the Missouri Compromise which calmed "the troubled waters and (restored) peace and good will throughout the States of A similar adjustment, he went on, would unthe Union. doubtedly produce the same happy results, for it had been successfully applied to Texas when that State was admitted.
"The Territory of Oregon lies far north of 36° 30′, the Missouri and Texas compromise line. Its southern boundary is the parallel of 42°, leaving the intermediate distance to be 330 geographical miles. And it is because the provisions of this bill are not inconsistent with the laws of the Missouri compromise, if extended from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean, that I have not felt at liberty to withhold my sanction. Had it embraced territories south of that compromise, the question presented for my consideration would have been of a far different character, and my action upon it must have corresponded with my convictions * *
"Holding as a sacred trust the Executive authority for the whole Union, and bound to guard the rights of all, I should be constrained by a sense of duty to withhold my official sanction from any measure which would conflict with these important objects."
This blunt statement of the President's stand upon the whole issue the House refused to allow to go before the country as a public document and in spite of the efforts of some Representatives it was not officially printed until the following December, after the election. It was circulated, however, in the newspapers, since Polk, with a little difficulty secured a copy from the Clerk of the House for that purpose.
Oregon, having played a major role in international relations, now completed its first appearance as a leading figure in the slavery drama, a part which it took again when the After being the subject of question of statehood came up. discussion for many years it was furnished, as far as the law went, with the ordinary form of organic law, excepting that its governor had no veto power and slavery could not legally exist within its borders so long as the territorial status continued.
