Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/493

442 an opinion that there was a determination to perfect as rapidly as possible a government which would be able to cope with the exigencies to which it was liable to be subjected. In advising the adoption of a constitution, the writer of the message used this language: "It should be constructed in such a manner as would best suit the local situation of the country, and promote the general interests of the citizens, without interfering with the real or pretended rights of the United States or Great Britain, except when the protection of life and property actually require it." The legislative committee, by calling for the votes of the people upon a constitutional convention, may have been feeling their way toward what the future had in store for them, without meriting much opprobrium.

It is noteworthy, however, that at the first session Lovejoy moved to strike the word 'territory' out of the journal of legislative proceedings. This might mean that the legislative committee did not wish the country to be considered a territory of the United States, or that in their estimation it was not such at present. An attempt was made in the legislature of 1845 to establish the name Oregon Territory, but it was never adopted until the boundary was determined and the question of sovereignty set at rest. Again, in the judiciary act, the nineteenth article of the organic law is repealed, the same being a resolution that a committee should be appointed to "draw up a digest of the doings of the people of this territory, with regard to an organization, and transmit the same to the United States government for their information." That committee, consisting of Lee, Hines, and Walker, never informed the government of the organization, nor did the legislative committee of 1844. It was not until 1845 that congress was notified that Oregon enjoyed a government in which the United