in session four weeks, and frequent references to the all-important topic were made without disturbing the general harmony of the proceedings. The debates on all subjects were conducted with fairness and deliberation. In order to avoid agitation, it was agreed to leave to the vote of the people the question of negroes, free or enslaved, a special provision being made for the addition of certain sections, to be inserted or rejected according to the vote upon them.[1]
The influence of the republican element on the work of the convention was small, except as recusants.[2] Most of the provisions were wise; most of them were politic if not all liberal. Its bill of rights, while it gave to white foreigners who might become residents the same privileges as native-born citizens, gave the legislature the power to restrain and regulate the immigration to the state of persons not qualified to become citizens of the United States: thus reserving to the future state the power, should there not be a majority in favor of excluding free negroes altogether, of restricting their numbers. The article on suffrage declared that no negro, Chinaman, nor mulatto should have the right to vote. Another section, somewhat tinged with prejudice, declared that no Chinaman who
- ↑ The sections reserved for a separate vote read as follows: 'Section —. 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.' 'Section —. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.' 'Section —. No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall ever come, reside, or be within this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contract, or maintain any suit therein; and the legislative assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such free negroes or 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 therein.' Or. Statesman, Sept. 29, 1857; U. S. House Misc. Doc., 38, vol. i. p. 20–1, 35th cong. 1st sess.; U. S. Sen. Misc. Doc., 226, vol. iii., 35th cong. 1st sess.; Deady's Laws Or., 124–5; Or. Laws, 1857–8, 11–40.
- ↑ Grover, Public Life in Or., MS., 76–7, says that among others Jesse Applegate, one of the most talented men in the country, was snubbed at every turn, until, when the draft of a constitution which he had prepared at home was peremptorily rejected, he deliberately took up his hat and walked out of the court-house.
