An Executive Committee was the title of a three-person committee which served as the

executive Branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

of the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, a ...

in the disputed

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, c ...

. This arrangement was announced on July 5, 1843, after three months of study by the Provisional Legislature at Champoeg.

Powers

The executive committee was empowered to grant reprieves and pardons, recommend legislation, and call out the militia.History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington
: Embracing an Account of the Original Discoveries on the Pacific Coast of North America, Volume 1, (1889), p. 240.

Members of the First Executive Committee (1843–1844)

* David Hill – Pioneer from Connecticut, went on to become founder of

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies ...

. *

Alanson Beers Alanson Beers (August 19, 1808 – February 20, 1853) was an American pioneer and politician in the early days of the settlement of the Oregon Country. A blacksmith by trade, he was a reinforcement for the Methodist Mission in what would become the ...

– Also from Connecticut.

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

missionary with the Reverend Jason Lee's mission. Later a business partner of

George Abernethy George Abernethy (October 7, 1807 – March 2, 1877) was an American politician, pioneer, notable entrepreneur, and first governor of Oregon under the provisional government based in the Willamette Valley, an area later a part of the American sta ...

. *

Joseph Gale Joseph Goff Gale (April 29, 1807 – December 13, 1881) was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country. There he assisted in the construction of the first sailing vesse ...

– Ship builder, sea captain and accomplished trader.

Members of the Second Executive Committee (1844–1845)

* Peter G. Stewart – New York pioneer. *

Osborne Russell Osborne Russell (19 June 1814 – 1 May 1884) was a mountain man and politician who helped form the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Maine. Early life Osborne Russell was born 19 June 1814, in the village of Bowdoinh ...

– Helped build

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Id ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

, fur trader, later candidate for Provisional Governor. * William J. Bailey – Trapper and trader, later became a doctor.

References

{{Oregon-gov-stub Provisional Government of Oregon Champoeg Meetings State executive councils of the United States 1843 establishments in Oregon Country Pardons

Powers

Members of the First Executive Committee (1843–1844)

Members of the Second Executive Committee (1844–1845)

Further reading

References