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Lahmann v. Grand Aerie of Fraternal Order of Eagles10/12/2005
istorical foundation on which section 26 was built also demonstrates that its objective was to protect the people's right to gather for the purpose of deliberating on and promoting political policies. Although we lack documentation of the Oregon framers' purpose for enacting section 26, an examination of the general historical circumstances that led to the creation of similar assembly clauses supports the conclusion that the section was aimed at protecting the people's ability to convene deliberative gatherings for the purpose of promoting the "common good," formulating policy positions, and taking them to the political arena.
There is no evidence of debate concerning section 26 in the sessions of the standing committee on the Bill of Rights at the Oregon Constitutional Convention, and the Oregon framers adopted the provision with no discussion. See generally Charles Henry Carey ed., The Oregon Constitution and Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1857 (1926); see also Claudia Burton and Andrew Grade, A Legislative History of the Oregon Constitution of 1857--Part I (Articles I & II), 37 Willamette L Rev 469, 544 (2001) (noting absence of evidence of debate on section 26). The proceedings of the Oregon Constitutional Convention indicate, however, that the Bill of Rights of the Indiana Constitution served as a model for Oregon's. See, e.g., Carey, The Oregon Constitution at 101-02 (remarks of convention delegate Delazon Smith advocating the inclusion of a bill of rights in the Oregon Constitution and characterizing the Indiana Constitution of 1851 as the "best pleas " "of all the constitutions of all the states"). Article I, section 26, of the Oregon Constitution is identical to Article I, section 31, of the Indiana Constitution of 1851, and it is not difficult to conclude that section 26 was drawn directly from that document. See Carey, The Oregon Constitution at 469 (tracing sources of the Oregon Constitution); Burton and Grade, 37 Willamette L Rev at 483-84 (reviewing the sources of the Oregon Constitution and noting the strong circumstantial evidence that the "members of the Committee on Bill of Rights drew heavily on the Bill of Rights of the Indiana Constitution of 1851 when drafting Oregon's Bill of Rights").
The 1850 Indiana Constitutional Convention adopted its version of the assembly clause on December 6, 1850, without amendment or debate. 1 Report of the Debates and Proceedings of the Convention for the Revision of the Constitution of the State of Indiana 1850, 989 (1850). The source of Indiana's assembly clause is unclear.Parts of the Indiana Constitution of 1816, subsequently amended by the 1850 Indiana Constitutional Convention, may have been modeled on provisions in other state constitutions, including those of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. See generally Robert Twomley, The Indiana Bill of Rights, 20 Ind L J 211, 212-13 (1944). The assembly clauses in those possi
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