14.1 The Oregon Country pp. 444-449

Objectives: Identify the nations with conflicting claims in the Oregon Country. Discuss how traders and trappers paved the way for expansion.

A. Settlers Move West (pp. 444-445) The Oregon Country included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Canada. Fur trappers in this area often traveled trails blazed by Native Americans. In 1818 Great Britain and the U.S. agreed to share the Oregon Country for 10 years.

B. The Mountain Men (pp. 445-446) The rough-and-tumble group of explorers who trapped furs in the Oregon Country were called mountain men. Mountain men learned many of their trapping skills from Native Americans. In the summer, trappers headed to a meeting place called the rendezvous, where they relaxed, sold their furs, and bought supplies.

C. Blazing a Path for Others (p. 446) The epic journeys of the mountain men opened the door for others. A pass, or opening, through the Sierra Nevada Mountains was found by James Beckwourth, an African American mountain man. Another mountain man, Jim Bridger, discovered the South Pass through the Rocky Mountains.

D. The Oregon Trail (p. 447) As settlers arrived in the late 1830s and 1840s, beaver hats were going out of fashion and mountain men found themselves without work. Some mountain men became guides for wagon trains. The route they knew best—the Oregon Trail—soon became a major highway across the continent.

E. Oregon Fever (pp. 447-448) Between 1840 and 1860, more than 60,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail, leaving permanent ruts along the way. Wagon trains (groups) could travel at speeds of only about 2 miles per hour. Leaving in the spring, they had five months to cross the Rockies or face the possibility of freezing to death in blinding snowstorms.

The Donner Party

F. “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!” (p. 449) American settlers wanted to annex, or add, Oregon to the United States. The campaign slogan of one Presidential candidate in 1844, James K. Polk, was “Fifty-four forty [54°40'] or fight!” Despite his campaign slogan, Polk later accepted the 49th parallel as the boundary between the U.S. and Canada.

Review: 1. What region included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Canada? 2. The rough-and-tumble explorers who trapped furs in the Oregon Country were called __________________ ______________. 3. Define rendezvous— 4. Name the African American mountain man who discovered a pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 5. The _______________ _______________, which linked Independence, Missouri, with the Oregon Country, became a major highway across the country. 6. Define annex— 7. What was James K. Polk’s campaign slogan in 1844? 8. What parallel (latitude line) was finally accepted as the dividing line in the Oregon Country between the U.S. and British Canada?