348 W. C. Woodward Sufficient has been said to indicate the high 01 der of politi- cal ability of these pioneer state builders. A few of them in after years became influential in the national councils, when their loyalty to established government as manifested in these days, was exerted in support of the national cause which their party had in the main deserted. 1 A few rose in ability to the position of real statesmen whose resourcefulness and quali- ties of mind and heart would have made them marked men anywhere. Such was Jesse Applegate. 2 The majority had that political aptitude which rendered them typical Americans — able to make any government work. Summing up the political characteristics of the Oregon pioneers, we find them to be thoroughly American and nation- alistic in their political ideals and tendencies, but at the same time thoroughly independent and ready to prove themselves self-sufficient on due occasion ; personally ambitious for politi- cal advancement ; suspicious of too freely exercised executive authority; slow to subject themselves to the financial burdens of government; opposed to the existence of slavery and the presence of the Negro ; determined that their government should be one by the people, and that their representatives should be truly representative ; conservative in legislation and liberal and moderate in administration ; possessed of a high order of political capability. As might be expected, there was no political alignment in the period of the Provisional Government except along local lines as were naturally drawn from the exigencies of the situa- tion in the isolated, jointly occupied territory. Making up the population we find: those connected directly with the Hud- son's Bay Company, the Catholic missionaries, the Protestant i Notably, J. W. Nesmith. 2Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican, visited the Coast in 1866 and in his book "Across the Continent," p. 177, tells of visiting Applegate and "finding a vigorous old man. . . clear, strong and original in thought and its expression, with views upon our public affairs worthy the head of our wisest; every way indeed such a man as you wonder to find here in the woods, rejoice to find anywhere and hunger to have in his rightful position, conspicuous in the government." Cf. L. F. Grover, "Notable Things in a Public Life in Oregon," Ms., pp. 75, 80. M. P. Deady, annual address before Oregon Pioneer Association, 1875. Proceedings, p. 36. J. W. Nesmith, ibid., p. 62.
