Bill Text: OR SB424 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to Oregon Statehood Day.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-07-08 - In committee upon adjournment. [SB424 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2013-SB424-Introduced.html
77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 1000
Senate Bill 424
Sponsored by Senator PROZANSKI (at the request of Jyoti Barnhart,
Zoe Littlebury, Dawn Turbin and Elizabeth Wyley) (Presession
filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Designates February 14 of each year as Oregon Statehood Day.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to Oregon Statehood Day.
Whereas from the temperate, forested northwest coast to the
harsh landscape of the high desert, the abundant natural
resources of this state have sustained its inhabitants for
thousands of years; and
Whereas the arrival in November 1805 of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition at the mouth of the Columbia River paved the way for
American settlement of the region; and
Whereas by 1811 John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Trade Company
had established Fort Astoria, the first permanent American
settlement in the area that came to be known as Oregon Territory;
and
Whereas the first white settlers in the region faced extreme
hardships and even death in making the journey on the Oregon
Trail, the survivors overcoming unforgiving terrain and rampant
sickness and disease, the latter of which forever changed the
population of the native peoples; and
Whereas even amidst the hardships, early settlers banded
together to cultivate the fertile farmland of this state, build
missions and harvest the abundant and valuable natural resources;
and
Whereas by the middle part of the 19th century, the population
of United States citizens who had settled in Oregon was growing
quickly; and
Whereas in 1846, the United States and Great Britain signed the
Oregon Treaty, which designated the 49th parallel as the
international border, making it possible for the Congress of the
United States to create Oregon Territory; and
Whereas growing industries in other parts of the United States
created demand for Oregon agriculture and timber products; and
Whereas the Oregon Provisional Government was established in
1843, followed shortly by the arrival of the United States Army
in Oregon Territory in 1849; and
Whereas without enabling legislation from Congress and in a
desire to control their own government, Oregonians voted in June
1857 to hold a constitutional convention, assembling in Salem to
draft a governing document for this state; and
Whereas in June 1858 residents of Oregon Territory elected
officials as provided in their new Constitution; and
Whereas granting Oregon statehood was a complex question in
Congress due to the fragile balance of power in the buildup to
the Civil War; and
Whereas in 1857 Oregonians voted to disallow slavery in Oregon
Territory even as they voted against permitting residency of
freed African Americans; and
Whereas on February 12, 1859, Congress passed the bill granting
statehood to Oregon; and
Whereas on February 14, 1859, the bill was signed by President
James Buchanan; and
Whereas the news that Oregon had been granted statehood was
relayed by telegraph to St. Louis, by stagecoach to San
Francisco, by steamer to Portland and by messenger on horseback
to Salem, where it reached Governor Joseph Lane nearly a month
later; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + February 14 of each year is designated as
Oregon Statehood Day to commemorate the date on which Oregon
became the 33rd state in the United States of America. + }
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