9. Public Meeting at Champoeg

On May 2, 1843, Willamette Valley settlers met at Champoeg to vote on the formation of a provisional government. The minutes recorded by George Le Breton recount the vote in favor of the provisional government (which historians later estimated to be 52-50) and the subsequent appointments of settlers to fill the positions created at the meeting.

As the number of Euro American settlers living in the Willamette Valley increased over the course of the 1830s, so, too, did the recognition that some type of government would have to be formed. Attempts to establish a provisional government before 1843 were thwarted by intense factionalism among the settlers. The largest of these divisions was that which existed between the Methodist Mission, led by Jason Lee, and the Catholic Church, headed by Father Francis Blanchet. The religious underpinnings ensured that the settlers would be divided along cultural lines as well, with most Americans supporting the Methodist faction and the majority of the region’s French-Canadian population supporting that of the Catholics. Compounding the divide was the powerful regional presence of the Hudson’s Bay Company and John McLoughlin, who favored the Catholic position and opposed any increased power for the Methodists. The existence of these factions—each of which had its own internal divisions—created an environment in which compromise and agreement would prove elusive.