Executive Committee (Oregon Country)

Seal of the Provisional Government

An Executive Committee was the title of a three-person committee which served as the executive Branch of the Provisional Government of Oregon in the disputed Oregon Country. This arrangement was announced on July 5, 1843, after three months of study by the Provisional Legislature at Champoeg. Two different Executive Committees served until the system was abandoned in 1845 in favor of an elected single chief executive.

Powers

The Executive Committee was empowered to grant reprieves and pardons, recommend legislation, and call out the militia.

Members of the First Executive Committee (1843–1844)

• David Hill – Pioneer from Connecticut, went on to become founder of Hillsboro, Oregon.
• Alanson Beers – Also from Connecticut, Methodist Missionary with the Reverend Jason Lee's mission. Later a business partner of George Abernethy.
• Joseph Gale – Ship builder, sea Captain and an accomplished trader.

Members of the Second Executive Committee (1844–1845)

• Peter G. Stewart – New York pioneer.
• Osborne Russell – Helped build Fort Hall in Idaho, fur trader, later candidate for Provisional Governor.
• William J. Bailey – Trapper and trader, later became a doctor.

Further reading

• Klooster, Karl. Round the Roses II: More Past Portland Perspectives, pg. 94, Portland, 1992. ISBN 0-9619847-1-6

References

Pioneer history of Oregon (1806–1890)
Topics	American Fur Company Columbian Exchange Executive Committee Ferries Hudson's Bay Company Oregon & California Railroad Oregon boundary dispute Oregon Country Oregon Lyceum Oregon missionaries Oregon Spectator Oregon Territory Oregon Trail Oregon Treaty Organic Laws Pacific Fur Company Provisional Government
Events	Treaty of 1818 Russo-American Treaty of 1824 Willamette Cattle Company Champoeg Meetings Star of Oregon Whitman massacre Cayuse War Donation Land Claim Act Holmes v. Ford Rogue River Wars Constitutional Convention Modoc War Great Gale of 1880
Places	Albina Applegate Trail Barlow Road Canemah Champoeg Elliott Cutoff Fort Astoria Fort Dalles Fort Vancouver Fort William French Prairie Linn City Meek Cutoff Methodist Mission Oregon City Oregon Institute Philip Foster Farm Thomas and Ruckle Road Tualatin Academy Whitman Mission Willamette Trading Post
People	George Abernethy Jesse Applegate Ira Babcock Sam Barlow François Blanchet William H. Boring Elijah Bristow Tabitha Brown Matthew Deady Abigail Scott Duniway Thomas Lamb Eliot Philip Foster Peter French Joseph Gale Cornelius Gilliam David Hill Chief Joseph Joseph Kellogg H.A.G. Lee Jason Lee David Thomas Lenox Asa Lovejoy Morton M. McCarver John McLoughlin Joseph Meek Ezra Meeker James D. Miller John Minto Robert Newell Joel Palmer Osborne Russell Sager orphans Levi Scott Henry Spalding William Vandevert Elijah White Marcus Whitman Narcissa Whitman Geo. H. Williams Ewing Young
Transportation	Columbia Lot Whitcomb Canemah Colonel Wright Gazelle Oregon Steam Navigation Company
Oregon history	pre-Pioneer Pioneer