54° 40' or Fight - How a Latitude Line became a Rallying Cry

1/14/2017

"Polk's Dream", via Library of Congress

How could a line of latitude become a rallying cry for war in the 19th century? Elizabeth examines the Oregon Border Dispute and explains the myths and passions surrounding the slogan.

Podcaster: Elizabeth

Further Reading

Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State.

Hans Sperber, "'Fifty-Four Forty or Fight': Facts and Fictions." American Speech .32:1 (1957): pp. 5-11.

Edwin A. Miles, ""Fifty-four Forty or Fight"--An American Political Legend", The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 44:2 ,(1957): 291-309, doi:10.2307/1887191.

Herschel I. Grossman, “FIFTY-FOUR FORTY OR FIGHT!” National Bureau of Economic Research (2003).

Fun novel:
Emerson Hough, 54-40 or Fight, 1909.

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)

Eleanor Donovan link

1/15/2017 12:12:54 am

PLEASE. I do not live in Or e gone but in Ore gun. Grates on my ears I enjoy the podcasts but wish you young people would learn correct pronunciation.
I have noticed that the younger generation is as blazae about saying words as I am about spelling them.
I do enjoy your history

Elizabeth

1/17/2017 08:23:55 pm

Eleanor, since I read this comment on my 37th birthday, I mostly want to give you a massive hug for calling me a young person ;) I promise you that unfortunately the pronunciation is regional (my parents are from the Bronx, NY) more than chronological BUT I also promise you I won't make this mistake again!

Jordanna

1/19/2017 09:59:00 am

haha, I came here to correct your pronunciation, but I can see someone beat me to it. If it helps, I'm a "young" person too, but I live in Oregon, and it hurts my ears to hear "Or-Gone" instead of "Ore-Gun". And believe, me, you're not the only one from the east coast who pronounces it incorrectly, I don't think it's a generational thing at all.... :)

David Ford

1/29/2017 12:33:30 am

I certainly found this episode interesting, but it could have had more human interest. You didn't mention Dr. John McLauglin, for instance.

President Polk advertised in the Eastern papers for settlers. Free land! All you have to do is get there and claim it! A technical problem though: You had to walk 2000 miles, on what became known as the Oregon Trail.

Waiting for those who survived the trail was Dr. John McLauglin, Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver, and de facto governor, for the British, of a territory that ran from San Francisco to Alaska, and over to the Rockies.

I have seen Fort Vancouver and the Astor fort established some years later. One a full size community and the other a shack. McLaughlin also had 14 other forts scattered over the territory. He did an amazing job of keeping the peace during his tenure, despite having to deal with the Russians, the Spanish, the warring local tribes, and, of course, the Americans. Fort Vancouver never fired a shot in anger.

When the Americans began pouring in, he had to make a very hard choice. If he resisted them, as he had every right to do, he might start another war. Besides, they were exhausted and destitute. So he decided to welcome them instead. For this he was later made the Father of Oregon.

You may gather that I am on the British side in this. I am from British Columbia, and the people I meet from Oregon seem to me much more likely to be happy as Canadians than as Americans. That is true in spades now!

Besides, McLaughlin is my several greats uncle.

Elizabeth link

1/29/2017 08:35:02 am

David, if only I had known he was your uncle! I love to drop in Easter eggs like that. Ah well, at least he is now recorded in the comments on this post.

Lexi Bortnick

11/16/2017 07:20:00 pm

I, unlike Eleanor, find your pronunciation of Oregon to be perfectly acceptable, and I strongly think that you do not deserve the hate you are receiving for this minor pronunciation error.

Spencer Smith

11/16/2017 08:13:40 pm

I dispute your comment Lexi. I believe that the pronunciation of Oregon was, and always will be, the most important part of the entire podcast! Almost as important as Polk's presidency and America's natural right to take land from England. I was however happy that a couple times throughout the podcast you (Elizabeth) used the correct pronunciation before preceding back to the wrong pronunciation.
Loved the podcast though :)

11/17/2017 08:54:18 am

Greetings Spencer, I would like to politely dispute your most recent commit. I feel that you are being much too judgy and should learn to accept all pronunciations of the word Oregon.

Bailey Demorest

11/17/2017 08:59:04 am

I am not sure if you are aware, but there are other words than dispute when talking about disagreeing an argument. I highly recommend that you use Thesaurus.com as a resource if your brain can not think of synonyms.

11/17/2017 08:56:45 am

Why hello again.. Lexi... I am glad that we are both using the word "dispute", however i am sure that you would pronounce it "desp-oot" because you believe that mispronunciation has no effect on the meaning of the word.

11/17/2017 09:00:46 am

Salutations Mr. Smith, I would first like to say that our comments are shortly going to get delete; however, your savage attack of my pronunciation of the world dispute is both unnecessary and false.

11/17/2017 09:03:30 am

I agree with Spencer. The name "Lexi Bortnick" seems like an uneducated person who would pronounce the word "dispute" as "desp-oot". Sarah or Fiona would be a more respectable name than Lexi.

Madeline

11/17/2017 09:02:53 am

Hey Lexi, i totally agree with Spencer on this one. Sorry but pronunciation is key for a valid argument, savage or not.

Henry Clay

11/14/2019 01:35:53 pm

Wow what a fang-tastic episode!

11/14/2019 07:07:30 pm

Thank you, Henry! I'm sorry that whole American System didn't work out.

54° 40' or Fight - How a Latitude Line became a Rallying Cry

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