical handling of the public moneys. The system has been modified from time to time to suit the growing needs of the country, but its essential features are still law.

The new tariff act was based upon the recommendations of Robert J. Walker, Polk's Secretary of the Treasury, and is always called the Walker Tariff. Under it, imported articles were arranged in several schedules, — A, B, C, and D, and so on to I, which included articles specifically placed on the "free list." Each schedule had its own rate of duty : schedule A, 100% ; B, 40% ; C, 30%; D, 25%, etc. Articles not included in these schedules were to pay 40% ad valorem. All the duties were calculated on a valuation made in foreign ports, instead of so much on the valuation of the commodity in America. This arrangement resulted in gross frauds, and inflicted great hardships on honest importers. The system was, as Webster declared, "not free trade, but fraudulent trade."

The country was very prosperous during the years that the

435.

Tariff of

1846.
Schouler's

United
States, IV,

514-517;
Taussig's
State Papers,
214-251.

Prosperity, 1846-57.

Influence of inventions.

Walker Tariff was in operation. Many writers friendly to free trade have maintained that this prosperity was due to the operation of the Walker Tariff, which, in their opinion, was practically a free-trade measure. Other students point out that it is absurd to regard it as a free-trade measure, since the reduction on the rates of 1842 was only about one sixth. They argue, moreover, that there is no historical

evidence to show that
this comparatively
slight reduction had
any considerable in-
fluence upon the com-
mercial and industrial
development of the
country. They con-
tend that the remark-
able prosperity of

the country between
1846 and 1857 was
due to its rapid
settlement, which was
made possible by
many
things over
which tariff legis-
lation had little or
no influence. For
instance, there was a

great increase in foreign immigration in these years (p. 457) and the railroad system of the country was greatly extended. Inventions, also, marvelously increased the efficiency of human labor and superintendence. For example, the successful introduction of the electric telegraph, owing to Morse's invention (1837), made it possible to McCormick operate great railway systems; and farming on a large scale was immeasurably promoted by the introduction of agricultural machinery, as the McCormick reaper (invented 1831). The most important manufacture of the United

reaper.

1846]

The Walker Tariff

427

States until recent times was the manufacture of farms, and this was more dependent on the development of railroad transportation and farm machinery than on the movement of tariff duties within the narrow limits affected by the Walker Tariff.

Sutter's mill

California, 1848.

Schouler's

303. California, 1848-50.- On the 24th of January, Discovery 1848, ten days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of gold in was signed, and fully three months before it was ratified, James W. Marshall discovered several bits of gold in the earth taken from Colonel Sutter's mill race in Coloma, California. Further investigation confirmed the discovery, and before long the existence of gold in that region was known throughout the world. From all parts of the United States

United

States, V,

132.