The Oregon Country: Rivalry, Adams-Onis Treaty, Mountain Men, and Manifest Destiny
The Oregon Country, a vast region between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, was sought after by various nations. The Adams-Onis Treaty settled boundaries, leading to joint occupation with Britain. Mountain men, fur traders, paved the way to Oregon and established trade routes. Settlers, including missionaries, ventured to Oregon in the 1830s, facing challenges such as epidemics and conflicts with Native Americans.
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THE OREGON COUNTRY Chapter 12 Section 1
Rivalry in the Northwest The Oregon Country was the huge area located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains north of California. It included all of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, plus parts of Montana and Wyoming. Britain, the United States, Spain, and Russia all had claims to the Oregon Country.
Adams-Onis Treaty Many Americans wanted control of the Oregon territory so that they could get to the Pacific Ocean. John Quincy Adams negotiated the Adams- Onis treaty with the Spanish to set the boundary of California. Russia dropped its claim of the land. Adams worked out a joint occupation with Britain so that both countries could settle there.
Mountain Man The first Americans to reach the Oregon Country were fur traders. The British established several trading posts as did merchant John Jacob Astor of New York. In 1808, Astor organized the American Fur Company, which became the most power fur company in America. American adventurers joined the trade with merchants and Native Americans for furs.
Continued These people spent most of their time in the Rocky Mountains and came to be known as mountain men. They made their living by trapping beaver. Many had Native American wives and adopted Native American ways. Some men worked for fur-trading companies while others worked for themselves. Mountain men discovered the South Pass which later became the main route to the Oregon Country.
Oregon and Manifest Destiny In the 1830s, Americans began travelling to the Oregon Country to settle. Missionaries were among some of the first settlers who wanted to bring Christianity to the Native Americans. Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa, went to Oregon in 1836 and built a mission among the Cayuse people near the present site of Walla Walla, Washington.
Whitman Mission/Oregon Trail New settlers unknowingly brought measles to the mission and the epidemic killed many Cayuse children. The Cayuse blamed the Whitmans and attacked the mission in November 1847 and killed the Whitmans and 11 others. In the 1840s, Oregon fever swept through the Mississippi Valley. The depression hit the area hard and Americans began forming societies to gather information about Oregon and to plan and make the long trip.
Continued The great migration began and tens of thousands of people made the trip. Pioneers were called emigrants because they left the United States to go to Oregon. Before the difficult 2000 mile journey, pioneers stuffed their prairie schooners with supplies. They gathered in Independence, Missouri to begin the Oregon Trail across the Platte River, and through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. They also went across Snake and Columbia Rivers into the Oregon Country.
Manifest Destiny Many Americans felt their nation had a special role to fulfill. For years people though the nation s mission should be to serve as a model of freedom and democracy. That vision grew to bring freedom to the entire continent. John Quincy Adams expressed expansion was as inevitable as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea. John O Sullivan described it as Manifest Destiny or destined by God to extend its boundaries all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Fifty-Four Forty or Fight Many Americans wanted the United States to own all of Oregon. James K. Polk supported this demand and the Democratic party used the slogan Fifty-Four Forty or Fight. Henry Clay did not have a strong position on the Oregon issue which let Polk win because Whig support was not united behind Clay. Polk had to compromise with Britain and they set the border between American and British parts of Oregon at latitude 49 N
