Chapter 12 Section 1

The Oregon Country

Rivalry in the Northwest

• Four Claims– In the early 1800s, four countries laid claim to

the area known as the Oregon Country– The countries were the U.S., Great Britain,

Spain and Russia

Adams-Onis Treaty

• Americans wanted control of the Oregon Country in order to gain access to the Pacific Ocean

• Part of the Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain in 1819 limited Spain’s claim to the northern border of present-day California

• In 1824 Russia surrendered its claim• In 1818 the U.S. and Britain agreed on

joint occupation.

Mountain Men

• The first Americans to reach the Oregon Country were fur trappers who spent most of their time in the Rocky Mountains

• The men trapped throughout spring and early summer. In the late summer they gathered for a rendezvous (meeting) in order to exchange goods, compete in contests, and share stories

• During their explorations, the South Pass ( a wide break throughout the Rockies) was discovered. It became part of the Oregon Trail

Settling Oregon

• The Whitman Mission– Among the earlier settlers to the Oregon

Country were missionaries such as Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife who built a mission in present day WA.

– New settlers in the area unknowingly brought measles. An epidemic killed many Native American children. As a result, the Native Americans attacked the mission and killed the settlers.

The Oregon Trail

• In the early 1840s, “Oregon Fever” swept through the Mississippi Valley

• Pioneers traveled westward to the Oregon Country using the trail.

The Division of Oregon

• Manifest Destiny– Between 1840 and a845, the number of Americans in

the Oregon Country grew much faster than the British population

– Many Americans believed that it was the mission of the U.S. to expand to the pacific Ocean

– In the 1840s, NY newspaper editor John O’Sullivan put the idea of a national mission into specific words. He declared that it was America's “Manifest Destiny” to extend its boundaries all the way to the Pacific Ocean

“Fifty-four Forty or Fight”

• American settlers in Oregon wanted sole claim to the area. They wanted the U.S. claim to go all the way north to 54 40’N

• The 54 40’N line became a major issue in the 1844 presidential election. James K. Polk, who supported the border line, defeated Henry Clay

Reaching a Settlement

• Britain would not accept the line of 54 40’N because it would have lost its entire claim to the Oregon Country

• In 1846, the U.S. and Britain finally agreed on the line of 49’N