soil. In the South there was a corresponding fusion of the two
parties in support of the sectional issue.

General concern prevailed as to the attitude of the
Administration. Taylor's election had been effected by both a
Southern and a Northern split in the Democratic party. Northern
Democrats had voted for the Free-soil candidate because of the
alleged pro-slavery tendencies of their own party. Southern
Democrats voted for Taylor because of their distrust of Lewis
Cass, their own candidate. Some of these met in convention and
formally nominated Taylor, and Taylor accepted their nomination
with thanks. Northern anti-slavery Whigs had a difficult task to
keep their members in line. There is evidence that Taylor held
the traditional Southern view that the anti-slavery North was
disposed to encroach upon the rights of the South. Meeting fewer
Northern Whig supporters, he became convinced that the more
active spirit of encroachment was in the pro-slavery South.
California needed a state Government, and the President took the
most direct method to supply that need. As the inhabitants were
unanimous in their desire to exclude slavery, their wish should
be respected. New Mexico was in a similar situation. As slavery
was already excluded from the territory under Mexican law, and as
there was no wish on the part of the inhabitants to introduce
slavery, the President recognized existing facts and made no
change. When Southern leaders projected a scheme to enlarge the
boundaries of Texas so as to extend slavery over a large part of
New Mexico, President Taylor set a guard of United States troops
to maintain the integrity of the Territory. When a deputation of
Southern Whigs endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose,
threatening a dissolution of the Union and intimating that army