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 FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON

A

391

study of the Federal relations of Oregon reveals the fact Oregon Question in one form or another, occu-

that, while the

pied the attention of the authorities of the United States for nearly half a century, there was no episode connected with it which stood alone as a paramount issue. Such a fact is the interesting when one takes account of the high degree of excitement which accompanied each episode. Three periods stand out as the most spectacular and probably the most

more

important; the division of the Oregon Country with Great Britain, the formation of the territory, and the admission of the

In each of these the Oregon Question was linked with

State.

issue which lent a fictitious importance. In the boundary controversy Oregon was really subordinated to Texas which was a national issue in and of itself. Texas, with all the agitation attending its entrance into the Union,

some other national

was a nation

vital

factor in the history of the development of the decisive issue in the great struggle

Texas figured as a

which centered about the question of the nature of the Federal Government. One is forced to believe with the legislators who, after 1818, were willing to let the Oregon Question rest and allow time to determine the outcome that all the furor of 1845 and 1846 did not vitally affect the outcome. To be sure, Great Britain has always been willing to accept additions to her Empire and has not been averse from making the most of favoring circumstances, so there may have been something in Richard Rush's belief that the commotion of 1846 brought England to a desire to end the controversy and to yield something more than had been her previous intention. Nevertheless, down to the time the hue and cry of 54-40 was raised, and that as a campaign issue and a blind, both the United States and Great Britain agreed that the other had rights in the Oregon Country, and each had shown a disposition to make an adjustment on equitable lines.

The struggle over territorial organization came at a time when territories in general and their actual and potential meaning for the most.

issues

between North and South were upperpoints which were brought out

The heatedly argued