Oregon

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Oregon

• 54 40 or Fight

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Oregon Territory

• Along with territorial disputes with Spain and
  Mexico over the Southwest, the fate of the Oregon
  Territory was one of the major diplomatic issues
  of the first half of the 19th century. The
  territory became a focus of those who believed
  that it was the United States obligation and
  right to extend its rule and liberties across the
  North American continent

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• The Oregon Territory stretched from the Pacific
  coast to the Rocky Mountains, encompassing the
  area including present-day Oregon, Washington,
  and most of British Columbia. Originally Spain,
  Great Britain, Russia, and the United States
  claimed the territory

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Claims

• The U.S. claim was based on the explorations of
  Lewis and Clark and on the establishment of
  trading posts set up by John Jacob Astors
  Pacific Fur Company, such as Astoria at the mouth
  of the Columbia River. Great Britain based its
  claim, in part, on James Cooks exploration of
  the Columbia River.

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• As early as 1818 British and American
  Commissioners had fixed the border between the
  United States and Canada at the 49th parallel
  from the Minnesota Territory, west to the Rocky
  Mountains. The United States had proposed to
  extend the border along the same parallel to the
  Pacific Ocean, but Great Britain insisted that
  the northern border be drawn west to the Columbia
  River and then follow that river to the ocean

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• The matter remained until the Webster-Ashburton
  Treaty of 1842 partially delineated the
  northeastern U.S.-Canada border, but left the
  border of the Oregon Territory unsettled.

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• By 1843, increased American immigration on the
  Oregon Trail to the Territory made the border
  issue a burning one in Congress, where jingoists
  raised the slogan of 54 degrees 40 minutes or
  fight.

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• President James Polk, a supporter of Manifest
  Destiny with an eye also on the Mexican Southwest
  and California, was eager to settle the boundary
  of the Oregon Territory and proposed a settlement
  on the 49 degree line to Great Britain