Editing Oregon boundary dispute (section)

==Joint occupation==

===Treaty of 1818===
{{Main|Treaty of 1818}}
In 1818, diplomats of the two countries attempted to negotiate a boundary between the rival claims. The Americans suggested dividing the Pacific Northwest along the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]], which was the border between the United States and [[British North America]] east of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. The lack of accurate cartographic knowledge led American diplomats to declare the [[Louisiana Purchase]] gave them an incontestable claim to the region.{{sfn|Merk|1950}} British diplomats wanted a border further south along the [[Columbia River]], so as to maintain the [[North West Company]]'s (later the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]'s (HBC)) control of the lucrative [[fur trade]] along that river.{{sfn|Merk|1950}} The diplomatic teams could not agree upon mutually satisfactory terms and remained in deadlock by October. [[Albert Gallatin]], the main American negotiator, had previously instructed to have a tentative agreement by the convening of the third session of the [[15th United States Congress]], set for 16 November.

A final proposition was made to the British [[plenipotentiary]], [[Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon|Frederick John Robinson]], for the continuation of the 49th parallel west while leaving the United Kingdom, as Gallatin stated, "all the waters emptying in the sound called the Gulf of Georgia."{{sfn|Merk|1950}} This would have awarded "all the territory draining west from the [[Cascade Mountains|Cascade]] divide and north from the Columbia River divide into the gulf" and the entirety of the [[Puget Sound]] along with the Straits of [[Strait of Georgia|Georgia]] and [[Strait of Juan de Fuca|Juan de Fuca]] to the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Merk|1950}} Robinson demurred from the proposal. However, the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, which settled most other disputes from the [[War of 1812]], called for the joint occupation of the region for ten years.

===Proposed partition plans===
As the expiration of the Joint Occupation treaty approached, a second round of negotiations commenced in 1824. American Minister [[Richard Rush]] offered for the extension of agreement with an additional clause on 2 April. The 51° parallel would be a provisional border within the Pacific Northwest, with no British additional settlements to be established south of the line, nor any American settlements north of it.{{sfn|Marshall|1911|p=166}} Despite Rush's offering to modify the temporary border to the 49° parallel, the British negotiators rejected his offer. His proposal was seen as the likely basis for the eventual division of the Pacific Northwest. The British plenipotentiaries [[William Huskisson]] and [[Stratford Canning, 1st Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe|Stratford Canning]] on 29 June pressed instead for a permanent line along the 49° parallel west until the main branch of the Columbia River. With the British formally abandoning claims south or east of the Columbia River, the Oregon Question thence became focused on what later became Western [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and the southern portion of Vancouver Island.{{sfn|Marshall|1911|p=166}} Rush reacted to the British proposal as unfavorably as they had to his own offer, leaving the talks at a stalemate.

[[Image:George Canning by Richard Evans - detail.jpg|upright=0.75|thumb|[[George Canning]] has been appraised the most active Secretary of Foreign Affairs in maintaining the British claims of a division along the Columbia River.{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}}]]

Throughout 1825, [[George Canning]], the [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]], held discussions with [[Sir John Pelly, 1st Baronet|Governor Pelly]] of the HBC as to a potential settlement with the United States. Pelly felt a border along the [[Snake River|Snake]] and Columbia Rivers was advantageous for the United Kingdom and his company.{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}} Contacting American minister [[Rufus King]] in April 1826, Canning requested that a settlement be reached over the Oregon dispute. Gallatin was appointed [[United States Minister to the United Kingdom|Ambassador to the United Kingdom]] and given instructions by [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Henry Clay]] in July 1826 to offer a division of the Pacific Northwest along the 49th parallel to the Pacific Ocean to the British.{{sfn|Meany|1914}} In a letter to Prime Minister [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]] in 1826, Canning presented the possibilities of trade with the [[Qing Empire]] if a division of the Pacific Northwest was to be made with the Americans. He felt the recognition of American rights to ownership of Astoria, despite its continued use by the NWC and later HBC, was "absolutely unjustifiable".{{sfn|Canning|1887|pp=71–74}} This diplomatic courtesy Canning felt weakened the territorial claims of the United Kingdom. A border along the Columbia River would give "an immense direct intercourse between China and what may be, if we resolve not yield them up, her boundless establishments on the N. W. Coast of America".{{sfn|Canning|1887|pp=71–74}}

===Renewal===
Huskisson was appointed along with [[Henry Unwin Addington]] to negotiate with Gallatin. Unlike his superior, Canning, Huskisson held a negative view of the HBC monopoly and found the region held in dispute with the Americans "of little consequence to the British".{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}} At the time the HBC's staff were the only continuous white occupants in the region, though their economic activities were not utilized by Huskinisson in exchanges with Gallatin.{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}} The division suggested by Pelly and Canning's 1824 offer of a Columbia River boundary was rejected. The argument used to counter these offers was the same as in 1824, that a boundary along the Columbia would deny the U.S. an easily accessible deep water port on the [[Pacific Ocean]]. The British negotiators to allay this attack offered a detached [[Olympic Peninsula]] as American territory, giving access to both the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}} This was seen as unsatisfactory by the Americans however. The diplomatic talks were continued but failed to divide the region in a satisfactory manner for both nations. The Treaty of 1818 was renewed on 7 August 1827,{{sfn|Shewmaker|1982}} with a clause added by Gallatin that a one-year notice had to be given when either party intended to abrogate the agreement.{{sfn|Meany|1914}} After the death of Canning and the failure to find a satisfactory division of the region with the Americans, "Oregon had been almost forgotten by the [British] politicians".{{sfn|Galbraith|1957|pp=184–188}}