John C. Calhoun - Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

When Whig president William Henry Harrison died after a month in office in 1841, vice president John Tyler took office. Tyler was a former Democrat and broke bitterly with the Whigs, and named Calhoun Secretary of State in 1844. Public opinion was inflamed about the Oregon boundary dispute, claimed by both Britain and the U.S.. Calhoun compromised by splitting the area down the middle at the 49th parallel, ending the war threat.