Let me handle your first question -- always good to do one question at a time here. :-)
Prior to President Theodore Roosevelt, those who preceded him in federal government had tended to side with industry leaders, expecting laborers to fall in line and do the work for the good of the companies. In 1902, when there was a particularly tense strike by coal workers, Roosevelt invited both sides (labor leaders and management leaders) to the White House to negotiate. This was an example of the way he saw the role of government leadership as "steward" to the nation, mediating on behalf of everyone's interests, not just the interests of a powerful small group. His "Square Deal" policies were aimed at making things fair and square for the general public. An example of this would be how much land was set aside under his administration as national forests, national parks, national monuments, etc. He was seeking to protect the use of the land for all Americans' interests, rather than letting corporations tear into any land or forest they wanted in order to grab natural resources.
<span>The Treaty of 1818 between the US and Britain stated the Oregon Country would be jointly occupied by the US and Britain. But it resulted in disputes between Americans and British and another treaty, the Oregon Treaty, was signed in 1846. It stated the Oregon Country would be divided in two. The US would get all the land south of the 49th parallel (which eventually became the states of Washington and Oregon) and the British would get all the land north of the 49 parallel (which became British Columbia). Except for Vancouver Island off the coast of the Oregon Country, 4/5's of Vancouver Island was north of the 49th parallel so the US said Britain could have all of it instead of splitting it at the 49th parallel.
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