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After the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it was generally agreed that the boundary between it and British Rupert's Land was along the watershed between the Missouri RiverThe Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. At about 2,565 mi (4,130 km) in length, it is the longest river in the United States and drains approximately one-sixth of the North American continent. The combined Missouri and Mississippi RiverThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t basins on one side and the Hudson BayHudson Bay is a large body of water in northeastern Canada. It drains a large portion of the northern areas of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba and the southeastern area of Nunavut. A smaller offshoot of the bay, James Bay, lies to the south. The placename us basin on the other. However, it is difficult to precisely determine the location of a watershed in a region of level plains, such as in central North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea. The British and American committees that met after the War of 1812The North American War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom is one of several wars associated with that year. It is more normally known in British texts as the British-American War to distinguish it from Napoleon's war against Russia w to resolve boundary disputes recognized there would be much animosity in surveying the watershed boundary, and agreed on a simpler solution in 1818: the 49th parallel. Both sides gained and lost some territory by this convention, but the United States gained more than it lost, in particular securing title to the Red River BasinThe Red River Basin is a region of the United States which is historically important because the U. government uses the term to generally describe the sections of northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota which the U. secured title to following. This convention established the boundary only between the Lake of the WoodsLake of the Woods ( French: lac des Bois is a lake occupying parts of the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the state of Minnesota. It separates some land in Minnesota, the Northwest Angle, from the rest of the United States so it can be reached from and the Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3000 miles (4800 km) from Mexico, through the continental United States, into Canada and Alaska. The highest peak is M; west of the Rockies, the convention established joint occupation of the Oregon Country by both parties.
Although the Convention of 1818 settled the boundary from the point of view of the non-Aboriginal powers, neither the United Kingdom nor the United States was immediately sovereign over the territories on its side of the line: effective control still rested with the local nations, mainly the Métis, Assiniboine , Lakota and Blackfoot. Their sovereignty was gradually ceded by conquest and treaty during the several decades that followed.
In 1844, part of James Polk's platform in his presidential run was that the northern border of the Oregon Territory should be 54°40'; he even had a campaign slogan of "54°40' or fight!" However, with the Mexican-American war starting in 1846, the military was needed elsewhere and this goal was not achieved.
In 1846 the Oregon Treaty divided the Oregon Country between British North America and the United States by extending the 49th parallel boundary to the west coast, ending at the Strait of Georgia; it then circumvents Vancouver Island through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Although parts of Vancouver Island and much of Eastern Canada are located below the 49th parallel, and parts of the United States ( Alaska, Northwest Angle) are located above it, the term 49th parallel is sometimes used as a nickname for the entire Canada-U.S. border.