My Summery of The Acquisition of Oregon Territory
By the 1840’s, it was just the U.S. and the British who held on to claims for this territory. President Polk did not have much interest in waging war to remove the British from Oregon. We had already fought enough – and fortunately they had little interest in waging war with us. Polk devised what essentially worked out to be a “bluff” to get the territory. The American settlers were excited at the thought of having this territory for themselves. These war hawks coined the phrase, “Fifty-Four, Forty or Fight”. This was a reference to the line of latitude at the northern end of the Oregon Territory. President Polk recited this desire to the British, who then counter-offered to draw a compromise line along the 49th parallel, which would be a simple extension of the northern boundary of the Louisiana Territory.