The United States & the Relative Positions of The Oregon and Texas

The rather odd title on this map harks back to its first issue, almost certainly in 1845, when both the political questions of the Oregon Territory and Texas were hotly debated topics of the day. The map originated as one of Wyld’s fast growing “political zeitgeist” maps. These were separately issued, cheaply produced pieces of cartography which put important political issues current to the moment in a geographical context. They were usually produced in very limited quantities and in pamphlets or wallets, sometimes backed on linen. They are a particularly interesting historical source.

In 1845, the United States was faced with two potential crises: the then independent Republic of Texas had petitioned Congress to join the Union and the less inflammatory but equally important question of the border between the Oregon Territory and British Columbia was waiting to be settled. In the case of the former, Mexico had already declared that if Texas was “stolen” by the United States, then it would lead to war. On paper, Mexico’s army was far larger than that of the United States, hence their conundrum. Equally, if the U.S. army was engaged in a war with Mexico, it left the United States exposed in the Pacific Northwest. Tension with Britain had been rising and the United States could not afford to station even a few hundred men in the Oregon if they decided to engage in a war with Mexico. Hence the reason why the United States climbed down from many of their demands, particularly the “fifty-four or fight” slogan, and settled the border in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. These were the matters leading to the publication of this map and hence its title specifying the positions of Texas and The Oregon.

Ever the commercial pragmatist, Wyld obviously thought his map of the United States was a success and used it as a base for his succeeding maps of the whole of the whole country. These later issues record political and infrastructural changes. There are records of issues in the late 1840s, the 1850s, the Civil War as well as later Post-Bellum issues showing the development of the western States. As well as publishing them separately, Wyld also inserted this map into his “New General Atlas” as an update to an earlier map. The origins of this previous map can be traced to the Revolutionary War and although it was regularly revised, it showed the western border of the United States as the Mississippi River. Overall, it is impossible to ascertain if this updated map was originally designed for the atlas or as a separate issue but it is likely to have been the latter due to the continued use of the same title even though the events alluded to had long been resolved.

This example of the map is one of these later editions which was present in the atlas. The newly established western States are superimposed upon the old Treaty Lines such as the Treaty of Florida of 1819 and the proposed border between Mexico and the United States of 1835. The achievements of the great trans-continental railways such as the Union Pacific are shown in parallel to the great wagon trails of the earlier period. Due to this superimposition, the map is extremely interesting though very difficult to date specifically. We have dated this map approximately 1871-2 due to the presence of Manitoba, which was founded in 1870.
Original colour. [USA9639]