CHAPTER XI.
POLITICAL MANEUVERING IN 1859
The statement has been made that no state, not of the orig- inal thirteen, has contributed so materially as Oregon in the circumstances of its acquisition and territorial organization to the great national issues which have divided the country. 1 Whether the statement is literally true or not, it forcefully suggests what is apt generally to be overlooked the close, vital relation of isolated Oregon to the great issues which have stirred the whole nation. It is not the purpose here to dwell upon this interesting phase, further than to suggest the rela- tion of the admission of Oregon as a Territory in 1848 and as a state in 1859 to the development of the national issue of slavery.
In 1848 the organization of the Territory had been opposed by the pro-slavery element in Congress. In the struggle over the Oregon bill, occasioned by the anti-slavery provision, Cal- houn laid down the principles which were thereafter to be maintained by the South and on which the policy of the Na- tional Democracy was to be based. He declared that the ter- ritories were the common property of the people of the United States and that as a result the South was entitled to the same property rights therein as the North. Ten years later Oregon was knocking for admission to the Union as a free state. This time the opposition arose from the anti-slavery element in Con- gress, the Oregon bill being championed by the regular Demo- cratic organization. In the first place it was not considered strictly a party question. In 1857 the lower house of Congress had passed an act authorizing the people of Oregon to organ- ize a state government, but Congress adjourned before action was taken by the Senate. In May, 1858, the Senate passed a bill by a vote of 35 to 17 to admit Oregon, with the constitu- tion which had in the meantime been adopted. Eleven Repub- lican senators were among the 35 and six among the 17.
Hon. Frederick N. Judson, St. Louis, Mo., in anniversary address com- memorating admission of Oregon to the Union. See Proceedings, p. 33.
