Fortunately, Webster, Tyler's Secretary of State, was liked and respected by English statesmen, and upon the reorganization of the Cabinet he retained his office until the pend ing negotiations were concluded. In 1842 Lord Ashburton was sent out from England to nego tiate a treaty, with particular reference to ad justing the boundary between Canada and the Northeastern States. The boundary question was settled by a compromise, though Great Britain gave up the larger and more valuable share of the disputed territory. Two other points of im portance were settled by this treaty. One was the agreement of the two governments looking to the suppression of the slave trade. The other was the provision for mutual surrender of crim inals. The treaty was concluded on August 9, 1842, and was proclaimed on November 10th. See NORTHEAST BOUNDARY DISPUTE; WEBSTER AsHBURTON TREATY.
In 1843 the Government arranged a treaty with the new Republic of Texas (q.v.), providing for the future annexation of that country to the United States. The Senate rejected this treaty by a vote of 35 to 16, seven Democrats voting with the Whigs for rejection. The problem of the future relations with Texas became still more critical in national politics, and its immediate importance was increased by the strong desire for annexation among the Southern leaders. To maintain the qtatus quo, the annexation. of Texas became an actual necessity to the interests of the South; for should the free States ultimately ac quire a dominant power in the Senate, as they had already clone in the House, the time might come when the existence of slavery would be im periled. The possibility of this was kept con tinually before the Southern mind by the increas ing activity in the North of the Liberty Party (q.v.), which in 1843 held a national convention at Buffalo and there put forth a series of resolu tions denouncing slavery, and calling on the free States to pass penal lows to prevent the re turn of fugitive slaves, and which again nomi nated James G. Birney for the Presidency. The
Whigs at their convention held at Baltimore in May, 1844. nominated Ilemy Clay, of Kentucky, with Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New York, as the candidate for Vice-President. The Demo cratic convention, in the same month, nominated James N. Polk, of Tennessee, and George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, and adopted a platform calling for the `reannexation of Texas' and the `reoccupation of Oregon.' The position of Clay as to the annexation of Texas was so equivocal as to arouse the suspicion of many Northerners, while the position of the Democrats on the Oregon question helped them in the Northwestern States. The elect-ion resulted in the choice of Polk and Dallas after a very close contest in which the Democrats succeeded only by the fact that several thousand votes in New York were cast for the anti-slavery ticket.
At the next session of Congress a joint resolu tion for the annexation of Texas was passed early in 1845 by both Houses and approved on March 1st by the President. It renewed the features of the Missouri Compromise as regards the Texan territory north of the compromise line, and as to the territory south of that line the question of slavery was left to the decision of the inhabi tants of the States to be formed out of Texas.
Tyler's administration was marked by the Worr Rebellion' in Rhode island (see DORR, THOMAS W.; RHODE ISLAND) , by anti-rent dis turbances in New York (see ANTI-RENTISM), and by the construction under the direction of S. F. B. Morse (q.v.) of the first successful long distance telegraph line (1844).