It only remained to complete the formalities of diplomacy. June 15, the treaty was signed by James Buchanan on the part of the United States, and Richard Pakenham on the part of Great Britain. It was laid before the Senate for ratification June i6th and was ratified June 18th. Ratifications were exchanged at London, July 1 7th, and the President, in a message to Congress, August 5th, communicated the exchange of ratifications and recommended "the organization of a territorial government for Oregon." (See Benton s Abridgment, vol. 15, pp. 652, 653, 641.)
The several measures proposed for the government of Oregon and the territories formed from the Mexican cessions of 1848, and for the further admission of States, aroused anew the slavery agitation, and provoked the "irrepressible conflict." These questions, leading to the Confederate War, are discussed in another chapter of this work. Our investigation terminates with the acquisition of the territory.[1]
No argument is needed to show that the South was the leading factor in the acquisition of Texas, in the Mexican War, in the cessions from Mexico, in securing from Spain the cession of her claims to Oregon, and in the final settlement of the Oregon question with Great Britain. In all this great work, the co-operation of the West was cordial and active. Even that portion of the
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- ↑ (The works mentioned below will be interesting and instructive to the reader, but are not intended to include an exhaustive bibliography of this period. Benton s Thirty Years View treats at large the several subjects connected with Texas, the Mexican War and Oregon. Schouler s History of the United States, vols. 3, 4, treats the same subjects at large, and with great ability, but strong sectional bias. Narrative and Critical History of America is an in valuable work, Vol. 7 contains a clear and succinct treatment of the "Territorial Acquisitions and Divisions." The notes to this article (Appendix i, p. 527, et seg.) furnish a valuable bibliography on the subject. Barrow s Oregon (American Commonwealth Series) is an able and instructive work. Benton s Abridgment of the Debates in Congress places these debates in convenient form for reference. Vols. 15 and 16 cover the period under discussion. Donaldson’s Public Domain supplies compendious statements of legislative acts, quotes treaties and ordinances, etc., and gives statistics.)
