"Who's for a divide? All in favor of the report and of an organization, follow me!"
There were fifty-two who voted for the motion, while their opponents were but fifty. Since this meant a provisional government in Oregon, the opposing faction withdrew. The business of the meeting was resumed, and a committee of nine was chosen to report a plan of civil government at a meeting to be held at Champoeg on the fifth of the following May.
JOSEPH MEEK
Legislative Committee Assemble at the Falls. At the Willamette Falls there was a small building used as a school, storage room, and lodging apartment. Here the committee of nine assembled as the first popular authoritative and deliberative body of Oregon, for the purpose of considering the form of Government[1] to be recommended to their fellow citizens at Champoeg the following July 5. The most perplexing question to solve was concerning the Executive, with the result that the Legislative Committee decided upon vesting the executive authority in a committee of three.
- ↑ "The genesis of American political government in the 'Oregon Country' dates from March 16, 1838, when a memorial, prepared by J. L. Whitcomb and thirty-five others, was forwarded to Washington, presented to Congress by Senator Linn on January 28, 1839, read and pigeonholed. A second memorial, signed by seventy Oregon settlers, was presented by Senator Linn in June, 1840, and suffered the same fate."
