[2] Avery then returned to Oregon where he opened a store on his land claim where he then established a town site.

[2][3] In 1848, Avery was elected and served in the final session of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon that began in December.

"There are a few examples, mostly in the North and West, of long-lived newspapers that, as far as I can tell, did not publish ads for slaves, including The New York Times.

"[12] The thousands of American newspapers backed by the National Democratic Party regularly published pro-slavery propaganda - primarily during the two decades leading up to the Civil War.

Republican-backed newspapers generally supported the abolition movement and Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, which served as a slightly stronger counter-balance to pro-slavery publications in the North.

[13][14] Where slavery was never applied, party platforms such as the pro-slavery movement were mainly used as editorial "cannon fodder" for electoral control and eventual economic gain.

Although there are exceptions, few residents of the Oregon Territory had the economic means to participate in slavery before the Civil War.

Nonetheless, papers like the Occidental Messenger played an instrumental role in sparking the American Civil War.