He was only forty-eight, and was the youngest
President who had been elected so far.
He was the son of a soldier who had fought in the Mexican War. But
by profession he was a lawyer and not a soldier.
During the administration of Pierce another territory was added
to the United States. This was a strip of land which now forms the
south of New Mexico and Arizona. It was bought from Mexico in 1854
and, as James Gadsden arranged the treaty with the President of
Mexico, it was called the Gadsden Purchase. With this purchase the
territory of the United States as we know it today was completed.
Only seventy years had passed since the Peace of Paris. But in
these seventy years the country had made mighty strides and had
been doubled and trebled. Instead of being merely a strip of land
east of the Mississippi it now stretched from ocean to ocean.
The chief interest in this administration was still the slavery
question. It had not been settled as some people thought it had
been. But it slept, at least, until suddenly a senator names Douglas
awoke it again by bringing in a bill to do away with the Missouri
Compromise Line.
There was still a great deal of territory of the Louisiana Purchase
waiting to be carved into states. Now said Douglas, "why make all
this fuss about slavery or no slavery every time a new state wants
to be admitted? Do away with this Missouri Compromise, and when there
are enough people in a territory to allow of its being admitted as
a state, let these people themselves decide whether they wish it
to be a free state or a slave state.
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