Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/22

6 as slaves by Nathaniel Ford, of Polk County, sued out a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that he and his family were entitled to their freedom in Oregon. Whether or not slaveholders could carry their slaves into the territories and hold them there as property had become a burning question, and my predecessors in office, for reasons best known to themselves, had declined to hear the case. This was among the first cases I was called upon to decide. Mr. Ford contended that these colored people were his property in Missouri, from which he emigrated, and he had as much right to bring that kind of property into Oregon and hold it here as such as he had to bring his cattle or any other property here and hold it as such; but my opinion was, and I so held, that without some positive legislative enactment establishing slavery here, it did not and could not exist in Oregon, and I awarded to the colored people their freedom. Judge Boise was the attorney for the petitioners. So far as I know, this was the last effort made to hold slaves in Oregon by force of law. There were a great many virulent proslavery men in the territory, and this decision, of course, was verv distasteful to them.

According to the organic act, the legislative assembly was divided into two bodies, one, corresponding to the state senate, was called the council, and the other, corresponding to the house of representatives, was called the house. The power of the legislative assembly extended to all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, so that as to local matters the power of the territorial was more unlimited than that of the state legislature. June 3, 1854, an election was held for members of the legislative assembly, which met at Salem December 4, and consisted of the following persons: Council—Dr. Cleveland, of Jackson; James K. Kelly, of Clacka-