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any officer competent to execute process, directing said officer to give ten days' public notice, by at least four written or printed advertisements, that he will publicly hire out such free negro or mulatto from the country for the shortest term of service, shall enter into a bond with good and sufficient security to Oregon, in a penalty of at least one thousand dollars, binding himself to remove said negro or mulatto out of the country within six months after such service shall expire,; which bond shall be filed in the clerk's office in the proper county, and upon failure to perform the conditions of said bond, the attourney prosecuting for Oregon shall commence a suit upon a certified copy of such bond in the circuit court against such delinquent and his sureties.
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69:, which had some version of exclusion laws. White settlers believed banning slavery would eliminate political controversy, but feared that settlements of freed slaves would compete for power with white people. In addition, they believed that allowing slavery could lead to the land in Oregon being taken over by large plantations as in the Southern states and force them to compete with bonded labor. One early migrant wrote that Oregon pioneers "hated slavery, but a much larger number of them hated free negroes worse even than slaves".
265:: That when any free negro or mulatto shall have come to Oregon, he or she (as the case may be), if of the age of eighteen or upward, shall remove from and leave the country within the term of two years for males, and three for females, from the passage of this act, and that if any free negro or mulatto shall hereafter come to Oregon, if of the age aforesaid, he or she shall quite and leave the country within the term of two years for males and three for females, from his or her arrival in the county.
379:, later a state senator, described the amendment: "It was largely an expression against any mingling of the white with any of the other races, and upon a theory that as we had yet no considerable representation of other races in our midst, we should do nothing to encourage their introduction. We were building a new state on virgin ground; its people believed it should encourage only the best elements to come to us, and discourage others."
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limit on all free black people, and required freed slaves to leave the state within two years, if male, and three years, if female. The initial law proposed "no more than 20" lashings by whip for slaves found in violation of the law, which was amended in
December 1844. A week after the law's passage, Burnett wrote in a personal letter that the bill was intended to "keep clear of that most troublesome class of population."
277:: That if such free negro or mulatto shall fail to quit the country, as required by this act, he or she may be arrested upon a warrant issued by some justice of the peace, and, if guilty upon trial before such justice, shall receive upon his or her bare back not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes, to be inflicted by the constable of the proper county.
80:: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Enforcement of the law was left unclear. After a vote on June 26, 1844, the first black exclusion law reiterated a ban on all slavery in Oregon territory, and it forced black and
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law ordered any black people entering the territory to leave within 40 days. It was applied in 1851 to Jacob
Vanderpool, a West Indian who had migrated to Oregon City. A white resident of the city brought a case against Vanderpool, who was arrested and ordered to leave Oregon within 30 days. The family of
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From 1850 to 1860, Oregon saw its Black population increase by just 75, compared to an increase of 4,000 in neighboring
California. Oregon's Black exclusion laws have been linked to a below-average Black population – two percent – into the present day. Historian Cheryl Brooks has argued that Oregon's
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were ordered out of the state within 40 days, but were allowed to stay after a petition was signed by 225 citizens. The petition formed the basis of a failed coalition to amend the exclusion law to allow for good behavior bonds by black settlers. The
Francis family moved to Canada in 1861. A petition
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That if any such free negro or mulatto shall fail to quit and leave the country, as required by the act to which this is amendatory, he or she may be arrested upon a warrant issued by some justice of the peace, and if guilty upon trial before such justice ... the said justice shall issue his order to
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In
September 1849, the legislature passed another exclusion law, with a preamble arguing that "it would be highly dangerous to allow free negroes and mulattos to reside in the Territory or to intermix with the Indians, instilling in their minds feelings of hostility against the white race". The 1849
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Decades later, Burnett publicly described the exclusion law as intended to prevent disenfranchised black people from being exposed to politically empowered white people, which he wrote "reminds them of their inferiority", and suggested that their presence was "injurious to the dominant class itself,
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to be resold on the condition that the slave owner agree to remove them from the territory at the end of the contract, which was held with the provisional government. In effect, that re-established slavery on a temporary basis for three years. The law was repealed in 1845 without any such punishment
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to propose a bill "for the prevention of slavery" without reference to a committee. The bill was read twice and voted into law the following day. The bill contained methods of enforcement for the prevention of slavery, which had already been banned in the territory. These laws included a three-year
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No free negro or mulatto not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside or be within this state or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; and the legislative assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by
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party, which arrived shortly after the law's adoption, to cut a new spur of the Oregon Trail northward across the
