Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/122

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