Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/132

116 congress of August 14, 1848, entitled "An Act to establish the Territorial Government of Oregon," arrived and lost no time in setting the wheels of the new government in motion. A census was taken, an election was held, and on the sixteenth of July, 1849, the first territorial legislative assembly met at Oregon City.

No delegate to congress was elected by the people during the existence of the Provisional Government. After the settlement of the boundary dispute with Great Britain, it was hoped and expected that the jurisdiction and laws of the United States would be extended speedily over the Oregon territory. Yet congress at the next ensuing session took no action, and the people of Oregon were greatly disappointed. The cost of maintaining the Provisional Government and of upholding the sovereignty of the United States over this vast territory was weighing heavily on them. It was resolved to send a representative to Washington to lay the case before congress and to urge the erection by the United States of a territorial government. J. Quinn Thornton, who had come over the plains in 1846, and had been appointed supreme judge early in 1847, was selected by Governor Abernethy for this mission. It was at first proposed to hold an election, but this was decided to be impracticable, because there was no law to authorize such election, and the necessary arrangements could not be made in time for it was the fall of the year (1847) and the only vessel upon which a delegate could go that year was about to sail. Finally, there was no law of the United States under which a delegate could demand to be received; and it was deemed just as well, therefore, to send a representative, with a letter from the Governor, explaining the nature and objects of his journey to Washington, and what was desired by the people of the Oregon country. Thornton was appointed in October, 1847, and took the bark Whiton, then lying near the site of the