to call a convention to change the constitution so
as to permit the importation of slaves, for with the expiration of the
Fugitive Slave Law in 1855, slave-owners who held minors had to return
them to slave States or let them go free. Since the Negroes brought
into the State could in most cases become free the pro-slavery party
then sought to get rid of the free Negro.

In his message to the legislature in 1850, Governor Burnett
recommended the exclusion of free Negroes. This was always Burnett's
hobby. He incorporated this into the laws of Oregon when he revised
them in 1844. Burnett had been brought up in the South and although he
had ceased to be a slaveholder, he could not think of living with
Negroes as freemen. The exclusion of the blacks too had a sort of
popular appeal in it. The legislature, however, was divided on the
question as to what should be done with the free Negro. A bill in
compliance with the wishes of the Governor was introduced but
defeated. Undaunted by this, however, the enemy of the free Negroes
won a victory in another quarter in enacting a law that no black or
mulatto person or Indian should be permitted to give evidence in any
action to which a white person was a party. The leaders of the Negroes
held another convention in 1856 to protest against this law. Another
bill providing for the prohibition of the immigration of free persons
of color into the State was introduced in 1858 and after much debate
put through both houses, but it never became a law. The black code, of
course, was abrogated after the Civil War.

DELILAH L. BEASLEY

FOOTNOTES:

[16] Bourne, "_Spain in America_," 271.

[17] _California Miscellany_, I, 9.

[18] Bancroft, "_History of California_," I, 175; _Place Notices_, I,
151.

[19] Hittell, "_History of California_," II, 115.

[20] Garrison, "_Westward Extension_," 26.

[21] _Cong. Globe_, 29 Cong., 2 Sess., 509.

[22] Garrison, "_Westward Extension_," 254-268, 284-314. _Cong.
Globe_, 29 Cong., 2d Sess., 178, 453, 455; 30 Cong., 1st Sess., 875,
989, 910, 1002-1005, 1062, 1081; 2d Sess., 216, 381.

[23] Tuthill, "_Hist. of California_," 312, 316.

[24] PROCLAMATION TO THE INHABITANTS OF CALIFORNIA.

It having come to the knowledge of the Commander in Chief of the
District that certain persons have been and still are imprisoning and
holding to service Indians against their will and without any legal
contract for service.