Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/140

106 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS parallel and Columbia river, and acknowledged that parallel as the northern boundary. As the president had subscribed to the platform of the Ealtimore convention, he threw upon the senate the responsibility of deciding whether the claim of the United States to the whole of Oregon should be insisted upon, or the compromise proposed by her majesty s government accepted. The senate, by a vote of 41 to 14, decided in favor of the latter alternative, and on June 15, 1846, the treaty was signed. Two other important questions were acted upon at the first session of the 39th congress, the tariff and internal improvements. The former had been a leading issue in the presidential contest of 1844. The act of 1842 had violated the principles of the compromise bill of 1833, and the opinions of the two candidates for the presidency, on this issue, were supposed to be well defined previous to the termination of their congressional career. Mr. Polk was committed to the policy of a tariff for revenue, and Mr. Clay, when the compromise act was under discussion, had pledged the party favorable to pro tection to a reduction of the imposts to a revenue standard. Previous to his nomination, Mr. Clay made a speech at Raleigh, N. C., in which he advo cated discriminating duties for the protection of domestic industry. This was followed by his let ter in September, 1844, in which he gave in his