All Topics  
Oregon Territory

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Oregon Territory
 
 
  Topics Oregon Territory Topic Home

The Oregon Territory is the name applied both to the unorganized Oregon Country
Oregon Country

Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
 claimed by both the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 (but normally referred to as the Oregon Country
Oregon Country

Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
), as well as to the organized U.S. territory
Organized incorporated territories of the United States

Organized incorporated territories are those territories of the United States that are both incorporated territory and organized territory . Through most of U.S....
 formed from it that existed between 1848 and 1859.

The Territory of Oregon was organized on August 14, 1848, by an act of Congress
United States Congress

The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
 out of the U.S.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Oregon Territory'
Start a new discussion about 'Oregon Territory'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Oregonterritoryseal
The Oregon Territory is the name applied both to the unorganized Oregon Country
Oregon Country

Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
 claimed by both the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 (but normally referred to as the Oregon Country
Oregon Country

Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
), as well as to the organized U.S. territory
Organized incorporated territories of the United States

Organized incorporated territories are those territories of the United States that are both incorporated territory and organized territory . Through most of U.S....
 formed from it that existed between 1848 and 1859.

The Territory of Oregon was organized on August 14, 1848, by an act of Congress
United States Congress

The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
 out of the U.S. portion of the Oregon Country below the 49th parallel north
49th parallel north

The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degree true north of the Earth equator.The parallel forms part of the United States-Canadian Border from British Columbia to Manitoba on the Canada side and from Washington to Minnesota on the United States side, or from the Strait of Georgia to the Lake of the Woods....
. It originally included all of the present-day states of Idaho
Idaho

The State of Idaho is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and Capital is Boise, Idaho....
, Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
 and Washington
Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
, as well as Montana
Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
 west of the Continental Divide
Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Divide or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the drainage basin that drain into the Pacific Ocean from, 1) those river systems which drain into the Atlantic Ocean , and 2)...
, and Wyoming
Wyoming

The State of Wyoming is a sparsely populated U.S. state in the Northwestern United States of the United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the easternmost section of the state is a high altitude prairie region known as the High Plains ....
 west of the Continental Divide and north of the 42nd parallel north
42nd parallel north

The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degree true north of the Earth equator.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 42? north passes through:...
, the boundary of the Adams-Onis Treaty
Adams-Onís Treaty

The Adams-On?s Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, settled a border dispute in North America between the United States and Spain....
 of 1819.

The first territorial capital was Oregon City
Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, Oregon....
 from 1848 to 1851, followed by Salem
Salem, Oregon

Salem is the Capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city....
 from 1851 to 1855. Corvallis
Corvallis, Oregon

Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County, Oregon and the principal city of the "Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area", which encompasses all of Benton County....
 served briefly as the capital in 1855, followed by a permanent return to Salem later that year.

In 1853, the portion of the territory north of the lower Columbia River
Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It is named after the Columbia Rediviva, the first ship from the western world known to have traveled up the river....
 and north of the 46th parallel east of the river was organized into the Washington Territory
Washington Territory

The Washington Territory was a historic organized territory of the United States that was formed in February 8, 1853 from the portion of the Oregon Territory north of the lower Columbia River and north of the 46th parallel north east of the Columbia; which had been ceded by Britain in the 1846 Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundar...
.

On February 14, 1859, the territory entered the Union as the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
 of Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
 within its current boundaries. The remaining eastern portion of the territory (the portions in present-day southern Idaho and western Wyoming) was added to the Washington Territory.

See also

  • Oregon Country
    Oregon Country

    Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
  • Oregon Treaty
    Oregon Treaty

    The Oregon Treaty, is a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C....
  • Oregon boundary dispute
    Oregon boundary dispute

    The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon question, arose as a result of competing United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and United States claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century....
  • Holmes v. Ford
    Holmes v. Ford

    Holmes v. Ford was an United States court case in the Oregon Territory that freed a slave family in the territory in 1853. The decision re-affirmed that slavery was illegal in the territory as outlined in the Organic Laws of Oregon that were continued once the region became a U.S....
  • Oregon Territorial Legislature
    Oregon Territorial Legislature

    Oregon?s Territorial Legislature was a bicameralism legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory....