Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/57

Rh but little knowledge or reverence for the intricacies of international usage, or the restrictions of a conservative legislative body, they were the sovereign power, and if they determined upon having the West, it must finally be had. This was the movement which led thousands of intrepid immigrants to anticipate the government in going to remote regions. Those who remained behind had now a greater interest in that country, and before long, it was to be the impulse from this movement which aroused the national consciousness to the importance of the Oregon question, gave it a place among the problems of the nation, put it upon the platform of a political party as a prominent issue, forced the settlement of the boundary question and finally secured a civil government.

To trace the development of government in any State means to begin with the first settlement in that State, or even farther back, with the government of the people who made that first settlement. In the present paper, however, I shall begin with the first definite steps toward organization, giving only passing mention to the earlier status.

By 1813 the Pacific Fur Company, the only American company that ever made any considerable progress towards gaining a foothold in the Oregon country, had passed into the hands of the British. In 1818 the treaty for the joint American and British occupation of the Northwest country was signed, so technically the country was open equally to British subjects and American citizens. In 1820, the two British companies that had been operating in the Northwest consolidated under the name of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company. Thence forward a most conservative policy was followed. The population, both native and white, was kept dependent upon the company's headquarters at Vancouver. Settlement of any kind was discouraged. Men wishing to