MANIFEST DESTINY

Section 1-Westward to the Pacific

The Oregon country was the area that lay between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains north of California In the early 1800s four nations staked claim to the territory: Great Britain, Spain, Russia, and The U.S.

What was the Oregon Country and who claimed it?

What was the Adams-Onis Treaty?

Americans wanted control of the Oregon country because of its access to the Pacific Ocean Sec. Of State John Adams helped negotiate a treaty with Spanish foreign minister Louis de Onis that limited the border An agreement between the U.S. and Britain was made establishing joint occupation of the area

Why were Americans attracted to settling in the Oregon Country?

There were economic troubles going on in the East and reports of the fertile land in the area made the West look like an attractive option

What was the Oregon Trail?

In the early 1840s Oregon Fever hit the Mississippi Valley leading to a great migration to Oregon Tens of thousands of Americans loaded their canvas covered wagons with supplies and followed the Oregon Trail across the Great Plains, along the Platte River, and through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains

What does Manifest Destiny mean?

Americans believed the U.S. has a special role to fulfill Believed expansion to the Pacific was inevitable John OSullivan, a newspaper editor, declared it was Americas Manifest Destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us. Manifest Destiny=the U.S. was destined, due to a special purpose, to extend its boundaries to the Pacific

Where did the slogan Fifty-four Forty or fight come from?

Settler in Oregon insisted that the U.S. should have sole ownership of the area Oregon became a major issue in the 1844 Presidential election Democrats unexpectedly nominated James K. Polk, who supported American claims for Oregon, for President Democrats campaigned using the slogan Fifty-four forty or fight which referred to the line of latitude they believed should be the nations border in Oregon

What settlement with Britain did the U.S. reach over Oregon?
Polk was elected President and was determined to make Oregon part of the U.S. Britain would not accept a border at Fifty-four Forty June 1846- the 2 countries compromised, setting the boundary between American and British parts of Oregon at 49 degrees North Latitude resolving the issue of Oregon

In your opinion, was the United States belief in Manifest Destiny justified or not? Explain.