Course 2, Volume 1A. American Foreign Policy in Growth and Action Page: 10
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AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN GROWTH AND ACTION
However, compromise was not popular. The
Democratic party platform of 1844 made this
clear.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM, BALTI-
MORE, MAY 29, 1844: . . . Resolved: . . . That
our title to the Whole of the Territory of Oregon is
clear and unquestionable; that no portion of the
same ought to be ceded to England or any other
power, and that the re-occupation of Oregon and the
re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable
period are great American measures, which this Con-
vention recommends....
This extravagant resolution caught the public
imagination and the slogan of "fifty-
"540 40' four forty or fight" became a vote-
or fight! " catching battle cry along with "All
of Oregon or none," and "The re-
annexation of Texas and the re-occupation of
Oregon." In the spirit of manifest destiny John
C. Calhoun, Secretary of State, wrote to Richard
Pakenham, British Minister in Washington:
CALHOUN TO PAKENHAM, WASHINGTON,
SEPTEMBER 3, 1844: Our claims to the portion of
the territory drained by the Columbia River may be
divided into those we have in our own proper right
and those we have derived from France and Spain.
We ground the former, as against Great Britain, on
priority of discovery and priority of exploration and
settlement. . . . To these we have added the claims
of France and Spain. The former, we obtained by the
treaty of Louisiana, ratified in 1803; and the latter
by the treaty of Florida, ratified in 1819. . . . Now,
our population may be safely estimated at not less
than nineteen millions, of which at least eight millions
inhabit the States and territories in the valley of the
Mississippi. . . . To this great increase of population
. . . may be added the increased facility of reaching
the Oregon territory. . . . These joint causes have
had the effect of turning the current of our popula-
tion towards the territory. . . . There can, then, be
no doubt now that the operation of the same causes
which impelled our population westward from the
shores of the Atlantic. . . to the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, will impel them onward . . . into the valley
of the Columbia, and that the whole region drained
by it is destined to be peopled by us.
The election of 1844 was close, but the Demo-
crats won with Polk. The victory of the expansion-
ists alarmed the British and they proposed
arbitration of the Oregon question. Secretary Cal-
houn declined the British offer, January 21, 1845.
His successor, James Buchanan, proposed to
Pakenham, on July 12, 1845, that the two coun-
tries divide the territory on the 49th parallel.
This time the British minister flatly rejected theproposal without so much as referring it to Lon-
don. President Polk, who had gone back on his
campaign slogan of 54 40', withdrew the offer
completely. In his annual message to Congress
the President reviewed the history of the Oregon
dispute.
MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT POLK TO CON-
GRESS, WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 2, 1845:
. . . All attempts at compromise having failed, it
becomes the duty of Congress to consider what meas-
ures it may be proper to adopt for the security and
protection of our citizens now inhabiting or who
may thereafter inhabit Oregon, and for the mainte-
nance of our just title to that Territory. In adopting
measures for this purpose care should be taken that
nothing be done to violate the stipulations of the
convention of 1827, which is still in force. . . .
Under that convention a year's notice is required to
be given by either party to the other before the joint
occupancy shall terminate and before either can
rightfully assert or exercise exclusive jurisdiction over
any portion of the territory. . . . At the end of the
year's notice, should Congress think it proper to
make provision for giving that notice, we shall have
reached a period when the national rights in Oregon
must either be abandoned or firmly maintained. That
they can not now be abandoned without a sacrifice
of both national honor and interest is too clear to
admit of doubt....
After a tedious debate, Congress passed a resolu-
tion empowering the President to terminate the
joint occupancy of Oregon, and Polk signed the
paper April 27, 1846.
Numerous other events, as well as the action of
the Congress, moved Britain to offer a compro-
mise based on the 490 line. Polk referred the
question to the Senate "for previous advice-a
most unusual procedure. [Thus] . . . the oppro-
brium for accepting or rejecting the compromise
would fall squarely upon that body, and not upon
the Administration."e The Senate advised ac-
ceptance and the treaty was signed.
OREGON TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN,
WASHINGTON, JUNE 15, 1846: . . . From the
point on the forty-ninth parallel . . . where the
boundary laid down in existing treaties . . . termi-
nates, the line of boundary . . . shall be continued
westward along the said forty-ninth parallel . . . to
the middle of the channel which separates the conti-
nent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly
through the middle of the said channel, and of
Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean; provided, how-
eyer, that the navigation . of the whole of the
said channel and Straits south of the forty-ninth
parallel . . . remain free and open to both parties.
Bailey, op. cit., p. 243. Bailey's italics.10
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Air University (U.S.). Extension Course Institute. Course 2, Volume 1A. American Foreign Policy in Growth and Action, book, April 1959; Alabama. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1077937/m1/24/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.