Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Fifty-four Forty or Fight!

Starting point is 00:00:00 In the early 19th century, the United States and Great Britain had already fought two wars with each other. Those two wars were not enough to resolve all the territorial and border disputes between them. There was one massive open question that remained between the two countries. A large swath of land in the Pacific Northwest that both countries claimed and were ready to go to war over. Learn more about the Oregon boundary dispute and how it almost led to war on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

Starting point is 00:00:53 And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Before we get into the details of how the United States and Britain almost went to war for a third time, we need to understand the territorial claims of what the Americans called the Oregon country and what the British called the Columbia District. When European powers claim land in the Americas, they often had no clue what they were claiming. For example, when the Spanish explorer Juan Ronega's Cabrillo first traveled up the Pacific coast of North America, he claimed for Spain pretty much everything. They made extensive claims to regions that they never visited and weren't even aware of. Likewise, the Russians

Starting point is 00:01:39 had small settlements and fur traders in Alaska, as well as down the coast to Northern California, based on these fur training settlements, they claimed enormous parts of the Pacific Northwest. The British came at their claim from the east and laid claim to everything from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Finally, the newly independent United States laid claim to everything in the region as well, coming at it from the southeast. It should be noted that none of these countries had any real presence in the region, and no one had done an extensive survey of the region, especially inland from the coast. They had inaccurate, crudely drawn maps used by officials thousands of miles away who drew lines on them and just said, this is ours. Making a claim is one thing, but enforcing a claim is another. At the end of the day, you have to be able to back up your claim with soldiers, ships, and guns. The first of these overlapping claims was resolved in the 1790s by a series of three agreements between Britain and Spain known as the Nukkosan Conventions.

Starting point is 00:02:38 In the Nukkah Sound Convention, Spain agreed to give up any claims above 42 degrees latitude. Today, 42 degrees latitude is the northern borders of California, Nevada, and Utah. The fact was Spain couldn't reasonably enforce their claims given how much land they had claimed to the south already. To try to enforce their claims in the Pacific Northwest, it would require diverting resources from their established settlements further to the south. The Russian claims to the region were resolved by two treaties. The first was the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, in which Russia ceded all of their claims along the coast, south of 54 degrees, 40 minutes latitude. The other treaty was the Treaty of St. Petersburg signed in 1825 between Russia and Britain. This treaty established Russian claims to what is today Alaska and set the southern limit of their territory at 54 degrees 40 minutes latitude, which is today the southernmost point of Alaska.

Starting point is 00:03:34 The Russians were in even worse position than the Spanish to enforce their claims. Getting anybody to the Pacific Northwest would require either a very long crossing by land through Siberia or a very long voyage by sea around all of Europe, Africa, and Asia. So by 1825, only two countries made claims to the Pacific Northwest, the United States and Britain. The British claims were based on Captain Cook's voyages and on those of British fur traders who worked for the Hudson Bay Company. The American claims were based on the American merchant ship captain Robert Gray, who sailed up the Pacific Coast in the 1790s, and the Lewis and Clark expeditions from 1803 to 1806.

Starting point is 00:04:15 Before 1825, the U.S. and Great Britain had signed their own agreements. The Treaty of 1818 set the border of the United States and Canada as the 49th parallel between the Lake of the Woods in what is today Minnesota and the Rocky Mountains. However, it said nothing about the border between the Rocky Mountains. mountains and the Pacific. Also, what is relevant for this episode is that both countries agreed to allow for joint settlement of the Oregon country. This really didn't solve anything. It actually left open the question of who actually had control and just kicked the problem down the road. There were attempts to resolve the border issue. In 1825, the head of the Hudson Bay Company

Starting point is 00:04:55 proposed that the UK get everything north and west of the Snake and Columbia rivers, including much of what is today, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. In 1826, the Americans came back and proposed the extension of the 49th parallel as the border. However, nothing was agreed to. In 1827, the United States and Britain extended the 1818 agreement with the stipulation that either country could end it unilaterally. The ambiguous state of the Oregon country eventually became known in the United States as the Oregon question.

Starting point is 00:05:26 After 1827, the Hudson Bay Company became the dominant economic power in the region. They controlled their bases out of Fort Finghampton. Vancouver, which is currently located in Vancouver, Washington. For Vancouver as a national historic site, and I highly recommend visiting if you're ever in the area. While the Hudson Bay Company became the dominant economic force in the region, more and more American settlers began to migrate to the Oregon country. However, because of the joint settlement agreement with the British, these American settlers didn't have the protection of the government because it wasn't officially American territory. By the early 1840s, the settlers' demands for American governance found a welcome

Starting point is 00:06:02 audience back in Washington. The United States of 1842 was not the United States of 1812 when they last fought the British. The economy was bigger, the population had grown significantly larger, and they had developed a confidence that was embodied in the phrase manifest destiny. The actual phrase manifest destiny wasn't coined until 1845, but the sentiment behind it had been growing in the United States for years. Manifest destiny was a belief that the United States was ordained by God to expand and eventually control all of North America. This meant that the United States should control all of Oregon country, and what was also a major issue at the time, Texas. Nationalists used the Oregon question as a political issue.

