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A map was drawn with ownership imputed over much of the entire continent. |
(Ed's Note: I wouldn't be placing an article here about 1783 and the conclusion of the Revolutionary War except that the year coincides with Joseph Resch's birth in Hesse Cassel. As turbulent a time as the Revolutionary period was for our new nation, so was middle Europe bracing for the Napoleonic Wars through 1814 and the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. But this article will have none to do about that - it describes the westward boundary movement of America through the mid 1800s.)
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A map was drawn with ownership imputed over much of the entire continent. |
September 1782
At the conclusion of the American War for Independence, the
first North American boundary between Great Britain (Canada) and the new United
States of America was established by the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.
In this Treaty, Great Britain recognized the independence of the former colonies
as the United States of America and acknowledged its boundaries as extending
west to the Mississippi, north to Canada (with fishing rights in Newfoundland),
and south to the Floridas.
Fast Forward
Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War. With relative
peace, people felt free to move westward across the North American continent. As
they moved, so did the need to further define new stretches of the still
relatively ill-defined border among British Canada, Spanish Louisiana Territory,
and the burgeoning United States.
In the Northwest Ordinance, 1787, the United States officially established its governance over the "the Territory northwest of the River Ohio" -- what we now call the Mid-West. This led to disagreements over just exactly where was the line between the two territories around the Great Lakes region.
This debate and others led to the Jay Treaty of 1794, which set the procedures for the orderly withdrawal of British and American citizens to within their respective territories, and also established a commission to resolve lingering questions on the exact location of the boundary lines purportedly established by the 1783 Treaty of Paris around the Great Lakes region.
Even that agreement needed further refinement, and this led to Amendment 3, signed in 1796 concerning more discussion of the free movement of people between U.S. and Canada.
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By 1797, an accurate map of America began to emerge. Still, boundary lines had yet to be finalized. |
In 1800, the Louisiana Territory was re-ceded to France (confirmed on March 21, 1801) by Spain, and then sold by France to the budding United States. This would leave both the United States and Great Britain with undisputed east-to-west sea-to-sea claims but interacting with increasing tension along a still undefined boundary between the U.S. lower part and the British upper part of the continent.
The success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) led to the gradual domestication of the area by American and Canadian fur traders and mountain men, and then by settlers who moved into and then populated most parts of western North America.
This westward movement from the United States began in earnest in 1842 in what was known as the Oregon migration along what became known as "The Oregon Trail". Both Americans and Canadians participated in this migration westward to the Oregon Territory, a large territory that reached into areas undisputedly claimed by each side. The demarcation of the boundary between the U.S. and Canada (then still Great Britain) became so heated that war was threatened. During the presidential campaign of 1844, James K. Polk made "54-40 or Fight" and the annexation of the Oregon Territory a rallying cry. He won. In the end, President Polk compromised and soon agreed with the British to set the North American boundary between Canada and the rest of northern USA along the 49th parallel. This was ratified by the Treaty with Great Britain, in Regards to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains -- also known as the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
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That northern border between the United States and Canada, with a few minor adjustments and clarifications after 1846, remains the definitive border today. It's exact location and meticulous demarcation across over 5,500 miles between the two countries is maintained by a joint International Boundary Commission.
The Table of Contents can be reached with this link.