 In December 1856 , Rice brought forward two bills in Congress : an enabling act that would allow Minnesota to form a state constitution , and a railroad land grant bill . The enabling act defined a state containing both prairie and forest lands with the boundaries drawn as they are today . The bid for statehood came at a time when North @-@ South tensions in the U.S. were rising , tensions that would later lead to the American Civil War . Debate over admitting Minnesota as a free state was heated , but the enabling act was finally passed on February 26 , 1857 . 
