"North America", Hall, Sidney

Subject: North America
Period: 1844 (circa)
Publication: A New General Atlas
Color: Hand Color
Size: 14.9 x 10.2

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.

This nicely engraved map features the Independent Republic of Texas with the 'stove pipe' reaching to the 40th parallel. It extends to include Cuba, Jamaica, St. Domingo, and all of Central America. The Pacific Northwest and southern British Columbia is labeled Western Territory. As a British mapmaker, Hall extends Canada well south to the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Alaska is still Russian Territory, and Mexico occupies California and the Southwest. The huge area to the east of the Rockies is largely unnamed except for Dakoutas and many rivers. Numerous Indian villages are located.
Condition: A
Minor toning and a few light spots of foxing.