Fifty-four-forty or Fight

[fif-tee-fawr-fawr-tee, -fohr-]

U.S. History.

1. a slogan popular in 1846, especially among Democrats, who asserted U.S. ownership of the entire Oregon country, including the part that Great Britain claimed between 49° and 54° 40prime; N latitude.

Example Sentences

The Democratic platform of 1844 had declared: "Fifty-four-forty, or fight."

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Oregon had been held in joint occupancy by the two nations for many years; now a line of demarcation was to be drawn, and there was a loud popular demand for maintaining at any cost the extreme northern line of latitude—it was "Fifty-four-forty or fight."

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Great Britain insisted that her southern boundary should extend at least as far as the Columbia River, while Americans finally claimed the whole of the disputed area, and one of the slogans of the presidential campaign of 1844 was "Fifty-Four-Forty or Fight."

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Notwithstanding the fact that the democratic platform had demanded "Fifty-Four-Forty or Fight," as soon as Polk became President he offered to compromise with England on the 49th parallel.

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Mr. Polk embodied this view in his message, together with the assertion that our rights extended to the line of 54° 40' north, and a shout of "fifty-four-forty or fight" went through the land from the enthusiastic Democracy.

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