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April 27, 2009

The Republic of Oregon

Reader TenBears has been peppering comments with references to when Oregon was a Republic. I don't remember learning about that in school so last week I decided to dig into it and found it quite interesting.

That is a map of the territory belonging to the Republic known as the Provisional Government of Oregon which lasted from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Although the Northern border was in dispute until the Oregon Treaty of 1846 between the United States and Great Britain. Here's the official seal of that government:

The capital was Oregon City, which is still in Oregon. We had a militia called the Oregon Rangers, although it wasn't formed until 1844 and was disbanded two years later. But during that period the military established a fort (Fort Lee) and waged a war (Cayuse War). Our legal framework was statutory rather than constitutional because the whole point was to provide the cohesion, stability and benefits of government until the anticipated eventual admission into the United States. What were known as the Organic Laws of Oregon were fairly extensive and very progressive (slavery was forbidden, cruel and unusual punishment was banned, etc.) for such an early period.

By way of comparison, the Republic of Texas was formed earlier (1836) but also ceased to exist (1846) three years before the Republic of Oregon ceased to exist.

I was into coin collecting when I was a kid and was fascinated to learn that the Provisional Government of Oregon had issued it's own currency... although technically the $5 and $10 gold "Beaver Coins" were issued by a private enterprise. Here's what they looked like:

One of my first thoughts was, "I wonder how much it'd cost to buy one?" Turns out that the most recent price paid for one was $125,000, quickly pouring icewater on that particular idea. Being the over-achievers that we apparently have always been, the coins were minted containing MORE gold than the equivilent coinage minted by the United States. So most of them were bought up and melted down at a profit shortly after Oregon joined the United States.

At Oregon's 1959 Centennial some commemorative coins were minted in gilt bronze using the original tooling which still exists and is on exhibit in Salem. These "so called dollars" are easier to find and cheaper to buy, ranging as far as I can determine with Google from $100 to over $200 apiece.

Of course minting legal tender money by any entity other than the federal government is a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. So, that particular law was struck immediately upon the new Territorial Governor's arrival in Oregon to administer this new Territory of the United States. But that was the only one of the Organic Laws of Oregon to be struck down when we officially became a territory of the United States. All of the other Organic Laws were kept and adopted as the formal legal code of the new Territory.

Posted by Kevin at April 27, 2009 10:53 AM