Political Parties in Oregon 341 Where the feeling for personal liberty is so strong, jealousy of executive authority is manifested in like degree and this is well illustrated in that provision of the Organic Law which created an executive committee. At the Champoeg meeting of May 2, 1843, after the action in, favor of political organiza- tion was taken, the first motion carried was that there should be no governor. 1 In view of the need of some form of execu- tive authority, this mandate of the people gave the Legislative Committee no little trouble, the expedient of a. committee of three being finally adopted. Even this was not sanctioned at the convention of July 5th, without vehement protest. In fact it was the only provision which met serious opposition. Gus- tavus Hines, who presided, characterized the triple executive as a "hydra-headed monster in the shape of an executive com- mittee which was but a repetition of the Roman Triumvirate — the Caesars upon a throne." 2 There were also other factors entering into the situation. The receptive candidates for gov- ernor were so numerous 3 that the selection of such an officer might have left too many sore spots when unanimity in pur- pose and action was so necessary to success. And then the un- dercurrent of suspicion existing between the Mission party and the independent settlers was such that a governor from the ranks of either would have weakened the allegiance of the other. The plethora of candidates for governor indicated a healthful state of political ambition which would give tone to future politics in Oregon. With the growth in strength of the new government, the people yielded their prejudices on this point and in 1845 substituted a governor for the impracti- cable committee. These typical frontiersmen were sensitive on the subject of taxation. The second motion passed at the Champoeg meeting was that no law should be passed to levy a tax. 4 This 1 Robert Newell, Annotations in copy of Grover's "Oregon Archives," in Ban- croft Library, University of California. 2J. Q. Thornton, "History of the Provisional Government" in Proceedings of Oregon Pioneer Association for 1874, p. 64. Clarke, "Pioneer Days," Vol. 2, p. 668. Lyman, "History of Oregon," Vol. 3, p. 304. 3Newell, Annotations. 4Newell, Annotations.
