Provisional Legislature of Oregon

Provisional Legislature of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government's Salmon Seal
Type
Type	Unicameral
Houses	Legislative Committee (1843–1844) House of Representatives (1845–1849)
History
Established	1843
Disbanded	1849
Preceded by	Champoeg Meetings
Succeeded by	Oregon Territorial Legislature
Seats	9 (1843–1844) 13 (1845) 17 (1846) 19 (1847–1849)
Meeting place
Oregon City

The Provisional Legislature of Oregon was the single-chamber legislative body of the Provisional Government of Oregon. It served the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest of North America from 1843 until early 1849 at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region. This democratically elected legislature became the Oregon Territorial Legislature when the territorial authorities arrived after the creation of the Oregon Territory by the United States in 1848. The body was first termed the Legislative Committee and later renamed the House of Representatives. Over the course of its six-year history the legislature passed laws, including taxation and liquor regulation, and created an army to deal with conflicts with Native Americans.

Many of the legislators would become prominent figures during the territorial years of Oregon. At first the body was a small committee of nine people, but the group was altered when the Organic Laws of Oregon were revised in 1845 with the legislative branch of the Provisional Government becoming the Oregon House of Representatives with a minimum of 13 members. Once the government was dissolved in 1849, all the laws remained in effect, except for the one that authorized the minting of coins. Territorial Governor Joseph Lane nullified that law, because it was in conflict with Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, giving Congress the sole right to coin money, thus ending production of the Beaver Coins.

On May 2, 1843, by a vote of 52 to 50, the European American settlers of the Oregon Country (mainly those from the Willamette Valley), created a provisional government at Champoeg. In May and June, a nine-person committee met in Oregon City and drafted the Organic Laws of Oregon as a pseudo-constitution that was subsequently ratified on July 5, 1843. This document created the government and authorized a provisional legislature of nine people.