expand the country's territory. In his
inaugural address, Polk declared: "The world beholds the peaceful
triumphs of the industry of our emigrants [pioneers]....The
jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our republican
institutions should be extended over them in the distant regions which
they have selected for their homes."
One of the first
areas Polk set his sights on was Oregon. The vast Oregon Territory
stretched between the 42nd parallel, just above Spain's Mexican lands,
and the 54th parallel, just below Russia's Alaskan territory. It
consisted of the areas that are now Oregon, Washington, parts of Idaho
and Wyoming, as well as parts of what is now Canada. The U.S., Britain,
Russia and Spain had all laid claim to parts of the territory, although
Russia and Spain eventually abandoned their claims.
In 1818, the U.S. and Britain reached an agreement setting the 49th
parallel as the boundary between U.S. and British territory up to the
Rocky Mountains. However, when they could not agree on a border west of
the Rockies, they agreed to jointly occupy the disputed territory for
10 years. When that term expired, they agreed to extend joint
Most of those who initially traveled to Oregon were fur trappers and
traders, but by the 1840s, more and more Americans were traveling there
to set up homesteads. Marcus Whitman, a young doctor, and his wife,
Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, had traveled to the Oregon territory in 1836
as part of a Methodist missionary movement. A few years later, Whitman
returned to Boston to promote the attractions of life in the Pacific
Northwest. Whitman's message reverberated all over the East Coast, and
in 1843 he led nearly a thousand migrants out west along the Oregon
Trail, a 2,000-mile trail that stretched from Independence, Missouri,
across Oregon to Oregon City.[See Account of One Traveler's Journey Along the Oregon Trail (Excerpts) (primary document)]
As the settler population in Oregon grew, debate intensified over
control of the disputed portion. Polk called on Congress to pass
legislation that would protect the settlers making their way to the
Pacific Northwest. He said he had no doubt that "our title to the
country of Oregon is clear and unquestionable." Polk demanded that
England grant the U.S. ownership all the way up to the 54th parallel,
thus including a substantial chunk of what is now Canada. He indicated
that he was willing to go to war with England in order to secure the
land. [See President Polk's First Annual Message to Congress (Excerpts) (primary document)]
However, Polk's demand was a negotiating ploy. In his private journal
he wrote that he actually did not want war with Great Britain, and as a
Southerner he was not eager to add free states to the Union. He also
knew that the lands above the 49th parallel were not prime farmland.
But by threatening war he was able to extract a compromise, and in
1846, the U.S. and Britain agreed to establish the boundary line
between American and British territories at the 49th parallel, where
the U.S.-Canadian border remains today.
Perhaps the defining aspect of the Polk administration, however, was
the war with Mexico. Texas had declared its independence from Mexico on
March 2, 1836, when Texas was under siege by Mexican forces. Mexico
never formally recognized Texas's declaration of independence, which
became a bone of contention when Texas joined the United States in 1845
under Polk's stewardship.
Many American settlers who lived in Mexico did not object to becoming
part of the U.S., because when the area belonged to Mexico, settlers
had to become Mexican citizens and convert to Roman Catholicism. As the
Anglo-Saxon population grew, so did the desire to become part of the
U.S. The annexation of Texas also pleased many Southerners because
Texas had been part of the original Louisiana Purchase, but had been
traded to Spain in 1819 for Florida.
It was also understood that Texas would come in as a slave state. That
fact, in turn, upset many people from the North, who also lamented that
the war was just the kind of show of brute force they h