THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
VOLUME XXIII SEPTEMBER, 1922 NUMBER 3
Copyright, 1922, by the Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages.
THE OREGON QUESTION—1818-1828
A study of Dr. John Floyd's efforts in Congress to secure the Oregon Country.
By Verne Blue
December 19, 1920, passed utterly unnoticed by the people of Oregon. Yet it was a date which possessed at least a sentimental significance in being the centennial anniversary of the date which marks the first Congressional action looking toward the occupancy and acquisition of the Oregon Country. On that day, 1820, early in the closing session of the 16th Congress, the House of Representatives heard a motion from Mr. Floyd that a committee be appointed to inquire into the situation of the settlements on the Pacific Ocean, and on the expediency of occupying the Columbia River.[1] The House accepted the motion and Mr. Floyd, Mr. Metcalfe, and Mr. Swearingen were appointed.
Dr. John Floyd was a Virginian whose heredity and training endowed him with the spirit of the frontier. For the details of his life one must go to his biography, but there is nothing about him very difficult to understand.[2] The American organism from the first colonial planting had developed the trait of expansion. Out of
