On December 18, 1860, a man by the name of John Jordan Crittenden approached the House of Representatives and Senate with a proposal, which had previously failed, that would lead to the Civil War. This Compromise, the Crittenden Compromise, was an attempt to preserve slavery and the Union itself that was being threaten by secession. Even though this proposed compromise has said to be one of the precursors to the Civil War, fortunately, it never saw the light of day yet. What was the Crittenden Compromise all about, why did it aide in the Civil War, and why was it such a bad idea?
The Crittenden Compromise was a proposal by Kentucky Senator John Jordan Crittenden as a resolution to the secession crisis going on due to the 1860 election. Many southern states, mainly South Carolina, warned that if the Republicans won the 1860 election the state would leave the Union. John Crittenden a Kentucky senator believed that the secession crisis could possibly be solved with some amendments to the constitution and the reinstatement of the Missouri Compromise which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory, and, as it relates to the Crittenden Compromise, allowed slavery south of the Mason-Dixon line. Lincoln and the Republican Party immediately opposed the proposal.
Mr. Crittenden proposed six constitutional amendments and four congressional resolutions that dealt with what he felt was a pressing issue surrounding the Union crisis, slavery. According to Robert A. Lee and History Guy Media 2006, the first article readdressed the Missouri Compromise. This article sought reinstate the compromise, stated that any new state could decide whether or not to practice slavery, and the rights governing the slavery were to be taken out of congresses hands. The second article expounded on the first article by relinquishing congress of any powers pertaining to slavery. The mere thought of taking decisions about slavery from congress’s hands was a bad idea, yet Crittenden pressed on with four more apparently unreasonable articles.
Article three proposed that slavery within the District of Columbia be permitted as long as slavery existed in the adjoining states, Maryland and Virginia, and any officer who chose to bring a slave with him to the District of Columbia would be allowed to do so as long as he was on Federal business. Furthermore, article four prohibited congress from interfering in the transportation of slaves by any means. Article addressed fugitive slaves and those who chose to help slaves escape slavery. It declared that all fugitive slaves would be returned to their owners, congress was obligated to sue the offender, and the slave owner could also turn around and sue the offender.
Article six was probably the worst article of them all, it, just as the other articles took all powers regarding slavery from congress, as well as banned all future amendments to the first five articles. In essence John Crittenden felt as though these articles would be the final say in slavery for years to come. There would be no overturning the Crittenden Compromise, once enacted the abolition of slavery would be up to the states, individually. As stated earlier the Republican Party opposed this compromise due to Lincoln’s plan to abolish slavery.
John Crittenden did not stop with the articles, though; he went on to include four resolutions that addressed fugitive slaves and the Fugitive Slave Laws. They were: (1) congress is strictly enforce all amendments, especially with regards to fugitive slaves and those who seek to help fugitive slaves, and that all slaveholders of slaveholding states would be protected under the above amendments; (2) any laws, primarily the Personal Liberty Laws, in any state that conflicted with the new amendments would be null and void, essentially slavery may be outlawed in a state, yet because congress cannot and shall not interfere with the above amendments, a slaveholder is free to take his slaves from state to state, regardless if the state practices or prohibits slavery, without consequences; (3) a modification to the fugitive slave law of 1850 – any marshal who did not arrest a runaway slave would be fined, anyone who helped a slave could be tried and sentenced to prison, no slave or African who was caught would receive a trial by jury, and anyone who claimed ownership of the slave, whether truthfully or falsely saying so, would retain that slave – would be in place to appease the Northern states by limiting the powers of the marshal when capturing a slave; (4) all laws surrounding African slave trade would stand and be strictly enforced at all times in all states. The compromise, unfortunately, never made it out of the house. The compromise was extinguished with a 25 to 23 vote in congress. All of the 25 opposing votes were, of course, Republican. Interestingly, six senators from states planning to secede declined to vote.
The Crittenden Compromise fundamentally sought to improve upon the relationships among the Northern and Southern states by dealing with what Crittenden felt was the main issue surrounding the secession. By the time the compromise was proposed, four states had left the Union, Crittenden had high hopes that his compromise would bring them back and reunite the states, which were becoming more and more divided. By giving both sides a little bit of what they wanted and trying to find a common ground, Crittenden felt the compromise would put a stop to the secession and any future disagreements on the issue and abolition of slavery, yet the Republican Party stood firm on what they believed and with the election of Lincoln into office the compromise was unsuccessful.
There were many problems with this compromise. The major issue being that proposal took away all powers from congress to maintain and monitor slavery. The Republican Party was formed in direct opposition of slavery and its’ expansion into the west; hence, the north felt as though the south was getting everything they asked for and there was not actual compromise. The Crittenden Compromise never stood a chance in the house in that it would mean the Republicans would have to abandon their main platform issue regarding slavery. Unfortunately, the compromise stirred up more emotions than had planned and the American Civil War soon followed.
Sources
History.com: Crittenden Compromise is killed in Senate.
Lee (2006): Civil War: Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden (1860).
Library of Congress: Missouri Compromise
Spartacus: Fugitive Slave Law.
U-S History.com: Social Issues: Secession Crisis 1860
