whose family was wealthy. life to publics service as a congressman. then he would go way with a appreciation for what it meant in the early 1960's. there is the peace corps, the movement for civil rights, the america, a time when was closest to nuclear war than it ever has been. a appreciation for the challenges of how we met them, people sometimes go away wondering what if? i would history have been different if he continued to serve as president. oregonians are proud of their pioneer heritage here at the oregon historical society, this is a exhibit that highlights pioneer legislation that has

been passed to the state. beenegonians have always proud to be pioneers. when the first pioneers moved here it seems to be part of our and to to be innovative try things that have never been tried before. to push the envelope. with the legislature time and time again, especially in the 20th century. example oft legislative innovation was in 1902 when the legislature created the referendum that a leadthe public to play role in writing laws and recallings as well as elected officials. here in oregon our ballots are often very lengthy because we are voting on a series of policy,s and ideas for

one of the most important ones that was passed back in 1912 was giving women the right to vote. is af the great stories woman who came across a teenage that time she was the leading suffragettes. she was fighting time and time again to give women the right to vote. five times and went to the ballot and five times it was voted down. it was not until 1912 when women get the right to vote. that she wasry is doing all that she could to give women the right to vote. was herhe opponents brother. unfortunately for her the editor of the oregonian. now the most powerful and

influential newspaper in the state. imaginedgiving dinners the meal they would have. he died in 1910 and they got the right to vote in 1912. i guess it all worked out. ourof the great assets is 362 miles of pacific ocean shoreline. way back in 1913 the governor who was really the first progressive governor here in oregon declared all of the beaches to be public. he did not want private development on the beaches. fast-forward to 1956 when a motel owner here on the northern access toto limit some of the beach to his guests.

to block the public from coming onto this area which was from the satellite to the vegetation line. the governor who had been in him toin 1967 wanted stop that. very dramatically in may of 1967 he flew down by helicopter with the press, landed at the beach, he dramatically through a light on the sand with a poll saying this to was part of the public beach. later on the legislation would give the donor power to declare more of the beachfront as public property where you cannot build on it. now017 where we are health-care reform remains on top of the national agenda on top of national debate. when you return home was 30 years ago the debate was still going on then.

oregonians became a leader in the passage of the health and services act which includes medicaid for all oregon citizens. with acitizens pre-existing condition. it was a revolutionary idea back then. it was passed by the legislature and passed by the governor. there was a physician who made health-care reform his signature accomplishment. it would lead to him being elected as governor. the ideas that are still being for health care reit they were for simpleminded in the oregon health care plan. trying to get coverage for as many citizens as you could possibly get. change is going back-and-forth with the health care plan. they are trying to make sure they are meeting their goal. it remains the key part of are, we being of who we

provide decent health care to oregonians regardless of income. perhaps one of the most controversial initiatives ever adopted by oregonians was only call measure 16. in 1994. it was known as death with dignity or assisted suicide. it gives terminally ill oregonians the right to end lethalives with medication provided by physicians. very much debated at the local level and national level now as well. supported by folks who lost a loved one to stop a loved one dying painfully with a terminal illness, opposed by the catholic church and other religious organizations and by those who thought it was a slippery slope

to adopt assisted suicide. 20 years later, it is part of the ethos here in oregon. it is still the law of the state. it was adopted by washington state, our neighbor to the north. it remains debated in oregon but generally accepted as a humane part of oregon law. as you might expect, the law was quite controversial nationally. congress tried to weigh-in and block this from happening. eventually, it reached the supreme court which gave oregon the right to implement its own laws in this regard. it is election day in oregon and you are looking for a place to go vote, you would not find one because back in 1998,

69%,helming, i majority of oregonians adopted vote i mail as the only way in which you could vote. there are no ballot places. a rolling two-week election process. most oregonians received their ballots in the mail two weeks before election day and you have until election day to vote and orurn it by mailing it in dropping off at a library or one of the many designated places. that's the only way you can vote in oregon. all elections are conducted with vote by mail. have gone toward that area, allowing early voting and mail voting, absentee voting . and you have seen in the last election, he saw the massive number of people across the country who took advantage of early voting and voted before election day.

in oregon, there is no election day. you can only vote by mail. it has led to a dramatic change in strategy. if you are a candidate running for office in states where there's an election day, you want your commercial to be running close to election day. here, the commercials run two weeks out when oregonians get their ballots. there are studies that a vast majority of people vote immediately. once the votes are received, they cast their votes and mail it in. then there's another rush on the last day. some people like to hold out and not vote until the last day. heart of the reason some people vote early as campaigns can purchase list of people who have and have not voted. so if you vote early, your name is not on that list and you will not be pestered calls from different campaigns. mayou do not vote, you beginning lots of telephone

calls. there are those who say that there are two organs. there's one oregon or the majority of the people live, portland, eugene, the three big cities, and under his rural oregon. oregon is a huge state geographically. most of the people live in a very concentrated area. there are vast areas of the state where there are fewer people and there are very big clinical differences between rural oregon and urban oregon. haveost oregonians accepted if not endorsed the innovations that have happened here like vote by mail, death , you are proud of what we have done to clean up the environment. >> our cities tour staff

recently traveled to portland, oregon, to learn about its rich history. learn more about portland and other stops on our tour at sleep -- at c-span.org/tour. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. on lectures and history, arizona state university professor jonathan barth teaches a class about the life of andrew jackson and his presidency. he focuses on jackson's clashes with quick party members like ahenry clay and daniel webster. this is about 55 minutes. jonathan barth: welcome to american history. my name j