Columbia River into disputed, British-controlled territory, where they founded the first U.S. settlement on the Puget Sound in present-day Washington State. Concern over the potential
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The negroes associate with the
Indians and intermarry, and, if their free ingress is encouraged or allowed, there would a relationship spring up between them and the different tribes, and a mixed race would ensue inimical to the whites; and the Indians being led on by the negro who is better
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Though the official text of the original law has been lost, it was reprinted in several sources at the time. The law as described contained eight sections, and two amendments were added in
December 1844. The Oregon exclusion law prohibited free black men and women in the territory, though
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voted to exclude black settlers from Oregon's borders. The law authorized a punishment for any black settler remaining in the territory to be whipped with "not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes" for every six months they remained. Additional laws aimed at
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The question of slavery itself was put to a popular vote, with the public voting against slavery (by a vote of 7,727 to 2,645) but in favor of racial exclusion policies (by a vote of 8,640 to 1,081). The final constitution barred "negroes, mulattos and
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The emergent constitution contained 185 sections, 172 of which were taken from various other state constitutions, with the additions primarily being racial exclusion or finance related. The document enshrined an exclusion law into
Section 35 of the
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in 1868. However, Section 35 remained formally on the books for another 58 years. In 1925, the Oregon legislature proposed the formal repeal of
Section 35, adopted as House Joint Resolution 8 (1925). The measure was referred to Oregon voters as a
283:: That if any free negro or mulatto shall fail to quit the country within the term of six months after receiving such stripes, he or she shall again receive the same punishment once in every six months, until he or she shall quit the country.
253:: That in all cases where slaves shall have been, or shall hereafter be, brought into Oregon, the owners of such slaves respectively shall have the term of three years from the introduction of such slaves to remove them out of the country.
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acquainted with the customs, language, and manners of the whites, than the Indian, these savages would become much more formidable than they otherwise would, and long and bloody wars would be the fruits of the commingling of the races.
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submitted proposals to legalize slavery and to ban black people from the state, including a ban on signing contracts or owning land. The slavery amendment failed, but the exclusion law passed. Oregon was the only state admitted to the
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entering Oregon were ratified in 1849 and 1857. The last of these laws was repealed in 1926. The laws, born of pro-slavery and anti-black beliefs, were often justified as a reaction to fears of black people instigating
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established its second exclusion law, declaring a ban on "any negro or mulatto to enter into, or reside" in Oregon unless already established there. At least four black people were punished under this law, including
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The law had an unknown impact on black people in the state, and no records suggest it was ever directly enforced. However, its threatened enforcement against African American settler George Bush led the
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with such an exclusion law. There are no records that this law was enforced, and the legislature voted down a proposed 1865 law that would authorize sheriffs to deport black residents in their counties.
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public officers of all such negroes and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the state, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ or harbor them.
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applicability of the exclusion law (which was understood to forbid black land ownership) to Washington lands prior to the creation of a separate Washington Territory later led Congress to pass a
145:' June 1853 ruling that slavery was illegal in Oregon. Descendants of Holmes have since stated that Ford had encouraged the lawsuit as a means to bring an end to slavery in the state.
259:: That if such owners of slaves shall neglect or refuse to remove such slaves from the country within the time specified in the preceding section, such slaves shall be free.
271:: That if such free negro or mulatto be under the age aforesaid, the terms of time specified in the preceding section shall begin to run when he or she arrive at such age.
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settlers to leave Oregon territory within three years (two years for men) or be whipped "no more than 39 times". That section was amended in December 1844 to permit a
289:: That when any slave shall obtain his or her freedom, the time specified in the fourth section shall begin to run from the time when such freedom shall be obtained.
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Oregon's racially discriminatory state constitutional amendment, Section 35, was legally invalidated after the Civil War by the ratification of the
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Oregon's congressional delegate, Samuel Thurston, while seeking to limit federal land grants to white people, described the law to congress:
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An 1850 census showed fewer than 50 black residents in the state of Oregon, including a mixed-race man from Pennsylvania,
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small Black population has made it difficult for Oregonians to recognize racial discrimination problems in the state.
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as such a degraded and practically defenseless condition offers so many temptations to tyrannical abuse". In his
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514:
Mcclintock, Thomas C. (1995). "James Saules, Peter Burnett, and the Oregon Black Exclusion Law of June 1844".
1070:
728:
Mahoney, Barbara (2009). "Oregon Voices: Oregon Democracy: Asahel Bush, Slavery, and the Statehood Debate".
