In 1859, the state of Oregon was admitted to the union. By the time of the election of Abraham Lincoln, the state’s two senators were Republican Edward Baker and Democrat Joseph Lane. Baker, formerly an Illinois politician and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln’s, would serve as a colonel in the War of the Rebellion and would be the only senator killed in the conflict, and indeed he has the distinction of being the only senator killed in any military conflict. Joseph Lane was a different story.
Joseph Lane
Joseph Lane (1801-1881) was described by his friend, Robert Dale Owen, an Indiana Democrat (and socialist) thusly, “In politics Gen. Lane is a Democrat of the Jefferson and Jackson school…His native powers of debate and his intimate acquaintance with facts and records have enabled him at all times, in political and Presidential conflicts on the “stump,” to overwhelm the opponents of Democracy” (Southern Oregon History, Revised). He had served as the first governor of the Oregon Territory under President Polk after several military successes in the Mexican-American War, and in this position, he combatted Indian tribes as well as negotiated and signed two treaties with them.
A North Carolinian by birth and upbringing, he served as both a defender of slavery (not a popular position there, despite the state’s NIMBY provision regarding black people in its original constitution). Most unacceptably for the people of Oregon, however, he also defended secession, and as such a prominent Northerner to do so he was nominated for vice president by the Southern Democrats. Lane had presidential ambitions, and if a fusionist scheme in the Electoral College had succeeded, Lane would have been president (John, 2014). One of his sons, John, would enlist with the Confederate Army and Joseph Lane’s Confederate sympathizing ended his career for good. His DW-Nominate score was a -0.654. One of his sons, LaFayette Lane, would serve a term in the House, and his grandson, Harry, would serve as a senator during the Wilson Administration. Lane to this day has Lane County named after him, a matter of recent controversy.
Benjamin Stark
Most senators of history are forgotten by the public, but Benjamin Stark (1820-1892) is so obscure that if one performs a Google search for his name, the first result is “Benjen Stark” from Game of Thrones. Stark was Baker’s successor in the Senate who served just under a year and was considerably different from his predecessor. A Louisianan by birth, although he started as a Whig, he was a “cotton Whig” as opposed to a “conscience Whig”, staunchly favoring the institution of slavery. Thus, when the Whig Party fell apart, he joined the Democrats. While in office, many Republicans accused him of having Confederate sympathies. Indeed, The Oregon Statesman condemned him as a “secessionist of the rankest dye and the craziest professions…as far as words spoken can constitute treason; he is a traitor as infamous as any that disgraces northern soil” (Abbott). A proposal to expel him ultimately failed by only five votes. Stark was not long in office as he did not opt to run for a full term, being succeeded by fellow Democrat Benjamin Harding, who would vote for the 13th Amendment. Stark’s DW-Nominate score was a -0.336. He would later serve in the Connecticut House. In 2018, Southwest Stark Street in Portland was renamed to Southwest Harvey Milk Street. While there would be no more Confederate-sympathizing senators, there was a governor…later on.
Sylvester Pennoyer
The Oregon of the late 19th century was quite a Republican place, but its voters from time to time made exceptions. One of them was Democrat Sylvester Pennoyer (1831-1902). Although Pennoyer during the War of the Rebellion was strongly supportive of slavery and as an outgrowth of his Jacksonian state’s rights views sympathized with the Confederacy, by the 1880s the issues had shifted, and many of Oregon’s working-class voters were focusing on Chinese labor. They elected Pennoyer governor in 1886 on an anti-Chinese labor and pro-white labor platform. Opposition to Chinese laborers was popular in the West in general, with opponents often claiming they couldn’t be assimilated, and most importantly, they were a source of competition to white labor. Pennoyer, like numerous labor advocates of the late 19th century, was only standing for the white men among the laborers.
Dealing with Republican majorities in the state legislature, Pennoyer didn’t accomplish much in his time as governor aside from establishing a commission to regulate railroads. As governor, he refused to call out the militia in 1888 to stop a strike against the Corvallis and Eastern Railroad until workers were paid what they were owed and was the first governor to establish Labor Day. In 1894, Pennoyer refused to intervene when members of Coxey’s Army stole a train to travel to Washington to present a petition for employment (Oregon History Project). Pennoyer was also the first major Oregon politician to call for an income tax.
