THE QUESTION OF TITLE. 383

of the United States should be extended over it as soon as possible. Moore of Ohio presented in the lower house a declaration of the citizens of the Mis- sissippi Valley in convention assembled at Cincinnati, on the 5th of July previous, and indeed, from this time forward till the final settlement of the Oregon boundary in 1846 the agitation increased, as I have already shown in the chapters on the Oregon title in the second volume on the Northwest Coast. 43

The president in his annual message to congress, December 5, 1843, in remarking on the subject of the Oregon boundary, announced the ultimate claim of the United States to be to all the territory north of 42° and south of 54° 40' on the Northwest^ Coast. Great Britain, he said, controverted this claim, and the American minister at London, under instructions, had again brought the subject to the consideration of the British government. A happy termination of the negotiations was expected; but in the mean time many citizens of the United States were on their way to Oregon, many were there, and others were prepar- ing to emigrate, and he recommended the establishing of military posts along the line of travel.

This was the first formal announcement of the in- tention of the United States to ignore any claim of Great Britain to territory on the Pacific; but it quickly became the watchword of a majority of the

43 Petition of the citizens of Licking County, Ohio, urging the government to take immediate possession of Oregon. Cong. Globe, 1843-4, 82. Resolu- tion of the legislative assembly of Ohio, to terminate the convention with Great Britain. 28th Com;., 2d Sess., Sen. Ex. Docs., ii. 50; with similar reso- lutions from New Hampshire, Missouri, Illinois, and Alabama. Resolution of the general assembly of Indiana to the same effect; 'peaceably if we can; forcibly if we must.' 28th Cong., 1st Sess., H. Jour., 423-4; Cong. Globe, 1843-4, 226. Petition of David Newkirk and 55 others of Seneca County, Ohio, asking congress to take measures to aid settlers in Oregon. Petition of citizens of Wayne County, Ohio, for the immediate occupation of Oregon Territory The same from Carroll County and Medina County, that the ordinance of 1787 be extended over Oregon. Petition of the people of the state of Ohio, that the Oregon Territory be immediately occupied. Petition of the citizens of Ross and Pickaway counties, Ohio, praying for a territorial government in Oregon. Petition of the citizens of Oswego County, New York, for the set- tlement of the boundary and for the protection of emigrants to Oregon. Cong. Globe, 1843-4, 636; Id., 1844-5. 155; and probably others that have escaped my observation.