Background
The Provisional Government of Oregon was the region's governing body from 1843 until 1849, at the end of the region's joint settlement by Great Britain and the United States. The Provisional Government's legislative body was the unicameral Provisional Legislature of Oregon.
In 1846 the United States and Great Britain settled the Oregon Question with the Oregon Treaty. The treaty created a boundary between British North America and the United States west of the Rocky Mountains at the 49th parallel. Two years later on August 14, 1848 the Organic Act was signed into law by President James K. Polk creating the Oregon Territory out of the lands south of the 49th parallel, north of the 42nd parallel (northern boundary of California) and west of the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. The structural framework for the government came from the Northwest Ordinance, passed in 1787, which created the Northwest Territory. The Territorial Legislature then worked within the legal framework of the Organic Laws of Oregon. These laws were the de facto constitution of the Provisional Government. These laws were determined to be valid by Territorial Governor Joseph Lane when he arrived in the territory in 1849 and effectuated the beginning of United States control and government in Oregon Country.
Read more about this topic: Oregon Territorial Legislature
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