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Part Sixteen: The Last of the Jacksonians
And with this triple post, comes an update. Finally settled in at home for the summer so I should be able to update at least a little more frequently.
Part Sixteen: The Last of the Jacksonians
Purchase of Cuba:
In 1848, Polk set out to complete the final part of his platform, and sent ambassador Washington Irving to discuss a purchase of Cuba by the United States. Irving was authorized to offer anywhere up to one hundred million dollars. The idea was supported by southerneres as Cuba already had slavery and it wouild create some balance to the gains from the Oregon War. Initially Irving's offers were not met with much approval by the Spanish, but when words of yet another revolt on the island, this time led by Narciso Lopez, the Spanish government agreed to sell the island for seventy milliond dollars, and allowing Spain to keep naval vessels in Cuban ports. Cuba was officially transferred from Spain to the United States on January 1, 1849.
Election of 1848:
The road to the 1848 election began with President Polk announcing that he would not be running for a second term. Polk stated that he had accomplished all his goals as President and thus had fulfilled his time in the White House. Since Polk was not in the running, the Democrats nominated Vice President Lewis Cass as their candidate, with Martin van Buren as the Democrat candidate for Vice President. On the Whig side, they nominated two generals from the Mexican-American War. Winfield Scott was picked for President and Zachary Taylor was chosen for Vice President.
The campaign of 1848 was the first one to bring up the issue of salavery. Scott and Taylor managed to remain vague on the issue, and managed to win many voters in the South. However, the Democrats were troubled by van Buren's outspoken platform against slavery. Van Buren's position gave the Democrats an image of a Northern ticket. This lost them many votes in the South, while gaining them little in the Northern states where few people considered slavery a major issue. In the end, the election marked the end of the era of the Jacksonian Democrats, and saw Winfield Scott become the last President running on the Whig Party. Prior to leaving office in March of 1849, Polk's last action as President was the creation of the Department of Interior, which would oversee domestic affairs in the United Staes.