June 25th – Today in Oregon History

In an attempt to keep Oregon from joining the Union as a slave state, the Provisional Government enacted the “Lash Law.” To keep Southern Farmers from bringing slaves to Oregon, it required all blacks in Oregon to be lashed twice a year “until he or she quit the territory.” This law was later changed to any forced labor.

Only one person was expelled from the state with this law. Jacob Vanderpool, an saloonkeeper in Salem Oregon