Notwithstanding all the vows of fealty to the Compromise of 1850, the pro-slavery leaders of the South were not contented with the aspect of affairs.
The result of the Mexican war had deeply disappointed them.

Its most striking political effect thus far was the addition to the Union of a large and imposing free State on the Pacific,--an empire indeed in prospective wealth and power.

In the battle between free institutions and slave institutions, California represented a strong flank movement threatening destruction to slavery.

Her vote in the Senate gave a majority of two to the free States.

The equality of the sections had been steadily maintained in the Senate since the admission of Louisiana in 1812.