=404. The Campaign of 1852.=—The next excitement was caused by the Presidential campaign. The Democratic convention held at Baltimore,—the most convenient convention city in those days,—after much balloting, set aside the chief candidates, Cass of Michigan, Douglas of Illinois, Buchanan of Pennsylvania, and Marcy of New York, and chose General Franklin Pierce[182] of New Hampshire, a man who hitherto had attracted little attention. He had served in the Mexican War, and was upright in character; but he possessed a mind little capable of guiding the country in the great crisis that was approaching. His friendship with Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders foretold his alliance with the advocates of slavery; but as people thought the slavery question settled by the Compromise of 1850, this did not interfere with his chances at the polls. William R. King of Alabama was nominated for Vice President, and the Democrats went into the campaign with great hopes of success. On the other hand, the Whigs were divided and depressed. After a hard struggle, Fillmore—who had made many enemies by signing the Fugitive Slave Law—and Daniel Webster had to yield the nomination to General Winfield Scott, who was far from popular. Shortly afterward, the deaths of Clay and Webster (who was bitterly disappointed and hostile to Scott) robbed the party of its real leaders; important Southern Whigs held aloof from Scott; the Free Soil party put up candidates of its own; and the hero of the march to Mexico was badly beaten by a younger and inferior man. Pierce had two hundred and fifty-four electoral votes to Scott’s forty-two. The ambiguous attitude of the Whigs toward the slavery question had hopelessly split the party asunder. Scott’s personal unpopularity also partly accounts for the overwhelming character of the defeat suffered by the Whigs; and doubtless there was a general desire to give the Compromise a fair chance under the Democrats, who heartily favored it. * * * * * REFERENCES.—See end of Chapter XXVI. ----- [176] Meanwhile, New Mexico attracted little attention, except so far as part of her territory was claimed by Texas. This claim, in the support of which much sectional spirit was shown, but in which President Taylor displayed great firmness and devotion to the Union, was finally compromised. In December, 1853, by what is known as the Gadsden Purchase, about 45,000 square miles were acquired from Mexico, and the southern boundary of the United States was rounded off.