Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 17/Some Documentary Records of Slavery in Oregon
SOME DOCUMENTARY RECORDS OF SLAVERY IN OREGON
By Fred Lockley.
Though Oregon is far north of the Mason and Dixon line, yet slaves were held in Oregon in the days of the Provisional Government. Officially slavery never existed in Oregon, but actually some of the Oregon pioneers held slaves. Hidden away in the dry-as-dust records of the county court when what is now Multnomah County was a part of Washington County and when Hillsboro was the county seat, and in consequence put on airs over its humble neighbor, Portland, you will find some interesting documents. While looking through one of the early day volumes of records recently I came upon this unique record (this is presented not as an instance of actual slavery in Oregon, but to show that the registration of a document of manumission was considered advisable in Oregon):
"Know all men by these presents, that for and in consideration of five hundred dollars, to me in hand paid by Jane Thomas, late Jane Snowden, a free woman of color, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged, I David Snowden, of the County of Ray, in the State of Missouri, have bargained, sold and delivered to her the same Jane Thomas, late Jane Snowden, a free woman of color, one certain negro boy slave named Billy, aged about eleven years and the son of the said Jane Thomas, late Jane Snowden, a free woman of color. This sale is made to gratify the said Jane Thomas the mother of the said negro boy Billy, as she is about to emigrate to Oregon and wishes to take the boy with her. Given under my hand and seal this 17th day of December, A. D. 1852. David Snowden (seal).
"Received for record April 10th and and recorded this thirteenth day of April, A. D. 1854. W. S. Caldwell, Auditor and Recorder, Washington County, Oregon Territory."
Look over the early records of Clark County, then a part of Oregon, but now a part of the State of Washington, and you will find the following record:
"Fort Vancouver, May 5, 1851."Mommia Travers, a black woman, aged about forty-five, bought by me from Isaac Burbayge, in April, 1849, I have this day given her freedom unconditionally, and she is in all respects free to go and do as may seem to her most to her advantage, without let or hindrance from me, my agents, heirs or assigns. Witness my hand and seal, at Vancouver, May 5th, 1851. Llewellyn Jones, Captain, U. S. A.
"The above named woman, Mommia, is an honest and perfectly conscientious woman and deserves kind and good treatment at the hands of every one. Llewellyn Jones, Captain, U. S. A. Recorded, July 29th, 1857."
Some of the early pioneers of Oregon hailing from the South brought their slaves to Oregon with them and asserted their right to hold them as slaves in Oregon. One of the strong men in politics in Oregon's early clays was Colonel Nathaniel Ford. Some years ago T. W. Davenport, whose son, Homer Davenport, the cartoonist, put Silverton on the world's map, wrote to Judge R. P. Boise, of the Oregon Supreme Court, and received the following reply[1] as to the legal status of slavery in Oregon in the early fifties:
"Yours of the second instant is just received. Colonel Nathaniel Ford came to Oregon from Missouri in 1844 and brought with him three slaves two men and one woman. The woman was married to one of these men and had some small children. Ford claimed these children as slaves and continued to claim them until 1853. One of these children a girl had, prior to that time, been given to Mrs. (Dr.) Boyle, a daughter of Ford. Prior to 1853 the parents of these children (Robbin and Polly) had claimed their freedom and left Ford and in 1852 were living at Nesmith's Mills, but Ford had kept the children. In 1853 Robbin, the father of the children, brought a suit by habeas corpus to get possession of the children. The case was heard by Judge George H. Williams in the summer of 1853, and he held that these children, being then (by the voluntary act of Ford) in Oregon, where slavery could not legally exist, were free from the bonds of slavery, and awarded their custody to their father."
The history of slavery legislation in Oregon is an interesting chapter of Oregon's state life. Peter H. Burnett, the leader of the Oregon immigration of 1843 and later the first Governor of the State of California, was a member of the Legislative Committee of Oregon in 1844. He was from the South and was opposed to slavery largely on account of the evil to both the white and black races by the inevitable mixing of the races where slavery existed. He was also opposed to the liquor industry. He was the author of the bills prohibiting slavery and regulating the use of liquor. The slavery act passed by the Provisional Legislature was as follows:
"An Act in regard to Slavery and Free Negroes and Mulattoes.
"Be It Enacted by the Legislative Committee of Oregon as follows:"Section 1. That slavery and involuntary servitude shall be forever prohibited in Oregon.