Starting point is 00:06:46 Many Americans and even members of Congress believe that the United States should annex the entirety of the Oregon territory going all the way up to 54 degrees and 40 minutes latitude. In the 1844 presidential election, James Polk, the Democratic, candidate ran against Henry Clay the Whig Party candidate. Polk made the annexation of the Oregon country one of his primary campaign issues in addition to the annexation of Texas, which is a story for another episode. At the 1844 Democratic Party Convention, in their party platform, they put the following, quote, that our title to the whole of the territory of Oregon is clear and unquestionable, that no portion of the same ought to be seated to England or any other power, and that the

Starting point is 00:07:27 reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practical period are great American measures, end quote. Polk ended up winning the election of 1844 by a comfortable margin. Several historians have claimed that the Oregon question wasn't actually the major issue in the election. Rather, the real issue was the annexation of Texas, which would have added another slave state. The annexation of the Oregon country became the basis for one of the most well-known slogans in U.S. history. 5440 or fight. It actually wasn't used during the election. The phrase was first used in January 1845 well after the election was over. It was coined by John L. O. Sullivan, the editor of the New York Morning News on December 27, 1845. In an editorial, he said, quote, by the right of our manifest destiny

Starting point is 00:08:17 to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us, end quote. The slogan was meant to show that annexation of the full Oregon country was worth going to war for. When Polk was inaugurated, he referenced the Oregon country and his commitment to full annexation. He said that the U.S. claim to Oregon was, quote, clear and unquestionable. The British began to fear that war was now inevitable. They began fortifying their military forts along the border in preparation for an invasion. The British offered to settle the matter via arbitration, but Polk said that there was no neutral party that could possibly mediate the dispute. At his state of the union address on December 2, 1845, Polk advocated

Starting point is 00:08:58 notifying Britain that the United States was about to cancel the 1827 agreement. By 1846, Polk was still saber-rattling. In a speech on January 4th, he said, quote, the only way to treat John Bull was to look him straight in the eye. If Congress faltered, John Bull would immediately become arrogant and more grasping in his demands, end quote. John Bull was the term used at the time to personify Britain. By 1846, the British had moved five warships to the Pacific Northwest to protect their interest. The British proposed extending the 49th parallel as the border, which the U.S. rejected. Despite all the tough talk, in reality, no one really wanted to go to war. The British didn't want to go to war because the Americans now had a decisive advantage on the continent.

Starting point is 00:09:45 To put it in more simple terms, the Americans had the home field advantage. They didn't have to transport men and guns across the sea. By population alone, the Americans had a decisive advantage in the Oregon country. If they went to war, there was a risk that the British could lose everything in North America. Moreover, the region was becoming economically less important to Britain, so they had less of an incentive to go to war. The Americans, despite their tough talk, didn't want to go to war either. A war with Britain would be expensive and would set the country back years.

Starting point is 00:10:18 On June 12, 1846, the United States Senate voted 38 to 12 to recommend to the President that he meet with the British and negotiate a compromise. These votes were split with members of both parties voting for and against. The President finally agreed, and the U.S. Secretary of State James Buchanan met with Richard Pakenham, the British envoy to the United States. They had an agreement just three days after the Senate took their vote. The end result was the Oregon Treaty. of 1846. The resulting compromise was the one that had been proposed for years and the logical one based on the Treaty of 1818. They just agreed to extend the 49th parallel, which is what the border between the United States and Canada is today. The border would extend to the sea,

Starting point is 00:11:05 and Vancouver Island, which dips below the 49th parallel, would remain fully under British control. I previously mentioned that there had been no detailed surveys of the region which were conducted. After the Americans and British concluded the treaty, a boundary commission was established to set the exact boundary. In the process of surveying the border, they found a problem. Just south of Vancouver, there's a small peninsula known as the Sawasan Peninsula. No one realized it at the time, but the 49th parallel went right through the peninsula, leaving a small stub of land in the United States that was cut off from the rest of the United States mainland. That stub of land is known today as Point Roberts. The British offered an amendment to the treaty to resolve the problem.

Starting point is 00:11:47 They would take Point Roberts and provide the U.S. with some other land of equal size and exchange. However, the Americans were not interested. Today, Point Roberts, Washington is still a part of the United States, and living there can be a challenge. For example, children who live there have to do four border crossings every day just to go to and from school. The Oregon border dispute was the last time a serious war threatened to break out between the United States and Britain. There were other issues that arose throughout the 19th century, but nothing is major. In 1859, the Pig War was a small skirmish in the Strait of Wanda Fuka, on which I did a previous episode, but there was little need for conflict once the border had been established.

Starting point is 00:12:29 The Oregon Treaty of 1846 defined what the map of North America looks like today. It was part of the creation of the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana. and Wyoming, as well as of the Canadian province of British Columbia. And it's all due to the willingness of both sides of the conflict to step down from the brink of war and hammer out a compromise. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Ben Long and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener Sparkfire over on Apple Podcasts in the United States.

Starting point is 00:13:04 They write, thank you so much for what you do, Gary. I just became a member of the Completionist Club, perhaps the first in Wyoming. I'd like the coordinates to our clubhouse. I'm sure I'll need to listen to your episode regarding the compass to find it. Frankly, I'm bum that I'll only have one episode per day from now on, but I'm glad for the hours of entertainment you've given me. Well, thanks, Sparks Fire. I'm glad to see the state which has the smallest population represented in the Completion's Club.

Starting point is 00:13:28 And remember, if you're disappointed at only having one episode a day to listen to for now on, you can always go back and do it all again. Remember that if you leave a review or semi-a-boostagram, you two can have it read on the show. Thank you.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Fifty-four Forty or Fight!

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