Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/104

102 Negroes Forbidden in Oregon. Slavery a Delicate Question. In those days negro slavery was practiced in the Southern States, and there was a tendency to extend the system of slavery to the Oregon Country. So the emigrants from the North and those from the South began to ask one another, "Shall there be negro slavery in Oregon?" The colonists therefore, seeing the advisability of meeting the issue squarely, decided to place themselves on record regarding the negro question. A measure was accordingly passed by the Legislative Committee, in June, 1844, whereby residence was forbidden to any negro in Oregon. It was made a law that "Slavery or in voluntary service should not exist; any negro slave brought into the country should in three years become free; any free negro or mulatto coming to the country should leave within two years; if he (or she) failed to leave the country after notice, he should be whipped on the bare back with not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes, and flogged likewise every six months until he did leave.

The law was repealed in the following session; yet the negro question continued for many years to be a bone of much contention. "Officially, slavery never existed in Oregon; but actually some of the Oregon pioneers held slaves" during an extended period covering the time that the people were awaiting a final decision on the subject.