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 small French map presents the United States extending west to the Pacific Ocean and north to the 54th parallel, reflecting U.S. interests in the emerging boundary dispute with Britain. In the middle of the country, settlement has pushed beyond the Mississippi River with a large Arkansas Territory that incorporates present-day Oklahoma. To its north is the boundary for Missouri, but is here named Jefferson. To its west is a vast Missouri Territory inhabited by various native groups including the Sioux, Lakota, Osage, and more. Mexico is in control of the Southwest and Texas. Engraved by P. Tardieu.

This is the only map we have encountered to replace Missouri with Jefferson (which is also named a second time as its capital).

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Condition: B+

Contemporary outline color on a bright sheet with some minor foxing.