The Oregon Country Chapter 12, Lesson 1

Rivalry in the Northwest Oregon Country – huge area between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains to the north of California. Included Oregon, Washington, and Idaho including parts of Montana and Wyoming. The region also contained about half of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Four nations claimed this land. United States – Lewis and Clark expedition and Robert Gray’s discovery of the Columbia River. Great Britain – Based on exploration of the Columbia River. Spain – exploring the Pacific coast in the late 1700s. Russia – had settlements that stretched south from Alaska into Oregon.

Adams-Onís Treaty Many Americans wanted control of this area. Adams-Onís Treaty (1819) – Treaty with Spain that set the limits of their territory at what is now California’s northern border and gave up any claim to Oregon. Russia also surrenders its claim to the land south of Alaska. Only Britain remained to challenge America control of Oregon. In 1818 Adams worked out an agreement with Great Britain for joint occupation (People from both the United States and Great Britain could settle there.) Adams attempted to work out a treaty dividing the territory using the 49°N line of latitude but Brain wanted a larger share. They extend their joint occupation and in the following years, thousands of Americans streamed into Oregon, and pushed the issue into resolution.

Mountain Men First Americans in the Oregon country were fur traders not farmers. Came to trap beavers which were in high demand in the eastern United States and Europe. British established several trading posts as did John Jacob Astor of New York. Astor created the American Fur Trade Company which became the most powerful of fur trade companies in America. He built up trade with the East Coast, Pacific Northwest, and China. At first merchants traded with the Natives for fur, but over time, Americans adventurers joined in. The people who spent most of their time in the mountains became known as mountain men who were tough and independent, and made their living by trapping beaver. They married Native American women, adopted Native American ways, lived in buffalo-skin lodges, and wore buckskin pants, moccasins, and beads.

Mountain Men Some mountain men worked for fur trade companies while others sold their furs to the highest bidder. They set traps up during the spring and summer across the mountain sides to collect beaver pelts. In late summer they gathered up for a rendezvous (meeting.) The rendezvous was the high point of their year. Met with the trading companies to exchange their “hairy banknotes” (beaver pelts) for traps, guns, coffee, and other goods. Also met with friends and exchanged news. Competed in races and other contests. In search of Beaver pelts they explored much of the mountains, valleys, and trails of the west. Jim Beckworth – African American who explored the Green River. Robert Stuart and Jedediah Smith – Found the South Pass (broad break through the Rockies that later became part of the main route to Oregon.)

Mountain Men Mountain men needed to be skillful and resourceful to survive. Trapper Joe Meek – told a story of when faced with starvation, he put his hands “in an anthill until it was covered with ants, then greedily licked them off.” In time most of the mountain men killed off most of the beavers and could no longer trap. They moved onto farms in Oregon. Others like Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, served as guides leading parties of settlers now streaming west.

Settling Oregon Americans first began heading into Oregon Country in the 1830s. Economic trouble at home made new opportunities in the West look attractive as well as reports of fertile land.

The Whitman Mission Some of the first settlers in Oregon were missionaries who wanted to bring Christianity to the Native Americans. Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa, went to Oregon in 1836 and constructed a mission among the Cayuse people near present day Walla Walla, Washington. New settlers unknowingly brought measles with them and an epidemic killed many Native American children. The Whitmans were blamed for the sickness, and the Cayuse attacked the mission in November 1847, and killed them along with 11 others. Despite this many settlers continued to Oregon.

The Oregon Trail In the early 1840s, “Oregon fever” swept the Mississippi valley. The depression caused by the Panic of 1837 reached the area and people began forming societies to make the long trip to Oregon known as “the great migration.” Tens of thousands of people made the trip and became known as emigrants because they left the United States to go to Oregon. They packed their canvas-covered wagons (known as prairie schooners; because they looked like schooners in the distance) with supplies for the difficult 2,000 mile long journey. They gathered in Independence, Missouri and followed the Oregon Trail across the Great Plains, along the Platte River, and through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. Once on the other side of the Rockies, They took the trail north and west along the Snake and Columbia Rivers into Oregon country.

The Division of Oregon Many headed to Willamette Valley located South of the Columbia River. Between 1840 and 1845, population in the area went from 500 to 5,000. British population remained at 700.

Expansion of Freedom Since colonial times many Americans had believed their nation had a special role to fulfill. Many believed the nation’s mission should be to serve as a model of freedom and democracy by occupying the entire continent. In 1819, John Quincy Adams expressed what many Americans were thinking when he said expansion to the Pacific was inevitable “as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea.”

Manifest Destiny John O’Sullivan (1840s) – Newspaper editor who put the idea of the national mission into more specific words. He declared America’s “Manifest Destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us.” He believed the United States was clearly destined to extend its boundaries all the way to the Pacific.

“Fifty-four Forty or Fight” Many settlers in Oregon began to insist that the United States have sole ownership of the area. More Americans began to agree and became a significant issue in the 1844 Presidential election. James K. Polk – Given Democratic Party’s nomination for president since he supported sole ownership of Oregon. Democrats used the campaign slogan “Fifity-four Forty or Fight.” (Referring to the line of latitude that Democrats believed should be the nation’s northern border in Oregon.) Henry Clay – Whig Party Candidate, did not take a strong position on the issue. Polk wins the election because the antislavery Liberty Party took so many votes from Clay in New York that Polk won the state. Polk won 170 electoral votes to 105 for Clay.

Reaching a Settlement President Polk was determined to make Oregon a part of the United States. He was filled with the spirit of Manifest Destiny. Britain did not agree with the border being set at “Fifty-four Forty.” It meant they had to give up its claim entirely. In Jun 1846, they compromise at setting the boundary between the American and British portions of Oregon at latitude 49°N. During the 1830s Americans sought to fulfill Manifest Destiny by looking much closer to home than Oregon. They set their focus on Texas.