Although the democrats were in the majority in the state, they were by this time becoming hopelessly divided. Some leading men of the party, while unwilling to have slavery introduced, thought that all negroes should be excluded, and on this point alone the right and left wings of the party seemed to be in accord.
In the meantime in the House of Representatives at Washington there was another bill authorizing the people of Oregon to form a state Constitution and state government. This was House Bill 7, and came from the Committee on Territories as a substitute bill, January 31, 1857, and as reported fixed the eastern boundary of the proposed state at 120° of longitude, approximately the eastern California line. The bill was amended after debate to restrict the voters for statehood to citizens of the United States, and to require the constitution when framed to be submitted to the people for approval and ratification. The debate, which raised several other suggestions for amendment, followed immediately after debate on the Minnesota bill, which had been sent back to the Committee on Territories. The Oregon bill, however, passed the House without a call for yeas and nays. Both the Minnesota bill, which subsequently passed the House, and the Oregon bill were referred in the Senate to the Committee on Territories, February 2, 1857. The latter measure was reported by Senator Douglas of the Committee, with amendments, on February 18, 1857, and came on for debate on the twenty-first day of that month. The senate committee had changed the eastern boundary to the Shoshone or Snake River as far south as the mouth of the Owyhee River, and thence south to the Forty-second parallel of north latitude, and the remainder of Oregon Territory was to be put under the jurisdiction of Washington Territory. However, the Senate adjourned without taking a vote, and the session closed on March
