nor and interest is too clear to admit of doubt.

Oregon is a part of the North American continent, to which, it is
confidently affirmed, the title of the United States is the best now in
existence. For the grounds on which that title rests I refer you to the
correspondence of the late and present Secretary of State with the
British plenipotentiary during the negotiation. The British proposition
of compromise, which would make the Columbia the line south of 49 deg., with
a trifling addition of detached territory to the United States north of
that river, and would leave on the British side two-thirds of the whole
Oregon Territory, including the free navigation of the Columbia and all
the valuable harbors on the Pacific, can never for a moment be
entertained by the United States without an abandonment of their just
and clear territorial rights, their own self-respect, and the national
honor. For the information of Congress, I communicate herewith the
correspondence which took place between the two Governments during the
late negotiation.

The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories heretofore
unoccupied, the addition of new States to our Confederacy, the expansion
of free principles, and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting
the attention of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been
broached in some of them of a "balance of power" on this continent to
check our advancement. The United States, sincerely desirous of
preserving relations of good understanding with all nations, can not in
silence permit any European interference on the North American
continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready
to resist it at any and all hazards.

It is well known to the American people and to all nations that this
Government has never interfered with the relations subsisting between
other governments. We have never made ourselves parties to their wars or
their alliances; we have not sought their territories by conquest; we
have not mingled with parties in their domestic struggles; and believing
our own form of government to be the best, we have never attempted to
propagate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. We may claim on
this continent a like exemption from European interference. The nations
of America are equally sovereign and independent with those of Europe.
They possess the same rights, independent of all foreign interposition,
to make war, to conclude peace,