Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/241

 Slavery Question in Oregon. 217 good people, hospitable, social and fraternal to a marked degree, as well as being resolute and public-spirited. That the known perils of the overland journey had a selective ef- fect in bringing to this coast a strong and virile population, I think is evident, and the four to six months' journey amidst extraordinary trials, and the communal life incident thereto, disrobed them of social shams to a great extent and made them all kin. There is another consideration, until now unmentioned, that as a general rule the pioneers were people of moderate means and therefore unaffected by much dis- parity in wealth. During the Provisional Government, which ended in 1849, after the organization of the Territory by Congress, partisan politics were unknown in Oregon. There were some factional jealousies (hardly worth mentioning) on account of the Hudson's Bay Company, the missionaries and the worldlings, but the people got along and seemed to be intent upon doing the b^st they could with their own local affairs. Upon the arrival of General Lane, the first territorial Governor, who assumed control March 3d of that year, the segregation into Whigs and Democrats began to show itself. At the first election of Delegate to Congress, in the fall of 1849, national politics did not figure to any observable extent. There were five candidates, a sort of free-for-all race in which no one had a majority over all. Samuel R. Thurston, who w^as elected, ran on the issue of the missionary settlers against the Hudson's Bay Company. In the absence of the larger portion of the population in the gold mines, the vote was very light. Mr. Thurston received, 470 ; Columbia Lancaster, 321 ; Meek and Griffin, 46; J. W. Nesmith, 106. By the Tribune Almanac of 1850, Nesmith was rated as a Whig, but this was an error, as he and Thurston both were Democrats. Mr. Lancaster was a Whig and his vote, the next highest, might be considered a sample of the Whig strength at that date. There was no mention of negroes, bond or free, at this election. Although the slave power was dominant at Washington, the question of slavery as to Oregon, defended by a double pro-