Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/254

 246 V. C. WOODWARD Among the minority were some of the radical Southern sena- tors including Jefferson Davis, who were opposed to the ad- mission of any more northern states. The leader of the eleven Republicans who favored admission was Wm. H. Seward. 1 As has been suggested, the first session of this the 35th Con- gress came to a close without action having been taken by the lower house. 2 The action of the rabid, pro-slavery Southern senators in opposing the admission bill, made it plain that the Administra- tion Democrats could not command the full party vote in support of the bill. The Republicans, whose numbers had been steadily increasing in Congress and who were anxious to make their influence felt, now found in the Oregon question the eagerly awaited opportunity to exhibit their party strength. Various reasons for their opposition to the admission bill were publicly stated by the Republicans. Oregon's popu- lation was not sufficient to entitle her to statehood. The same requirements should be made of Oregon which had been prescribed for Kansas. Some criticism of the constitution was indulged in. But these were not the real sources of opposi- tion. Oregon gave promise of being a Democratic state had in fact already elected Democratic senators and congressman and her admission would materially increase the strength of that party in Congress. It was, moreover, already conceded that the approaching presidential election would be closely con- tested and Oregon might turn the scale the wrong way from the Republican viewpoint. The sincerity of the people of Ore- gon in adopting a free-state constitution under which discrimi- nation was made against free Negroes, and furthermore in electing a recognized pro-slavery advocate in Lane to the Sen- ate, was questioned. The strength of the pro-slavery element in Oregon was known and feared. Furthermore, there was a desire on the part of the Republicans to retaliate upon the i Franklin P. Rice, "Eli Thayer and the Admission of Oregon" in the Wor- cester (Mass.) Magazine for February and March, 1906, republished in "Pro- ceedings of the soth Anniversary of the Admission of the State of Oregon to the Union." Mr. Rice gives a concise, lucid account of the situation, based upon the records of Congress and the newspapers of the period, and his account has here been closely followed. zSupra, page