Crittenden Compromise Facts
Crittenden Compromise Facts
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| Interesting Crittenden Compromise Facts: |
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| The Compromise' primary architect, John Crittenden, was a Senator from the border state of Kentucky: politicians from the border states pushed hardest for compromise. |
| Crittenden was a member of the Constitutional Union Party, which was formed in 1860 primary as a party meant to compromise sectional differences. |
| Crittenden was seventy-four-years-old at the time. |
| The Crittenden Compromise was introduced to Congress on December 18, 1861. |
| One of the amendments in the Compromise stated that Congress could not interfere in the slave trade, while one of the resolutions upheld the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Laws |
| Although the African slave trade had been abolished in the United States since 1820, one of the Senate resolutions of the Compromise stated that its suppression "should be effectively and thoroughly executed." |
| Republicans of the time and modern scholars consider only one of the points in the Compromise to be a concession to the North: the resolution that modified the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, reducing the power of marshals to call on citizens to help capture runaway slaves. |
| If passed, the Compromise would have introduced the word "slavery" into the United States Constitution for the first time. |
| The final of the six amendments provided that the other five could not be affected by any future amendments. |
| Deliberations on the Compromise began on December 22 and came to an end six days later. |
| The deliberations came two days after South Carolina seceded from the Union. |
| The Compromise never made it past the "Committee of Thirteen" in the Senate, which meant that the entire Senate never voted on the bill. |
| House Republicans offered their own compromise that would have allowed the immediate admission of New Mexico into the Union, presumably as a slave state, along with an amendment protecting slavery in the South, but not extending the Missouri Compromise line west. |
| The House compromise actually left slaveholder with less, but made the Republicans appear magnanimous. |
| The Compromise was officially tabled on December 31. |
| After the Compromise was tabled, Crittenden attempted to put it to the vote of the people in a plebiscite or referendum, which was supported by Stephen Douglas and many Democrats, but opposed by most of the Republicans. |
| The Crittenden Compromise was raised a final time at the Peace Conference of 1861, held from February 8-27 in Washington, D.C. |
| The conference was attended by some of America's top lawmakers, from both sections and parties. The Compromise failed again with the major sticking point being the Republicans' refusal to allow the westward expansion of slavery. |
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