1. The Oregon Trail

3. I. Adams-Onis Treaty Control of Oregon Gain access to Pacific Ocean
Secretary of State J.Q. Adams meets with Spain to approve the treaty
Spain agrees to limits on their territory & to give up claims to Oregon & ceded FL
Russia gave up claim to land
British = joint occupation

4. Adams-Onis Treaty

5. II. Mountain Men Fur traders First to live in Oregon Country
Trapped beaver
John Jacob Astor (NY) est. American Fur Company, 1808
Traded with mountain men
Lived in buffalo-skin lodges, dressed in fringed buckskin pants, moccasins, beads, married natives, etc.
Some moved to Oregon to live & farm

6. Mount men served as guides along the Oregon Trail
Kit Carson & Jim Bridger
Led parties of settlers, 1830s
Other trails = California Trail & Santa Fe Trail

7. III. Why the trail? Money Economic troubles in the East
Fertile land out west = $

8. Marcus & Narcissa Whitman
Traveled the trail 1836
Built a mission among the Cayuse people
Walla Walla, Washington
Provide medical care & converted Cayuse to Christianity
Brought measles = epidemic
Mission attacked, Whitman's killed in 1847

9. Emigrants: people who leave their country
Along the trail
Emigrants: people who leave their country
Tens of thousands
2,000+ miles
Prairie schooner: a canvas covered wagon used by pioneers in the mid-1800s
Traveled through: The Great Plains, the Platte River, through South Pass of the Rocky Mtns., the Snake & Columbia Rivers

10. D. Manifest Destiny
Destined by God to spread freedom by settling the entire continent
Term created by NY newspaper editor John O’Sullivan

11. E. “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”
Election of 1844: James Polk, democratic nominee
Supported taking over all of Oregon
Slogan: line of latitude they believed should be the nation’s northern border to Oregon
Whig opponent, Henry Clay did not take a position
Fifty-Four Forty not accepted by British = border set at 49˚ N latitude