Catalog Archive
Auction 150, Lot 142

"Nord-Americanische Freistaaten", Radefeld, Carl Christian Franz

Subject: United States, Texas

Period: 1845 (dated)

Publication: Meyer's Hand-Atlas

Color: Hand Color

Size:
14.5 x 11.8 inches
36.8 x 30 cm
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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.

An attractive map of the United States just prior to the Mexican-American War, showing a small Republic of Texas, with its southwestern border on the Nueces River. The native regions are named in the Midwest and West, including the Districk Huron, encompassing Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and a portion of Minnesota. The Oregon Distrikt is diminished by British claims on the Columbia River.

References:

Condition: A

Minor soiling and creasing in the blank margins.

Estimate: $275 - $350

Sold for: $180

Closed on 9/17/2014

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