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902:"Black History Month: Oregon's exclusion laws aimed to prevent blacks from settling here (guest opinion)"
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were attempts to prevent black people from settling within the borders of the settlement and eventual
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was a major factor in the passage of the first black exclusion law. It centered on a fight between a
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often held both anti-slavery and anti-black beliefs, and many came from states, such as
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was also used in 1854 to prevent the deportation of Morris Thomas and Jane Snowden.
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843:(Pvt. L. 33-63). 33rd Congress of the United States of America. February 10, 1855.
600:"Race, Politics, and Denial: Why Oregon Forgot to Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment"
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Oregon Repeal of Forbiddance on "Free Negro and Mullato" People, Measure 3 (1926)
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described the law as "inhuman"; Burnett argued that Gray misrepresented the law.
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247:: That slavery and involuntary servitude shall be forever prohibited in Oregon.
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jurisdiction for the law was limited to the region south of the Columbia river.
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An Act for the Relief of George Bush, of Thurston County, Washington Territory
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Transactions of the ... Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association
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642:(1982). "Slaves and Free Men: Blacks in the Oregon Country, 1840–1860".
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Davis, Lenwood G. (1972). "Sources for History of Blacks in Oregon".
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That the sixth and seventh sections of said act are hereby repealed.
135:, charging that he and his family were being held by Ford illegally.
101:, a sailor, and three others who were eventually permitted to stay.
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In 1843, the Provisional Government of Oregon established a set of
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Be it enacted by the Legislative Committee of Oregon as follows:
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662:"A look at Oregon's shameful history as an 'all-white' state"
359:, they subsequently called for a constitutional convention.
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On June 24, 1844, within days of the Cockstock incident, the
774:"Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer, part 3"
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Brown's Political History of Oregon: Provisional Government
953:. University of Chicago: Oregon Pioneer Association. 1898
799:"George Washington Bush and the Human Spirit of Westward"
704:. Portland State University and Oregon Historical Society
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1013:"A Racist History Shows Why Oregon Is Still So White"
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On November 7, 1857, Oregon's delegates to the state
31:. The first such law took effect in 1844, when the
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1066:African-American segregation in the United States
351:Title page of the Oregon state constitution, 1857
116:, another unrelated free man, was the founder of
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355:In 1857, after Oregon voters had voted for
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397:14th Amendment to the federal Constitution
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931:"Oregon Was Founded As a Racist Utopia"
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1101:Provisional Government of Oregon
825:Oldham, Kit (February 1, 2004).
698:"Black Exclusion Laws in Oregon"
33:Provisional Government of Oregon
1011:Camhi, Tiffany (June 9, 2020).
929:Novak, Matt (21 January 2015).
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516:The Pacific Northwest Quarterly
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339:The law was repealed in 1854.
199:Oregon Provisional Legislature
57:A 1903 map of Oregon Territory
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459:. Portland: Wiley B. Allen.
61:Early white settlers in the
16:Racist law attempt of Oregon
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1091:Anti-black racism in Oregon
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92:On September 21, 1849, the
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21:Oregon black exclusion laws
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1041:Slavery Question in Oregon
771:Burnett, Peter H. (1904).
1106:Race in the United States
598:Brooks, Cheryl A (2004).
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194:tribes against settlers.
150:Constitutional Convention
133:territorial Supreme Court
453:Brown, J. Henry (1892).
131:, brought a case to the
89:ever being carried out.
1096:Legal history of Oregon
870:Schuman, David (1994).
162:1844 law and amendments
702:oregonencyclopedia.org
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1071:Black exclusion laws
878:. 74 Or. L. Rev. 611
127:, a black slave of
123:On April 16, 1852,
1039:T. W. Davenport: "
829:. HistoryLink.org.
806:The Museum Gazette
408:Measure 14 in 2002
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324:Abner Hunt Francis
294:December amendment
176:Cockstock incident
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1086:History of Oregon
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114:George Washington
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1055:Categories
1022:2020-06-14
997:2008-12-02
811:2021-01-26
672:2023-10-23
650:: 153–169.
465:rc01000356
435:References
309:Section 2:
303:Section 1:
86:free slave
25:U.S. state
957:16 August
911:15 August
882:16 August
758:159872966
708:15 August
473:422191413
357:statehood
287:Section 8
281:Section 7
275:Section 6
269:Section 5
263:Section 4
257:Section 3
251:Section 2
245:Section 1
118:Centralia
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