PORTLAND, OR -- Oregon celebrates its 164th birthday Tuesday, but Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk says the fight for statehood, back in 1859, wasn’t easy, "Right at the lead up to the Civil War, of course. Opposing views from ‘slave states’ - the southern states - and the ‘free states,’ [there was a] big debate on who should come into the Union and whether that would offset a balance between the slave states and the free states. So, it took quite a while before the Senate, on February 14, 1859, by a majority of only 11 votes, made Oregon the 33rd state."

Prior to becoming a state, Oregon voters - only white men at the time - approved the state’s Constitution, "And by about a 3-1 margin, about 10,000 voters at the time - Caucasian men - they voted to enter as a free state. But the other question they were asked was ‘when Oregon entered the Union, should we allow Blacks to live in Oregon at all?’ And by an 8-1 margin, the answer was ‘no.’" Tymchuk tells KBND News, "So, when Oregon entered the Union, believe it or not, in 1859, we entered as the only state - before or since - with a Constitution that specifically banned Blacks from living in the state." He says it was never enforced because it violated the U.S. Constitution, but it remained on the books in Oregon until the 1920s. 

KBND News asked Tymchuk about the new fight over the state’s border. He says, "Is it interesting to talk about? Yes. Will it ever happen? No." Tymchuk doesn’t believe the Greater Idaho Movement will gain the necessary bureaucratic traction, "Oregon is Oregon. We’re obviously a very diverse state, between urban and rural. And what’s good for rural Oregon is good for urban Oregon, and vice versa." He says the key is to remember we’re all part of the same state. 

The Oregon Historical Society Museum offers free admission Tuesday, in recognition of the state's birthday. It will also host a Citizenship Ceremony at 11 a.m. for 30 new U.S. citizens.