James Knox Polk Acquired America's First Patch of Pacific Coastline

British and American settlers co-occupied the Pacific Northwest during the beginning of the 19th century. However, as the century went on, Americans started to outnumber the British and started to feel more and more like the true owners of the “Oregon Country”. Fortunately, neither nation was eager to engage in a land war. Polk was successful in acquiring the disputed region once in power after promising during his presidential campaign to resolve the border dispute with the British.

Although both the British and Americans jointly controlled the territory, Polk's followers pushed for “fifty-four forty or fight” in relation to the northernmost latitude of Oregon nation because the US sought to keep the west coast of North America to itself. Polk and the British created a line in 1846 at the 49th parallel, which is today the border between Washington State and Canada (with some adjustments made for Vancouver Island). As a result, the US gained its first undisputed stretch of Pacific coastline.