The United States and Great Britain established in 1818 joint claim over the Oregon Territory - the region north of Spanish controlled Upper California up to the southern boundary of Russia's Alaska Territory at North latitude 54°40'. By the late 1830's this arrangement was beginning to fall apart. In the 1840's the expansionist Democrats, including their 1844 presidential candidate, James Polk, claimed the entire region for the United States. Their expansionist desires were expressed by Polk's famous campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" The slogan also became a rally cry for Americans desiring to settle the territory. Following Polk's election, the dispute was resolved by the 1846 Treaty of Oregon, which struck a compromise that fixed the U.S./Canadian boundary at 49º North.

Excellent map of North America and the West Indies. Beautifully engraved on fine heavy paper with the embossed atlas seal above the script title. Alaska is Amerique Russe and still a bit misshapen. The individual state borders are shown up to the Mississippi River. In the West are a large Missouri Territory and a huge Oregon Territory, here named as Columbia. The United States is in control of much of present day British Columbia. Mexico still encompasses Texas and the Southwest. The West also features some fictitious rivers, including the R. Buenaventura, flowing from the Rockies into Salt Lake, and the dotted R. St. Phelipe reaching from L. Timpanagos to Monterey Bay. Farther south, a short R. Martires makes its way down to the Gulf of California. Surrounded with a keyboard-style border.

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Condition: B

A crisp impression with an 11" centerfold separation that was previously repaired with non-archival tape and is now closed with archival tape. There is some faint staining along the centerfold from the old repair and some chips along the sheet edges.