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Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country (1818-1846), in the Pacific Northwest region of the western portion of the continent of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, and it existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849, and provided a legal system and a common defense amongst the mostly American pioneers settling an area then inhabited by the many Indigenous Nations. Much of the region's geography and many of the Natives were not known by people of European descent until several exploratory tours and expeditions were authorized at the turn of the 18th to the 19th centuries, such as Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery going northwest in 1804-1806, and United States Army Lt. Zebulon Pike and his party first journeying north, then later to the far southwest.
The Organic Laws of Oregon were adopted in 1843 with its preamble stating that settlers only agreed to the laws "until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us". According to a message from the government in 1844, the rising settler population was beginning to flourish among the "savages", who were "the chief obstruction to the entrance of civilization" in a land of "ignorance and idolatry".
The provisional government had organized with the traditional three branches that included a legislature, judiciary, and executive branch. The executive government was at first the Executive Committee, consisting of three members, in effect from 1843 to 1845; then in 1845, a governor replaced the committee. The judicial branch had a single Supreme Judge along with several lower local courts, and a legislative committee of nine served temporarily as a legislature until later when the lower chamber of the Oregon House of Representatives for the new federal Oregon Territory was established in August 1848 by action of the United States Congress and approved by the President up to statehood in 1859.
A series of frontiersmen and pioneer colonists assemblies were held over several years across the recently settled Willamette Valley, of the Oregon Country, with many on the French Prairie at Champoeg. On February 9, 1841, the death of prominent early settler Ewing Young (1799-1841), – who left no last will and testament nor had any heirs in Oregon Country region – left the future of his property uncertain. On February 17, missionary Jason Lee (1803-1845), chaired the first meeting organised to discuss the matter. He proposed the creation of an authority over the pioneers centered on a governor. Some French-Canadian settlers blocked the measure and instead a probate judge and a few other positions were appointed.
Further attempts at a pioneer government floundered until increased numbers of wagon train caravans traveling westward over the Oregon Trail led to an increase in the American settler population from the east. Initiated by William H. Gray (1810-1889), the "Wolf Meetings" of early 1843 created a bounty system on animal predators attacking settlers' livestock of cattle, pigs and sheep. Further discussions began among the settlers until a gathering was finally held at Champoeg on May 2, with under 150 Americans and French-Canadians participating. The proposal for forming a provisional government was tabled and voted on twice. The first vote rejected the presented report due to the inclusion of a governor, with a second vote on each individual text item / provision that was proposed. Two months later, on July 5, 1843, the Organic Laws of Oregon, modeled after the 1838 Iowa Territory's Organic Law and the previous old Ordinance of 1787 (adopted 56 years before by the former Confederation Congress (1781-1789), under the earlier governing document of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union drawn up 1776-1780, and adopted 1781, for establishing the old Northwest Territory (1787-1803) north of the Ohio River and around the Great Lakes), were adopted by the new American and former French-Canadian colonists of the Willamette Valley, establishing the Provisional Government of Oregon.
The government was, according to pioneers Overton Johnson and William H. Winter (1819-1879), intended from the start as an interim entity, until "whenever [the United States] extends her jurisdiction over the Territory". (Johnson would go on to serve as Recorder for the provisional government for a few months in 1844.)
The Organic Laws were drafted by a legislative committee on May 16, 1843 and June 28, 1843, before being adopted on July 5. Although not a formal constitution, the document outlined the laws of the government. Two years later, on July 2, 1845, a new set of Organic Laws was drafted to revise and clarify the previous version; this newer version was adopted by a majority vote of the people on July 26, 1845. This constitution-like document divided the government into three departments: a judiciary branch, an executive branch, and a legislature. The definition of the executive branch had previously been modified, in late 1844, from a three-person committee to a single governor; this change took effect in 1845.
