The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill in February 1860 for statehood and it passed. In the Senate, however, the measure stalled. It went to the Committee on Territories for three months before it came back to the Senate floor. The committee had recommended it not be passed. Debates on the measure went back and forth, but nothing was done due to the upcoming presidential election. In the 1860 election, Abraham Lincoln won the presidency. The Southern states then seceded from the Union. With Congress cleared of those against Kansas becoming a free state, the measure was passed. President Buchanan was still in office but signed the bill making Kansas the 34th state. The Wyandotte constitution became the constitution of the State of Kansas.