to give valid title brought home to the settlers the fact that they were in a land without laws and government. Steps were taken to bring about the establishment of some form of government. As a consequence of their proceedings one Dr. Ira L. Babcock was appointed Supreme Judge with probate powers, and it was resolved that "until a code of laws be adopted by this community Doctor Babcock be instructed to act according to the laws of the State of New York."[1] [[2]] Various efforts were made between 1841, after that resolution was taken, and 1843, to get under headway with the new government, but they availed little until May 2, 1843. On that date a meeting took place at Champoick (also given Champoeg), between Salem and Oregon City, where amidst tense feeling and by a close vote it was decided to establish a "Provisional Government" and a committee of nine were designated to draft a plan and to report to the people on the 5th of July following. Speaking of that committee and its work, Mr. J. R. Robertson, of Oregon, writing in 1900, observes:
"This committee is of great importance in the history of civil government in Oregon, because of the responsibility which rested upon it, and because of the excellence of its work. Its members were neither learned nor acquainted with the law, but they possessed good judgment and common sense. Their meeting place was an old barn belonging to the Methodist Mission."[3]
The report of the committee is interesting and instructive. It exhibits the political thought and habits and wishes of the pioneers, uninfluenced by the immediate surroundings of civilization and the formal procedure and political ceremony so important in the operations of political institutions. We have there a practical illustration of the creation of a civil
- ↑ See Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. II, p. 101. Article by H. W. Scott on "The Provisional Government."
- ↑ [A note in H. H. Bancroft's History of Oregon, vol. I, p. 1294, says: "At this time there was but one copy of the laws of the State of New York in the colony."—Editor]
- ↑ Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. I, p. 35.
