Dodge of Wisconsin and Dodge of Iowa, father and son, represented the Democracy of the remotest outposts in the North-West, and, most striking of all, William M.Gwin and John C.Fremont, men of Southern birth and pro-slavery training, stood at the door of the Senate with the constitution of California in their hands to demand her admission to the Union as a free State.

At no time before or since in the history of the Senate has its membership been so illustrious, its weight of character and ability so great.

The period marked the meeting and dividing line between two generations of statesmen.
The eminent men who had succeeded the leaders of the Revolutionary era were passing away, but the most brilliant of their number were still lingering, unabated in natural force, resplendent in personal fame.

Their successors in public responsibility, if not their equals in public regard and confidence, were already upon the stage preparing for, and destined to act in, the bloodiest and most memorable of civil struggles.
Mr.Clay had re-entered the Senate with no cordial feelings toward President Taylor's administration.

The events of the preceding year were too fresh, the wounds too deep, to be readily forgotten or quickly healed.