of the "reformation." Politicians like Calhoun, who watched and counseled these peaceful schisms, urged that the Union must in due time likewise break into pieces; but the great economic forces of the country were as yet too strong; common markets, interlocking transportation systems, and the extraordinary prosperity which followed the Polk regime defeated the wishes of those who thought that two confederations within the area of the United States would be better than one. Thus, when Polk took up the forward program which had been outlined at Baltimore, and which was to antiquate the "American System" over which Clay and Jackson and their respective groups had fought so bitterly since 1824, the South was rapidly crystallizing into a solid section with definite ideas and purposes. The plantation owners were in full command; the older and small-farmer element was falling into line behind their pro-slavery leaders; the social and religious life had become orthodox and stratified; and the clergy, who now preached acceptably to great masses of people, were, like those of New England, in full sympathy with the dominant economic interests of their time. The immediate future of the South was fairly certain, and Southern leaders assumed a militant tone indicative of the wishes of their people. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Justin H. Smith's _Annexation of Texas_ (1911) and G. P. Garrison's _Westward Extension_ (1906), in _American Nation_ series, give full and trustworthy accounts of the Texas movement; while Lyon G. Tyler's _Times of the Tylers_ (1884); C. H. Ambler's _Life of Thomas Ritchie_ (1913); J. W. DuBose's _Life of William L. Yancey_ (1892); and J. F. H. Claiborne's _Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman_ (1860), supply abundant material showing the temper and purposes of the different parts of the South in 1840. U. B. Phillips's _The Plantation and Frontier_ (1909) is an excellent source-book for the period, and the Adams _Memoir_, Clay _Correspondence_ (Colton), Calhoun _Correspondence_ (Jameson), and Mrs. A. M. Coleman's _The Life of John J. Crittenden_ (1871) are most useful for these years. The debates of Congress for the period of 1833 to 1873 are found in the _Congressional Globe_ and _Appendices_. For the philosophy of slavery and the Southern social system of which slavery was the basis read _The Pro-Slavery Argument_ (1852), containing Thomas R. Dew's and James H. Hammond's writings on the subject. CHAPTER VIII WAR AND CONQUEST