VI 



ANDREW JACKSON 



FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 



IN one of the debates on the Oregon question in the 

 United States Senate, about five and fifty years ago, 

 Senator McDuffie of South Carolina laughed to scorn 

 the idea that such a remote country as Oregon could 

 ever be of the slightest use to us. Just imagine a state, 

 said he, the representatives from which would require the 

 whole of the year to get to Washington and back! It 

 was because of this short-sightedness, which was shared 

 by all our Eastern statesmen, that we consented to 

 divide the disputed territory with Great Britain. If 

 our government could only then have followed the 

 wise and bold advice of the far-sighted Benton, the 

 whole of that magnificent country now known as Brit- 

 ish Columbia might have been ours, and in all prob- 

 ability without a war. 



But if those statesmen who thought the northern 

 Pacific coast not worth fighting for seem narrow- 

 minded, what shall be said of the views expressed by 

 Gouverneur Morris in the convention that framed the 

 Constitution of the United States? Morris was not 

 only one of the most brilliant men in that wonderful 

 convention, but as far as the original thirteen states 

 were concerned he was inclined to broad and liberal 

 views. But when it came to the imperial domain com- 



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