Provisional Government of Oregon - Laws

Laws

Over the course of nearly six years under the provisional government, the settlers passed numerous laws. One law allowed people to claim 640 acres (2.6 km2) if they improved the land, which would be solidified later by Congress’ adoption of the Donation Land Claim Act. Another law allowed the government to organize a militia and call them out by order of the Executive or Legislature. Under the first Organic Laws of 1843 inhabitants were guaranteed due process of law and a right to a trial by jury. Some other rights established were: no cruel and unusual punishment, no unreasonable bails for defendants, and no takings of property without compensation.

In 1844, the legislature passed a law banning the sale of ardent spirits, out of concern that the Native Americans would become hostile if intoxicated. Another 1844 law prohibited additional African Americans from settling in the region (slavery had already been banned in the Organic Laws). The law banning black people authorized the lashing of any black person forty times from time to time until they left the region, but this punishment was never actually carried out. In 1849, one of the last laws passed authorized the minting of coins. These coins would be called the Beaver Coins and were created as a result of significant amounts of gold dust circulating in the area due to the California Gold Rush.