Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, and it existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849, and provided a legal system and a common defense amongst the mostly American pioneers settling an area then inhabited by the many Indigenous Nations.

Much of the region's geography and many of the Natives were not known by people of European descent until several exploratory tours and expeditions were authorized at the turn of the 18th to the 19th centuries, such as Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery going northwest in 1804-1806, and United States Army Lt. Zebulon Pike and his party first journeying north, then later to the far southwest.

[3] According to a message from the government in 1844, the rising settler population was beginning to flourish among the "savages", who were "the chief obstruction to the entrance of civilization" in a land of "ignorance and idolatry".

A series of frontiersmen and pioneer colonists assemblies were held over several years across the recently settled Willamette Valley, of the Oregon Country, with many on the French Prairie at Champoeg.

[4] Initiated by William H. Gray (1810-1889), the "Wolf Meetings" of early 1843 created a bounty system on animal predators attacking settlers' livestock of cattle, pigs and sheep.

[6] The government was, according to pioneers Overton Johnson and William H. Winter (1819-1879), intended from the start as an interim entity, until "whenever [the United States] extends her jurisdiction over the Territory".

This union between democrats of a republic and wealthy aristocratic subjects of a monarchy could not be formed without reserving to themselves the right of allegiance to their respective governments.

Political jealousy and strong party feeling have tended to thwart and render impotent the acts of a government, from its very nature weak and insufficient.

[4] A December 1844 amendment of the Organic Laws eliminated the Executive Committee in favor of a single governor, taking effect in June 1845.

[14] Some judges under the Provisional Government were Nathaniel Ford, Peter H. Burnett, Osborne Russell, Ira L. Babcock, and future United States Senator James W.

[6][16] Throughout 1843 and 1844, no attempts were made at controlling lands north of the Columbia River, then under the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company through Fort Vancouver.

[17][18] In June 1844 the Columbia River was declared as the northern border of the Provisional Government, but by December the most expansive American claim in the Oregon boundary dispute of Parallel 54°40′ north was adopted.

[10] Additional districts were created over time from the original four, including the Clatsop, Vancouver, Linn, Clark, Polk, Benton counties.

[6] Following the Cockstock Incident in 1844, the legislature decreed that African Americans could not reside in the Oregon Country, only David Hill and Asa Lovejoy voting against the bill.

Prior to the creation of the Provisional Government, the economic activities by in the Oregon European descendants Country were focused on the fur trade.

[29] To overcome the lack of circulating coins, Abernethy gathered scraps of flint left over from arrowhead production by local indigenous.

[30] Coins remained a prized item by settlers for example, during a sale of lots in Oregon City a property manager offered a discount of 50% if paid in specie.

[31] A traveler who visited Oregon before the arrival of American merchants reported that HBC stores sold goods at rates lower than in the United States.

[34] Fears of creditors demanding restitution from the farmers lead to wheat receipts and scrips issued by the government declared valid currency in 1845.

Economic transactions with the pioneer settlements of Oregon increased greatly, with the number of visiting vessels in 1849 was triple that of the previous eight years.

[3] The Oregon Exchange Company was authorized by the legislature to begin producing Beaver Coins in early 1849,[39] though production began on March 10, a week after the dissolution of the Provisional Government.

[3] In August Applegate inquired to Chief Factor John McLoughlin if the HBC would pay taxes and join the Provisional Government.

[40] At the same time a member of the legislature, David Hill, tabled a bill on August 15 that would deny any HBC employees citizenship or suffrage.

[40] The Chief Factor found the Provisional Government a satisfactory way to pursue the debts owed to the HBC by settlers, and protect company property against claim jumpers.

Chief Trader James Douglas was appointed as a justice for Vancouver after the signing of the agreement and in 1846 he and fellow employee Henry Newsham Peers were elected to the legislature.

[41] Mervin Vavasour was in the Oregon Country gathering intelligence about the defensive capabilities of the HBC posts and voiced the minority view that the compact was to the benefit of "peace and prosperity of the community at large".

[42] The organic laws laid out plans for a militia of a battalion of mounted riflemen commanded by an officer with the rank of major, with annual inspections.

[6] In December 1847, after learning of the Whitman Massacre from HBC Chief Factor James Douglas, Governor Abernethy and the legislature met to discuss the situation.

"[7] At a military court Tiloukait and the four other Cayuses, Tomahas, Klokamas, Isaiachalkis, and Kimasumpkinhese, were found guilty and hanged on June 3, 1850, at Oregon City.

[12] Governor Lane kept the legal code of the dissolved provisional government, apart from immediately repealing the law authorizing the minting of the Beaver Coins, as this was incompatible with the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8).