 At the time , tensions between the northern and the southern United States were growing , in a series of conflicts that eventually resulted in the American Civil War . There was little debate in the United States House of Representatives , but when Stephen A. Douglas introduced the bill in the United States Senate , it caused a firestorm of debate . Northerners saw their chance to add two senators to the side of the free states , while Southerners were sure that they would lose power . Many senators offered polite arguments that the population was too sparse and that statehood was premature . Senator John Burton Thompson of Kentucky , in particular , argued that new states would cost the government too much for roads , canals , forts , and lighthouses . Although Thompson and 21 other senators voted against statehood , the enabling act was passed on February 26 , 1857 . 
