26 LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846
account of this point of the country. He was hourly impressed with the strict accuracy of that officer's observations.
The people of Oregon had lived without law or politics, until the early part of 1845 3 ; and it is a strong evidence of their good sense and good disposition that it had not previously been found necessary to establish some restraints of law m a community of several thousand people. Among the emigrants of this year, however, were many intelligent reflecting minds, who plainly saw that this order of things could not continue in a rapidly increasing and bustling population ; and that it had become in- dispensable to establish legal landmarks to secure property to those already in its possession, and poi'nt to new comers a mode of acquiring it. A convention was accordingly held, and a majority of votes taken in favor of establishing a provisional government, "until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us." The organic law or con- stitution was of course first framed, and made abundantly dem- ocratic in its character for the taste of the most ultra disciple of that political school.
It makes the male descendants of a white man 21 years of age, no matter of what colored womaft begotten, eligible for any office in the Territory; and grants every such person the privilege of selecting six hundred and forty acres of land, "in a square or oblong form, according to the natural situation of the premises." It provides for the election of a governor and other officers, civil and military, and makes it the duty of such elected to take the following oath :
"I do solemnly swear to support the organic laws of Oregon, as far as they are consistent with my duties as a citizen of the United States, or as a subject of Great Britain, and faithfully demean myself in office ; so help me God."
One of the first enactments of the legislature elected under the organic law, was, "that in addition to gold and silver, treas- ury drafts, and good merchantable wheat at the market price, shall be a lawful tender."
3. Lieutenant Howison is hardly correct in this statement, as a fairly com- plete political organization was effected in 1843. In 1845 the governmental author- ity was made more adequate.
