In the
United States, when
seccession loomed over the
Union, the Senate appointed a Committee of Thirteen to make a last ditch attempt to prevent the South from splitting away. This committee, lead by
John Crittenden of
Kentucky, was responsible for proposing a compromise which would satisfy both sides. The compromise formed from this effort, known as the Crittenden Compromise, was expected to do just that. The proposal involved adding several
amendments to the
Consitution to satisfy all parties involved.
The first amendment proposed was a flash back to the
Missouri Compromise. This compromise had established that
slavery was prohibited above the 36°30' line, whereas the right to own slaves was guaranteed below it. Needless to say, this did not appeal to those with a strong
opinion on either side of the issue of slavery. The Southerners felt this limited their
territory and that they should be allowed to practice their "
peculiar institution" wherever they pleased. The
abolitionists among the Northerners wanted freedom to be
universal; below and above the 36°30' line. The text of the compromise read:
"In all the territory of the United States now held, or hereafter acquired, situated north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government. In all the territory south of said line of latitude, slavery of the African race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial government during its continuance. And when any territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of Congress according to the then Federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall, if its form of government be Republican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, with or without slavery, as the constitution of such new State may provide."
The next amendment was proposed as a support to the existing
Fugitive Slave Laws. This amendment would prevent the state governments from passing laws that would hinder owners in recovering their runaway '
property'. The compromise dictated that "all State laws which conflict with the Fugitive Slave Acts of Congress... are
null and
void by the plain provisions of the Constitution of the United States." This was an act which ran counter to the view of those who felt the
states should have their own
power to make laws, even angering some southerners who believed in limiting the power of the
central government.
Also regarding the Fugitive Slave Law, another act of the compromise was to amend the law itself. The fee of the
commissoners in cases deciding if a slave was or was not the property of the
claimant was to be made "
equal in amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of or against the claimant." This was a change from the original phrasing of the Fugitive Slave Law, which dictated that the fee be
higher if the case was decided in
favor of the claimant. Another change this act would have made was that the right of the claimant to summon to his aid good citizens who have a duty to assist him was to be amended to "expressly limit the
authority and
duty to cases in which there shall be resistance or danger of
resistance or
rescue." In general, this act was in the favor of Northerners.
The next act in favor of abolitionists regarded the
African Slave Trade. This congressional resolution required that "the laws for the
suppression of the
African slave trade, and especially those prohibiting the
importation of slaves in the United States, ought to be made
effectual, and ought to be thoroughly
executed". This meant that no more slaves could have been brought from
Africa to the
United States, or vice versa, not that the latter was a common
circumstance.
A policy that the
inner state slave trade could not be interfered with was also included in this compromise. This meant that "Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the
transportation of slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory, in which slaves are by law permitted to be held". A noticeable
lack in this resolution regards the
transport of slaves across states and territories where
slavery is not permitted. However, the new amendments concerning the
Fugitive Slave Law kept this from being a major issue. Thus, this act was more in favor of the Southerners when put into perspective, although it would not compensate them for the loss of the
African slave trade.
The last act of the Crittenden compromise would require Congress to agree never to
destroy these amendments. No new amendments could be written negating or altering these agreements, regardless of the situation. This meant that regardless of the presence of an
abolitionist majority in Congress and the Senate, slavery would still not have been
abolished had the Crittenden Compromise
passed.
Overall, it is not hard to see why the Crittenden Compromise did not appeal to the Senate. The Republicans saw it as a total negation of their
party platform, and thus the entire Republican party voted
against the compromise when it was put before the Senate. Six of the southern
Democrats refused to vote on the matter, as did those who belonged to states which had already seceded and were not taking part in the vote. Because of this, the compromise was defeated in the Senate. Also, when put before the aforementioned Senate Committee of Thirteen, the compromise failed to gain support. The members could not agree on the proper
editing needed to give the compromise support in the Senate. Thus, the Compromise was defeated finally in the Senate, and then again in the House. Only one final effort was made to try to
restore the Union after the Crittenden compromise. This was the "
Peace Convention", the members of which were invited to meet with President
Buchanan. Unfortunately, delegates did not arrive from the seceded states. The compromise they eventually proposed was remarkably similar to the Crittenden Compromise, and
failed just as quickly. This was the last attempt to keep the peace between
North and
South.
This text is also archived for academic purposes on my personal website at http://www.geocities.com/warfacts