BC Cook
For Variety
IF we make a list of major Pacific powers it would include the United States, Japan, China, Philippines, Australia and perhaps Russia, Korea, and England. Other countries have come and gone in the stream of time. They have all made their presence felt at different times and most have left their mark. But the history of the Pacific could have been radically different if the Oregon dispute had ended differently.
In 1846 three countries clashed over who owned the Oregon country. This piece of property, which makes up of the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, was claimed by Mexico, the United States and England (who claimed it was part of Canada). Of the three, Mexico had the weakest claim so they did not push very hard for their rights, but both the Mexicans and the British were highly motivated. If one of them owned Oregon it would deny the United States access to the Pacific.
Very few countries enjoy the benefits of having coastlines on two oceans. The short list includes Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia and a few smaller ones. The economic benefits are obvious. A country could easily do business with multiple regions of the world. A Pacific coast would give the U.S. easy access to Asian markets and an advantage over European countries who must travel a long way to get there. Not to mention, a country with two-ocean access could maintain a larger fleet and thus spread their naval might over a much larger portion of the globe.
The United States wanted to cut Canada off from the Pacific and England wanted to cut America off. The standoff had all the makings of a messy war and that is exactly what the Americans wanted. They convinced the English that they were willing to fight over the territory and the English were clearly not, so a deal was struck which allowed both Canada and the U.S. to have a Pacific coast. History changed forever.
Imagine the implications if the U.S. did not gain access to the Pacific coast. There would have been no battle at Manila Bay in 1898 because the U.S. would not have had a Pacific fleet in the neighborhood when they went to war with Spain. Therefore there would never have been an American period in Philippines history, no MacArthur, no Bataan.
There would have been no Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 because the United States would not have acquired those islands if they did not have a Pacific coast. In fact, since the Japanese were as interested in Hawaii as the Americans were, they probably would have annexed the island group themselves.
If there was no Pacific War between Japan and the United States there would be no U.S. presence in the islands today. The Americans came to be in places like Saipan because they fought the Japanese for them. No Oregon dispute, no NMI Covenant. And while we are at it, no Spam in Saipan because that came with the Americans too.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
