The Path to Statehood: Washington's Bid for the Union

On December 12th, Senator Dolph introduced a bill in the Senate to provide for the formation and admission into the Union of the State of Washington. The proposed state would embrace the territory within the following boundaries: beginning one marine league west of the middle of the ship channel of the Columbia river, along the northern boundary of the state of Oregon to where it intersects the middle of the main channel of the Snake river; thence southerly to a point opposite the mouth of the Salmon river; thence up the middle of said channel to the source, then to the crest of the Bitterroot range of mountains; thence northwesterly along the crest to the thirty-ninth meridian west; thence north to the boundary line between the United States and British Columbia; thence westerly along said line to the Pacific ocean. The act mandates that the constitution be republican in form, make no distinction in civil and political rights on account of race or color—except as to Indians not taxed—and strictly limits the state's aggregate debt to $900,000.