Details
POLK, JAMES K., President. Partly printed document signed ("James K. Polk") as President, countersigned by ISAAC TOUCY, Acting Secretary of State and Attorney General, Washington, D.C., 22 December 1848, 1 page, oblong folio, ON FINE PARCHMENT, intact Great seal of the United States, engraved calligraphic text, accomplished in manuscript. Polk, "reposing special trust in the Wisdom, Uprightness and Learning" of O.C. Pratt, appoints him "an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Oregon."
THE PRESIDENT WHO CAMPAIGNED WITH THE SLOGAN "FIFTY-FOUR FORTY OR FIGHT" SIGNS A JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT FOR THE OREGON TERRITORY
While he initially supported expansionist aims with regard to the disputed territory in the Northwest, after becoming President, Polk agreed to the compromise with Great Britain which fixed the northern border at the 49th parallel, thus granting the U.S. the present-day states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
THE PRESIDENT WHO CAMPAIGNED WITH THE SLOGAN "FIFTY-FOUR FORTY OR FIGHT" SIGNS A JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT FOR THE OREGON TERRITORY
While he initially supported expansionist aims with regard to the disputed territory in the Northwest, after becoming President, Polk agreed to the compromise with Great Britain which fixed the northern border at the 49th parallel, thus granting the U.S. the present-day states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.