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Source Description
America Transformed: During the 1840s and early 1850s, the political geography of the West changed dramatically. The nation annexed Texas, established the 49th parallel as its northwestern boundary, claimed the Oregon Territory, and won land from Mexico following the Mexican-American War. By the time this map was published in 1854, the United States included 31 states and seven territories. Commercially published maps like this one celebrated the nation’s expansion with small vignettes dispersed throughout these newly acquired territories depicting Native people, wildlife, and a wagon train. It also suggests a unified nation, but a statistical table enumerating free and enslaved population alludes to conflicts over whether to extend slavery into the western territories and foreshadows the impending Civil War.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7h149w52m
label
Colton's map of the United States of America, the British provinces, Mexico and the West Indies
core
obj
dtoType
map
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7h149w52m
contentType
map
stage
normalized
title
Colton's map of the United States of America, the British provinces, Mexico and the West Indies
description
America Transformed: During the 1840s and early 1850s, the political geography of the West changed dramatically. The nation annexed Texas, established the 49th parallel as its northwestern boundary, claimed the Oregon Territory, and won land from Mexico following the Mexican-American War. By the time this map was published in 1854, the United States included 31 states and seven territories. Commercially published maps like this one celebrated the nation’s expansion with small vignettes dispersed throughout these newly acquired territories depicting Native people, wildlife, and a wagon train. It also suggests a unified nation, but a statistical table enumerating free and enslaved population alludes to conflicts over whether to extend slavery into the western territories and foreshadows the impending Civil War.
date
["1854"]
year
1854
rights
No known copyright restrictions.
rightsUri
No known restrictions on use.
reuseAllowed
no restrictions
language
English
identifierLocal
06_01_008412
creators
Colton, J. H. (Joseph Hutchins), 1800-1893
institution
Boston Public Library
collections
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection
subjects
United States--Maps
North America--Maps
Mexico--Maps
West Indies--Maps
subjectsGeographic
Mexico
North America
North and Central America
United States
genreBasic
Maps
typeOfResource
Cartographic
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
pageCount
1
source
import
pubPlace
New York
publisher
J.H. Colton
Source extras
institutionArkId
sf268508b
collectionArkId
41688024w
schema:latitude
58.166
schema:longitude
-104.466
extent
1 map : col., mounted on muslin ; 118x 139 cm.
notes
Relief shown by hachures.
Prime meridians: Greenwich and Washington D.C.
Insets: Map of Central America -- The south eastern part of the West Indies -- Map of Newfoundland.
Includes statistics of the United States, table of distances, illustrations, and decorative border.
"Entered according to Act of Congress, February in the year 1853 by Joseph H. Coulton..."
hasTranscription
no
dcId
7h149w52m
type
map
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a85dbdb4f24f257a