128 THE ROARING FORTIES 



Resentment at such a condition of affairs 

 was expressed with steadily increasing volume 

 throughout the United States, but especially 

 in the West, and was accompanied by shrill 

 demands that the American claim to the whole 

 of the Oregon territory should be effectively 

 asserted. In the presidential campaign of 1844 

 the Democrats united this demand with that 

 for the annexation of Texas. &quot; Fifty-four forty 

 or fight&quot; was the alliterative slogan that em 

 bodied the jingoistic feeling as to Oregon. The 

 Democratic convention recorded in the party 

 platform its conviction &quot;that our title to the 

 whole of the territory of Oregon is clear and 

 unquestionable; that no portion of the same 

 ought to be ceded to England or any other 

 power.&quot; With all due allowance for the insin 

 cerities and bluster of campaign declamation, 

 the election of Polk on such a platform, together 

 with the popular feeling exhibited during the 

 canvass, gave strong evidence that the time 

 was at hand for a definitive settlement of the 

 long-standing question. The inaugural address 

 of the new President, in March, 1845, made the 

 matter perfectly clear. Polk declared it his duty 

 to &quot;assert and maintain by all constitutional 

 means the right of the United States to that 



