Oregon Territorial Legislature

Oregon Territorial Legislature
Oregon Territory
Seal of the Oregon Territory
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Lower: House of Representatives Upper: Council
History
Established	1848
Disbanded	1859
Preceded by	Provisional Legislature of Oregon
Succeeded by	Oregon Legislative Assembly
Seats	27 (1849) 35 (1858)
Meeting place
Oregon City (1849–1851) Salem (1852–1859) Corvallis (1855)

Oregon’s Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory. The upper chamber Council and lower chamber House of Representatives first met in July 1849; they served as the region's legislative body until Oregon became a state in February 1859, when they were replaced by the bicameral Oregon State Legislature.

Ten annual sessions were held, with most starting in December and ending in February. During the sessions the capital of the territory was moved from Oregon City to Salem, then briefly to Corvallis, and back to Salem. Legislation included the creation of new counties, the renaming of old counties, and the authorization to hold the Oregon Constitutional Convention, among other acts. Membership in the Council remained at nine throughout the history of the body, while the House of Representatives membership increased from 17 to as high as 30 due to increases in population.

The Provisional Government of Oregon was the region's governing body from 1843 until 1849, at the end of the region's joint settlement by Great Britain and the United States. The Provisional Government's legislative body was the unicameral Provisional Legislature of Oregon.

In 1846 the United States and Great Britain settled the Oregon Question with the Oregon Treaty. The treaty created a boundary between British North America and the United States west of the Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel. Two years later on August 14, 1848 the Organic Act was signed into law by President James K. Polk creating the Oregon Territory out of the lands south of the 49th parallel, north of the 42nd parallel (northern boundary of California) and west of the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. The structural framework for the government came from the Northwest Ordinance, passed in 1787, which created the Northwest Territory. The Territorial Legislature then worked within the legal framework of the Organic Laws of Oregon. These laws were the de facto constitution of the Provisional Government. These laws were determined to be valid by Territorial Governor Joseph Lane when he arrived in the territory in 1849 and effectuated the beginning of United States control and government in Oregon Country.