"Section 2. That in all cases where slaves have been, or shall hereafter be brought into Oregon, the owners of such slaves shall have the term of three years from the introduction of such slaves to remove them out of the country.
"Section 3. 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.
"Section 4. 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 years 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 quit and leave within the term of two years for males and three years for females from his or her arrival in the country.
"Section 5. 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 shall arrive at such age.
"Section 6. That if any 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.
"Section 7. 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.
"Section 8. 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."
This was passed at the June session in 1844. At the December session of the same year Peter H. Burnett introduced an amendment, which was passed on December 19, 1844, which reads as follows:
"An Act amendatory of An Act passed June 26th, 1844, in Regard to Slavery and for other purposes."Be It Enacted by the Legislative Committee of Oregon as follows:"Section 1. That the sixth and seventh sections of said act are hereby repealed.
"Section 2. 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 had, the said justice shall issue his order to any officer competent to execute process, directing said officer to given ten days' public notice, by at least four written or printed advertisements, that he will publicly hire out such free negro or mulatto to the lowest bidder, on a day and at a place therein specified. On the day and at the place mentioned in said notice, such officer shall expose such free negro or mulatto to public hiring; and the person who will obligate himself to remove 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 attorney prosecuting for Oregon shall commence a suit upon a certified copy of such bond in the circuit court against such a delinquent and his sureties."
John Minto, an Oregon pioneer of 1844, gives an interesting sidelight on the question of slavery under Oregon's provisional government. At the rendezvous of the emigrants on the Missouri River he with W. H. Rees fell in with George Washington Bush, a mulatto, who was waiting the gathering of the emigrants to go with them to Oregon. Mr. Minto and Mr. Rees accepted the hospitality of Mr. Bush and his wife and ate dinner with them. They were in the same emigrant train, though Mr. Bush forged ahead of Mr. Morrison, for whom John Minto was working. On September 5th Mr. Minto, who had gone on foot a few miles ahead of the train, again fell in with Mr. Bush. Bush was riding a mule and Minto was afoot. They went back together to the wagon train, and as they journeyed leisurely to rejoin the others they discussed the question of slavery. Mr. Bush told Mr. Minto that if men of his color were discriminated against in Oregon he was going on into California to secure the protection of the Mexican government.
Food getting short John Minto and two other young men, Crockett and Clark by name, struck out ahead for the 600-mile journey, depending on their guns for food. At Fort- Hall they found James W. Marshall, who was later to turn all eyes toward California by his discovery of gold in Sutter's millrace. He told them that Peter H. Burnett, who had come the year before, had sent a letter back to the emigrants. Alexander Grant, the Hudson Bay trader in charge of Fort Hall, had the letter. Mr. Burnett, who within a few years was to become the first American Governor of the State of California, said in his letter to send word on ahead if the emigrants were apt to need food. While Minto and his two companions were at the Fort G. W. Bush with his wife and five children and his cattle arrived at the Fort. It was decided to have Minto, Clark and Crockett press on as rapidly as possible and tell Peter Burnett to send help to the emigrants. After considerable hardship the three young men reached the Willamette Valley and delivered their message to Peter Burnett. For a while they cut rails for General McCarver and then took a contract to get out a considerable number of oak rails for Peter Burnett. When this work was finished they went up in a Hudson Bay bateau furnished by Dr. John McLoughlin to help the emigrants down the river. At The Dalles they found G. W. Bush, who had decided to stay there all winter and take care of his stock and the stock of some of his fellow emigrants. Later he moved to Washougal Prairie. He wanted to come to the Willamette Valley, but on account of the stand taken against negroes he moved on the north side of the Columbia, thinking to be under the British Government, for at that time the British claimed the country north of the Columbia. Bush was very popular with the early settlers on account of his thrift, good nature and generosity. He had helped several white families financially to get their outfits to come in 1844 and he helped many who were destitute when they arrived. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1790. With Colonel M. T. Simmons and some others he settled in the Puget Sound country in 1845. Bush Prairie is named for him. His son, William Owen Bush, won the first premium at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia on wheat grown on Bush Prairie.
