Oregon Compromise
The Oregon Compromise , also known as the Oregon Treaty (official long form: Treaty with Great Britain, in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains ), was a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States in 1846 that defined the border in the west of the American continent. He ended years of border disputes ( Oregon Boundary Dispute ).
prehistory
In the London Treaty of 1818 , a joint use of the region, which was referred to as Oregon Country by the Americans and the "Columbia District" (hence British Columbia ) by the British , was agreed. At the time of the conclusion of the contract, however, the United States had no interests of its own in the area, so that the British de facto used Oregon alone. The trappers and fur traders of the British Hudson's Bay Company were the only whites, the fur trade its only use. With the expansion of American fur trade interests over the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains from 1824 by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the start of the American Indian mission by Marcus Whitman from 1836 in Walla Walla , this situation became less and less acceptable for both sides. James K. Polk , Democratic candidate and later President of the United States , campaigned for the presidential election in 1844 with the maximum area claim of 54 ° 40 'as the northern border of the Oregon Country . This was later often attributed to him under the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" ("Fifty-four-forty or war") as an election slogan , which was however only coined in the Congress debates following the election. In return, the British demanded that the border line be placed at the 42nd degree of latitude , which was then the border with Mexico. Both sides were concerned with access to the Pacific Ocean.
After the start of the Mexican-American War , the interests and forces of the USA were bound, so that a compromise was sought.
The contract
The treaty was then negotiated by James Buchanan , then Secretary of State , and Richard Pakenham , Plenipotentiary Privy Councilor of Queen Victoria, and signed in Washington DC on June 15, 1846 . It states that the 49th parallel marks the border between the United States and the United Kingdom on the American mainland. Vancouver Island was an exception as it was fully assigned to the British, although it extends south over the 49th parallel.
History since the conclusion of the contract
The 49th parallel later became the US-Canadian border when British Columbia became part of Canada in 1871 . The Oregon Territory was formed from the American part of the region on August 14, 1848 . In 1859 an imprecise description of the border led to the so-called " Pig War " over the possession of the San Juan archipelago .
literature
- Johannes Eue: The Oregon question. American Expansion Policy and the Pacific Northwest, 1814–1848 (= North America Studies. Volume 3). Lit, Münster et al., 1993, ISBN 3-8258-2382-2 .
Web links
- Oregon Compromise ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
- British Newspapers and the Oregon Treaty of 1846 ( June 5, 2004 memento on the Internet Archive ) by Thomas C. McClintock. In: Oregon Historical Quarterly , Spring 2003 edition
Individual evidence
- ^ Edwin A. Miles: "Fifty-four Forty or Fight" - An American Political Legend . In: The Mississippi Valley Historical Review . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1957, p. 291-309 . Hans Sperber : 'Fifty-Four Forty or Fight': Facts and Fictions . In: American Speech . tape 32 , no. 1 , 1957, p. 5-11 .
- ↑ Johannes Eue: The Oregon Question. American Expansion Policy and the Pacific Northwest, 1814–1848 (= North America Studies. Volume 3). Münster / Hamburg 1993, p. 263.