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Manifest Destiny The Oregon Country and Westward Expansion
by
O. Ned Eddins

The disputed Oregon Country was the territory west of the Continental Divide from northern California to the southern tip of Alaska. After the War of 1812, Great Britain offered to relinquish its claims to the Oregon Country south of the Columbia River, but the United States refused. The crown jewel of the Northwest was Puget Sound. It was the only deep sea port north of Mexican-California, and the United States wanted it. Unable to agree on the boundary, an agreement of joint occupancy was agreed on at the Oregon Convention in 1816. Renewable at ten-year periods, this agreement lasted until 1846. It was agreed that year the border between the United States and Canada would be at the forty-ninth parallel. It was stipulated that all of Vancouver Island would be part of Canada.

The end of the Mountain Man Indian fur trade rendezvous in 1840 was the beginning of a new way of life for many Americans--some good, some bad.

At the end of the 1840 rendezvous, the first non-missionary family traveled to Oregon. Joel Walker, the brother of Joseph Rutherford Walker, and his family were the settlers to travel the Oregon Trail. Manifest Destiny had began for the hundreds of thousands of Americans that traveled the Oregon, Mormon, and California trails.

Forty-six years after the first immigrant family (Joel Walker's) traveled over the Oregon Trail, the last buffalo hunt was held in the Judith Valley, and the vast majority of free-roaming Plains Indians were confined to reservations--a way of life gone forever.

The River System and Territorial Expansion:

Great River System

Three great river systems...the Missouri, the Snake and the Colorado...drained the major fur trade area of the Rocky Mountains. The territories drained by these rivers had a direct bearing on the territorial expansion of the United States. The Missouri River and its tributaries established the upper Louisiana Territory as being below the forty-ninth parallel. Settlement of the Oregon Territory boundary in 1846, gave the United States the watershed of the lower Columbia and the Snake rivers. Besides California, a major portion of the 1847 cession from Mexico was in the valleys and tributaries of the Colorado River.

It is interesting to note that the largest tributary of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri rivers head within a sixty-eight mile radius of the Grand Teton peak on the western Wyoming border. Another circle with a radius of one hundred and ninety-one miles covers all of the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous sites and the Three Forks area of Montana. With the Grand Teton at its center, this area covers the richest beaver country in the Rocky Mountains.

Grand Teton - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The mountain man's search for beaver pelts in the territories drained by these major rivers was an underlying factor in California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming being part of the United States and not parts of Mexico or Canada. The settlement of the Oregon Country boundary at the forty-ninth parallel in 1846 and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 brought these future western states (not all of Arizona) under the American flag.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - 1848

The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 brought California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming under the American Flag.

Since 1540, the major accomplishment of the Spanish had been to establish missions in three of the states—the other four had no settlements of any kind. With the exception of possibly California, whose major export was hides and tallow from cattle, all of the future states involved were basically ignored by the Spanish and then Mexican governments.

After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government was so chaotic it couldn’t handle the problems in Mexico let alone do anything for people in provinces several thousand miles away.

The American government paid the Mexican government fifteen million dollars [thirty million had been offered before the actual fighting started] and assumed debts of three million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a total price of eighteen million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars—in comparison, the Louisiana Territory was purchased for a total price of fifteen million dollars.

The Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty also stipulated that Mexico give up any claims to Texas…On May 14, 1836, the Treaty of Velasco was signed between Texas and Santa Anna. The treaty confirmed the Mexican retreat south of the Rio Grande and declared an end to the war. The Mexican government never ratified the treaty. Skirmishes over the Texas border continued between Mexican and American outposts.

For the most part the Mexican people of New Mexico and California welcomed the Americans—troops moved into Santa Fe and the ports of California without firing a shot.

The amount paid the Mexican Government was over three million dollars more than the United States paid for the Louisiana Territory...the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory for eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and assumed claims against France for three million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a total purchase price of fifteen million dollars.

The Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty increased the size of the United States by about one-third (this includes Texas)--an addition greater than the Louisiana Purchase. Few Americans even know the name of the President that brought the most land under the American Flag. The territories acquired during his administration determined the outline of the United States...President James K. Polk.

Western Expansion

This map is from Matt Rosenberg, at www.geography.about.com/library. Prior to 1846, the Oregon Country extended from the forty-second parallel to Alaska.

The Oregon Country article was written by O. Ned Eddins of Afton, Wyoming. Permission is given for material from this site to be used for school research papers.

Citation: Eddins, Ned. (article name) Mountainsofstone.com. Afton, Wyoming. 2002.

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