When appealing for military aid from the American Government in the aftermath of the Whitman massacre, the settlers detailed the structural weaknesses of the Provisional Government:
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Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country (1818-1846), in the Pacific Northwest region of the western portion of the continent of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, and it existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849, and provided a legal system and a common defense amongst the mostly American pioneers settling an area then inhabited by the many Indigenous Nations. Much of the region's geography and many of the Natives were not known by people of European descent until several exploratory tours and expeditions were authorized at the turn of the 18th to the 19th centuries, such as Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery going northwest in 1804-1806, and United States Army Lt. Zebulon Pike and his party first journeying north, then later to the far southwest.
The Organic Laws of Oregon were adopted in 1843 with its preamble stating that settlers only agreed to the laws "until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us". According to a message from the government in 1844, the rising settler population was beginning to flourish among the "savages", who were "the chief obstruction to the entrance of civilization" in a land of "ignorance and idolatry".
The provisional government had organized with the traditional three branches that included a legislature, judiciary, and executive branch. The executive government was at first the Executive Committee, consisting of three members, in effect from 1843 to 1845; then in 1845, a governor replaced the committee. The judicial branch had a single Supreme Judge along with several lower local courts, and a legislative committee of nine served temporarily as a legislature until later when the lower chamber of the Oregon House of Representatives for the new federal Oregon Territory was established in August 1848 by action of the United States Congress and approved by the President up to statehood in 1859.
A series of frontiersmen and pioneer colonists assemblies were held over several years across the recently settled Willamette Valley, of the Oregon Country, with many on the French Prairie at Champoeg. On February 9, 1841, the death of prominent early settler Ewing Young (1799-1841), – who left no last will and testament nor had any heirs in Oregon Country region – left the future of his property uncertain. On February 17, missionary Jason Lee (1803-1845), chaired the first meeting organised to discuss the matter. He proposed the creation of an authority over the pioneers centered on a governor. Some French-Canadian settlers blocked the measure and instead a probate judge and a few other positions were appointed.
Further attempts at a pioneer government floundered until increased numbers of wagon train caravans traveling westward over the Oregon Trail led to an increase in the American settler population from the east. Initiated by William H. Gray (1810-1889), the "Wolf Meetings" of early 1843 created a bounty system on animal predators attacking settlers' livestock of cattle, pigs and sheep. Further discussions began among the settlers until a gathering was finally held at Champoeg on May 2, with under 150 Americans and French-Canadians participating. The proposal for forming a provisional government was tabled and voted on twice. The first vote rejected the presented report due to the inclusion of a governor, with a second vote on each individual text item / provision that was proposed. Two months later, on July 5, 1843, the Organic Laws of Oregon, modeled after the 1838 Iowa Territory's Organic Law and the previous old Ordinance of 1787 (adopted 56 years before by the former Confederation Congress (1781-1789), under the earlier governing document of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union drawn up 1776-1780, and adopted 1781, for establishing the old Northwest Territory (1787-1803) north of the Ohio River and around the Great Lakes), were adopted by the new American and former French-Canadian colonists of the Willamette Valley, establishing the Provisional Government of Oregon.
The government was, according to pioneers Overton Johnson and William H. Winter (1819-1879), intended from the start as an interim entity, until "whenever [the United States] extends her jurisdiction over the Territory". (Johnson would go on to serve as Recorder for the provisional government for a few months in 1844.)
The Organic Laws were drafted by a legislative committee on May 16, 1843 and June 28, 1843, before being adopted on July 5. Although not a formal constitution, the document outlined the laws of the government. Two years later, on July 2, 1845, a new set of Organic Laws was drafted to revise and clarify the previous version; this newer version was adopted by a majority vote of the people on July 26, 1845. This constitution-like document divided the government into three departments: a judiciary branch, an executive branch, and a legislature. The definition of the executive branch had previously been modified, in late 1844, from a three-person committee to a single governor; this change took effect in 1845.
When appealing for military aid from the American Government in the aftermath of the Whitman massacre, the settlers detailed the structural weaknesses of the Provisional Government: