James D. Saules and the Enforcement of the Color Line in Oregon

Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Spring 5-16-2014 "Dangerous Subjects": James D. Saules and the Enforcement of the Color Line in Oregon Kenneth Robert Coleman Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Law and Race Commons, Political History Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post- Colonial Studies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Coleman, Kenneth Robert, ""Dangerous Subjects": James D. Saules and the Enforcement of the Color Line in Oregon" (2014). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 1845. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.1844 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. “Dangerous Subjects”: James D. Saules and the Enforcement of the Color Line in Oregon by Kenneth Robert Coleman A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Thesis Committee: Katrine Barber, Chair Patricia Schechter David Johnson Darrell Millner Portland State Univesity 2014 © 2014 Kenneth Robert Coleman i Abstract In June of 1844, James D. Saules, a black sailor turned farmer living in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, was arrested and convicted for allegedly inciting Indians to violence against a settler named Charles E. Pickett. Three years earlier, Saules had deserted the United States Exploring Expedition, married a Chinookan woman, and started a freight business on the Columbia River. Less than two months following Saules’s arrest, Oregon’s Provisional Government passed its infamous “Lash Law,” banning the immigration of free black people to the region. While the government repealed the law in 1845, Oregon passed a territorial black exclusion law in 1849 and included a black exclusion clause in its 1857 state constitution. Oregon’s territorial delegate also convinced the U.S. Congress to exclude black people from the 1850 Donation Land Act. In each case, Oregon politicians suggested the legacy of the Saules case by stressing the need to prevent black men, particularly sailors, from coming to Oregon and collaborating with local indigenous groups to commit acts of violence against white settlers. This thesis explains the unusual persistence of black exclusion laws in Oregon by focusing on the life of Saules, both before and after white American settlers came to the region in large numbers. Black exclusion in Oregon was neither an anomalous byproduct of American expansion nor a means to prevent slavery from taking root in the region. Instead, racial exclusion was central to the land-centered settler colonial project in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the Americanization of the Pacific Northwest, the region was home to a cosmopolitan and increasingly fluid culture that incorporated various local Native groups, exogenous fur industry workers, and missionaries. This was a milieu ii made possible by colonialism and the rise of merchant capitalism during the Age of Sail, a period which lasted from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. This was also likely a world very familiar to Saules, who had spent his entire adult life aboard ships and in various seaports. However, the American immigrants who began arriving in Oregon in the early 1840s sought to dismantle this multiethnic social order, privatize land, and create a homogenous settler society based on classical republican principles. And although Saules was born in the United States, American settlers, emboldened by a racialist ideology, denied most non-whites a place in their settler society. Furthermore, during the early decades of resettlement, white American settlers often felt vulnerable to attacks from the preexisting population. Therefore, many settlers viewed free black men like Saules, a worldly sailor with connections among Native people, as potential threats to the security of their nascent communities. iii Acknowledgements I owe a large debt of gratitude to my advisor, Katrine Barber. Katy not only encouraged my interest in Oregon’s black exclusion laws but also strongly suggested that I expand my undergraduate work into a graduate thesis. In addition, her state-of-the-art knowledge of Pacific Northwest history and settler colonialism was an invaluable resource. Finally, her enthusiasm for my work helped me maintain my focus even when my confidence started to waver. Many other scholars at Portland State were also instrumental in shaping this work. Patricia Schechter was an early supporter of my work and introduced me to several exciting theoretical approaches to history. Darrell Millner’s vast knowledge of Oregon history is matched only by his penetrating insights. Brian Turner’s interest in historical geography, mapmaking, and military history was particularly helpful in developing my first chapter. Brian also put me in contact with Wayne E. Lee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who provided a wealth of sources regarding the role of music in the maritime world. I extend a special thanks to Liisa Penner at the Clatsop County Historical Society. She took time out of her busy schedule to prepare a folder of sources pertaining to James D. Saules. Many of these became crucial primary sources. My family was also instrumental in this project. My parents, Robert and Gail Coleman, nurtured my interest in history as a child and never questioned my decision to “double-down” on a humanities education. Natalie Linn has been a tireless cheerleader iv and offered her generous support. I have also spent many hours conversing, attending classes, and sharing notes with my cherished “history buddy,” Merritt Linn. No one contributed to this work more than my wife, Jodi Coleman. She is the greatest partner, friend, sounding board, and editor I have ever known. Without her intelligence, patience, and support, I would still be stuck on page one. v Tables of Contents Abstract ..........................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................iii Introduction................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One James D. Saules’s Voyage to Oregon and American Imperialism in the Age of Sail...... 20 Chapter Two The Settler Invasion and the Banishment of Saules........................................................ 60 Chapter Three Saules in Exile, The Oregon Question, and the Return of Black Exclusion .................. 103 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 142 Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 149 1 Introduction The idea for this thesis came from a short article published in the November 22, 1964 edition of the Seattle Times entitled “Cape Disappointment’s First Settler.” Cape Disappointment is located in Washington state on the northern side of the mouth of the Columbia River. The author, Pacific Northwest historian and journalist Lucile Saunders McDonald, began her article with a question: “What manner of man was the first to take up residence in Washington’s southwest corner?”1 Ignoring the fact that a well- established Chinookan village had existed less than three miles from Cape Disappointment long before Americans first arrived, McDonald’s answer was that the man, James D. Saules, was “an extraordinary character.”2 While McDonald’s piece is fewer than 2,000 words, it is dense and thoroughly researched. She was clearly impressed by the unusual impact Saules had on Pacific Northwest history during the 1840s. She described how Saules, a sailor and ship’s cook, deserted from a U.S. Navy exploring expedition in 1841 to settle in the Oregon Country. Three years after arriving, Saules moved to Oregon’s Willamette Valley and was involved in the 1844 Cockstock Affair, an instance of violence between Native people and recently-arrived American settlers. McDonald claimed Saules was blamed by others for the incident and was soon arrested and convicted for inciting Natives to violence against a fellow settler. Indian subagent Elijah White then ordered Saules to relocate from the Willamette Valley to Cape 1 Lucile McDonald, “Cape Disappointment’s First Settler,” The Seattle Times, November 22, 1964, Sunday edition, sec. Sunday magazine, 4. 2 Ibid. Although McDonald refers to him as “James D. Saule,” in the interest of consistency, I will refer to him throughout as James D. Saules. That is also the spelling of the name given in the letter written by Saules to Elijah White in 1844. 2 Disappointment, where, in 1845, he found himself in the middle of both a land dispute and long-simmering tensions between the United States and Great Britain. The outcome of this chain of events was again displacement. Yet despite ten years of high visibility in the region, McDonald puzzled over the fact that Saules vanished from the historical record after 1851. Although she did not focus on it specifically, McDonald noted another aspect of Saules that caused him to stand out in the Oregon Country during the 1840s: He was a black man. However, McDonald shied away

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