54-40 or Fight is part romance and part history. It is the fictionalized story of the Oregon trail migrations and some of the characters - with women playing a primary role - who changed the course of history. Despite being published a century ago, the writing feels fresh and the characters are vividly portrayed. Emerson Hough's tale offers an inside view of a critical period of North American history at the end of the U. S. Civil War. The title refers to the Oregon Dispute, important in geopolitical diplomacy between the British Empire and the new American Republic. In 1844 the U. S. Democratic Party, appealing to expansionist sentiment, asserted that the U.S. had a claim to the entire Oregon Country up to the southern border of Alaska, which was at parallel 54°40 north.
The story revolves around deals and arguments as America's President James Polk tries to enforce U. S. claims on land north and south of its borders, balancing American expansion into the Texas/Mexican territories with the U.S. hold on the Pacific coast. In 1844 the U. S. Democratic Party, appealing to expansionist sentiment, asserted that the U.S. had a claim to the entire Oregon Country, and the term "54-40 or Fight" came to be born.
