Peace Conference. After the secession of several of the States of the American Union in 1860, Virginia, on Jan. 1, 1861, invited the remaining States to send delegates to a conference in Washington, with the object of devising a plan whereby all difficulties then existing might be peaceably settled. The conference met on Feb. 4. Fourteen free States and seven slave States were represented, and ex-President John Tyler was made the presiding officer. A committee of one from each State was appointed to draw up a report of "what they may deem right, necessary, and proper, to restore harmony and preserve the Union." The report was rejected by both Congress and Senate.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.