What was the conflict surrounding Oregon Territory?

The Oregon conflict emerged in the 1840s, as thousands of American settlers streamed into the Oregon Territory. This region was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain (and of course many Native peoples whose claims to the lands went back hundreds of years), and was technically subject to "joint occupation" following an agreement between the two nations in the Convention of 1818, part of the series of diplomatic arrangements intended to keep peace...

The Oregon conflict emerged in the 1840s, as thousands of American settlers streamed into the Oregon Territory. This region was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain (and of course many Native peoples whose claims to the lands went back hundreds of years), and was technically subject to "joint occupation" following an agreement between the two nations in the Convention of 1818, part of the series of diplomatic arrangements intended to keep peace after the War of 1812. As American settlers moved into the region, calls for sole American annexation intensified. In 1844, James K. Polk ran for President with the slogan "54"40' or fight," referring to the line of latitude that the United States claimed as the border between the US and Canada. Rather than engage in a war that was not desired by either side, however, Polk and his British counterparts hammered out a compromise that fixed the border between Oregon and Canada at the 49th parallel (where it remains today). So the dispute in Oregon was, like the simultaneous dispute with Mexico, fundamentally about American territorial expansion.