Year of Award
2026
Document Type
Professional Paper
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
History
Department or School/College
History
Committee Chair
Claire Rydell Arcenas
Commitee Members
Wade Davies, Kelly Dixon
Keywords
American West, Oregon, Indigenous America, British Imperialism, United States Imperialism, William Ewart Gladstone
Subject Categories
Diplomatic History | Political History | United States History
Abstract
This paper builds on recent efforts to depict Indigenous polities across North America in their international relations with European and Euro-American colonists and their centralized governments. It examines George Frederick Ruxton, a private English citizen and former army lieutenant, as he developed his response to the U.S.-British Oregon dispute while living in London in early 1846. He concluded that continental warfare was imminent and took overt steps to influence British policy, which he believed could halt U.S. expansion and definitively resolve the “Oregon Question.”
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Rory Orion, "Continental Violence and the "Oregon Question": George Frederick Ruxton and the Nineteenth-Century Pacific Northwest" (2026). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12678.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12678
© Copyright 2026 Rory Orion Johnson