Pennoyer vs. Presidents
Sylvester Pennoyer, consistent with his populism as well as his state’s rights views, conflicted with both Presidents Harrison and Cleveland. When President Harrison in 1891 proposed to meet Pennoyer at the Oregon border, he insisted that as governor he was an equal to President Harrison and that he meet him at his office in Salem. They ultimately agreed to meet at the Salem train depot, but Pennoyer made a point of arriving 10 minutes late, making Harrison and a crowd wait in the rain (John, 2010). In 1893, President Cleveland, having previously paid an indemnity to the Chinese government over the Rock Springs massacre of 1885 in Wyoming in which 28 Chinese miners were killed by rioting white miners, was interested in avoiding more anti-Chinese violence. He sent Pennoyer a telegram asking him to do whatever he legally could to prevent expected anti-Chinese violence, to which Pennoyer telegraphed Cleveland’s Secretary of State, “I will attend to my business, let the President attend to his” (Rosman). That same year, Pennoyer bolted the Democratic Party for the Populists and endorsed their left-wing platform, including free coinage of silver and the adoption of an income tax. An opponent of President Cleveland and his “Bourbon” Democratic faction, he tried to prevent state’s ceremonial cannon from firing to celebrate President Grover Cleveland’s inauguration in 1893. He stated his justification, “No permission will be given to use state cannon for firing a salute over the inauguration of a Wall Street plutocrat as president of the United States” (John, 2010). However, the state Democratic Party managed to, under the fraudulent pretense of an unpaid bill, have Marion County’s sheriff confiscate the cannon and it was fired on time. Pennoyer’s eccentric, abrasive, and stubborn political nature resulted in his political foes referring to him as “Sylpester Annoyer” and “Pennoyer the Annoyer”.
Two Thanksgivings and Political Success
Pennoyer’s governorship also resulted in two years in which Oregonians celebrated two Thanksgivings. Pennoyer opted to announce Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November in 1893, thus Oregon technically had two Thanksgivings, one on the fourth and one on the fifth week of November (Rosman). He did it again the next year. Pennoyer didn’t explain his motivations for this…perhaps he wanted to beat Cleveland to the punch on Thanksgiving, or perhaps he had made a mistake in 1893 and refused to change course. The Oregonian wrote of the matter, “The accident that November has five Thursdays this year gave Pennoyer the opportunity to again claim his independence” (Rosman). A national Thanksgiving controversy would arise during FDR’s presidency, and a compromise in 1942 set Thanksgiving nationally to the day Pennoyer did. So, one might say that in the long run, Pennoyer won, and in a far greater way than he ever expected to do.
Pennoyer also was the first ever Oregon governor to serve two terms, and the only Democrat to do so until John Kitzhaber, who served from 1995 to 2003. Although Pennoyer left the governor’s mansion in 1895, he had run instead for Portland’s mayor and won. As Portland’s mayor he fired the entire police force to replace the police chief (Marsh). Pennoyer’s influence carried on, as he mentored George Chamberlain, who would serve as the state’s attorney general, governor, and senator.
References
Abbott, C. Benjamin Stark. Oregon Encyclopedia.
Retrieved from
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/stark-benjamin/
Biographies of Jo Lane. Southern Oregon History Revised.
Retrieved from
https://truwe.sohs.org/files/Jolanebio.html
Blue, F. Joseph Lane. Oregon Encyclopedia.
Retrieved from
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lane_joseph_1801_1881_/
John, F.J.D. (2010, August 1). Oregon governor to United States president: Drop dead. Offbeat Oregon History.
Retrieved from
https://www.offbeatoregon.com/H1008a_governor-pennoyer-tells-president-to-drop-dead.html
John, F.J.D. (2014, December 21). Oregonian nearly became President; lucky he didn’t. Offbeat Oregon History.
Retrieved from
https://offbeatoregon.com/1412c.318.president-joseph-lane.html
Lane, Joseph. Voteview.
Retrieved from
https://voteview.com/person/5444/joseph-lane
Marsh. T. Sylvester Pennoyer. Oregon Encyclopedia.
Retrieved from
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/pennoyer_sylvester_1831_1902_/
Rosman, J. (2017, November 20). The 2 years Oregon had 2 Thanksgivings. OPB.
Retrieved from
https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/series/history/thanksgiving-oregon-history-sylvester-pennoyer/
Stark, Benjamin. Voteview.
Retrieved from
https://voteview.com/person/8849/benjamin-stark
Sylvester Pennoyer. (2002). Oregon History Project.
Retrieved from
Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 