Home school of American history; embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year .. . fgood ability, but the inferior of manyof those who preceded him in theexalted office. He was a believer inthe compromise measures of Clay,and performed his duties conscien-tiously and acceptably. Fillmores administration is no-table for the fact that it saw thej)assing away of the foremost lead-ers. Clay, AVebster, and Calhoun,with others of less were succeeded in Congress liv the anti-slavery champions, Wil-
Home school of American history; embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year .. . fgood ability, but the inferior of manyof those who preceded him in theexalted office. He was a believer inthe compromise measures of Clay,and performed his duties conscien-tiously and acceptably. Fillmores administration is no-table for the fact that it saw thej)assing away of the foremost lead-ers. Clay, AVebster, and Calhoun,with others of less were succeeded in Congress liv the anti-slavery champions, Wil- i- -, ? Ham H. Seward, of New York; Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts; andSalmon P. Chase, of Ohio. From the South, too, came able men, in JeffersonDavis, of Mississippi; John Y. Mason, of Louisiana; and others. The giantshad departed and their mantles fell upon shoulders that were not always ableto wear them as fittingly as their predecessors. The slavery agitation produced its natural effect in driving many of theSonthern Whigs into the Democratic party, while a few Northern Democrat-sunited with the Whigs, who, however, were so disrupted that the organization. 272 TAYLOR, FILLMORE, PIERCE, AND BUCHANAN. crumbled to pieces after tlie presidential election of 1852, and, for a time, noeffective opposition to the Democratic i)arty seemed possible. THE NEED OF A TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILROAD. The population of the United States in 1840 was 23,191,876. Generalprosperity prevailed, but all felt the urgent need of a railroad connecting Mis-souri and California. The Paciiic coast had become a leading part of tlie Unionand its importance was growing every year. But the building of such a rail-way, through thousands of miles of wilderness, across lofty mountains and largerivers, was an undertaking so gigantic and expensive as to be beyond the reachof private parties, without congressional assistance. Still all felt that the roadmust be built, and, in 1853, Congress ordered surveys to be m
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