The question of slavery in Oregon was instrumental in delaying the plan of Oregon to be made a territory. Thomas B. Benton, Oregon's firm friend, writing in 1847 as to the action or rather lack of action by Congress said:
"The House of Representatives as early as the middle of January, passed a bill to give you Territorial Government, and in that bill had sanctioned and legalized your provisional organic act, one of the clauses of which forever prohibited the existence of slavery in Oregon. An amendment from the Senate committee, to which this bill was referred, proposed to abrogate that prohibition; and in the delays and vexations to which that amendment gave rise, the whole bill was laid upon the table and lost for the session. This will be a great disappointment to you, and a real calamity; already five years without law or legal institution for the protection of life, liberty and property and now doomed to wait a year longer. This is a strange and anomalous condition, almost incredible to contemplate, and most critical to endure, a colony of freemen 4,000 miles from the metropolitan government, and without law or government to preserve them. But do not be alarmed or desperate. You will not be outlawed for not admitting slavery. Your fundamental act against that institution, copied from the ordinance of 1787, the work of the great men of the South in the great day of the South, prohibiting slavery in a territory far less northern than yours, will not be abrogated, nor is that the intention of the prime mover of the amendment. Upon the record the judiciary committee of the Senate is the author of that amendment, but not so the fact. It is only midwife to it. Its author, Mr. Calhoun, is the same mind that 'generated the firebrandresolutions, of which I send you a copy, and of which the amendment is the legitimate derivation. Oregon is not the object. The most ardent propagandist of slavery cannot expect to plant it on the shores of the Pacific, in the latitude of Wisconsin and the Lakes of the Woods. A home agitation and disunion purposes is all that is intended by thrusting this firebrand question into your bill, and at the next session, when it is thrust in again, we will scourge it out, and pass your bill as it ought to be. I promise you this in the name of the South as well as of the North; and the event will not deceive me. In the meantime the President will give you all the protection which existing laws and detachments of the army and navy can enable him to extend to you; and until Congress has time to act, your friends must rely upon you to govern yourselves as you have heretofore done under the provisions of your own voluntary compact, and with the justice, harmony and moderation which is due to your own character and to the honor of the American name."
On August 18, 1857, the delegates to the Oregon State Constitutional Convention met at the Marion County court house in Salem and took action toward deciding whether Oregon should be a slave state or a free state. Article 18 provided that: "For the purpose of taking the vote of the electors of the state for the acceptance or rejection of this constitution, an election shall be held on the second Monday of November, in the year 1857. * * * Each elector who offers to vote upon this constitution shall be asked by the judges of election this question: 'Do you vote for the Constitution? Yes or No? And also this question: 'Do you vote for slavery in Oregon? Yes or No?' And also this question: 'Do you vote for free negroes in Oregon? Yes or No.?' * * * If this constitution shall be accepted by the electors, and a majority of all votes given for and against slavery shall be given for slavery, then the following section shall be added to the bill of rights and shall be part of the constitution: 'Persons lawfully held as slaves in any state, territory or district of the United States, under the laws thereof, may be brought into this state: and such slaves and their descendants may be held as slaves within this state, and shall not be emancipated without the consent of their owners.'
"And if a majority of such votes shall be given against slavery, then the foregoing section shall not, but the following section shall be added to the bill of rights, and shall be a part of this constitution: 'There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state, otherwise than as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.'
"And if a majority of all the votes given for and against free negroes shall be given against free negroes, then the following section shall be added to the bill of rights and shall be a part of this constitution: '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 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.'"
When the votes were counted it was found that there were 2,645 votes for slavery and 7,727 votes against making Oregon a slave state. There were 1,081 votes to allow free negroes to come to Oregon and 8,640 against allowing free negroes to reside in the state.
The slavery question a few years later snuffed out the light for all time of some of the leading politicians of Oregon who espoused the South's view on slavery.
Finally on February 14, 1859, in spite of the strained feelings upon the question of slavery, Oregon was admitted as a territory and the position of governor of. the newly created territory was offered to Abraham Lincoln. His wife not caring to leave her friends in Illinois, Lincoln declined the appointment and General Joseph Lane, who had distinguished himself in the Mexican war, was offered and accepted the place, thus becoming Oregon's first territorial governor.
- ↑ This letter was used by Davenport in his discussion of the "Slavery Question in Oregon." (See this Quarterly, Vol. IX, pp. 189-253. The letter is given as a foot note on page 196. Mr. Lockley's version of it corrects the date of Nathaniel Ford's arrival in Oregon.) Mr. Davenport submitted the letter to bear out his statement "There was not one negro slave within its (Oregon Territory's) far-reaching boundaries or within a thousand miles thereof." Of course, the letter proves an instance of such slavery prior to 1853.—Editor Quarterly.