From the Annals of the Civil War –  In 1861, the U.S. Senate rejected the Crittenden Compromise leading the country closer to Civil War and secession by more states including Texas.  Senator John J. Crittenden (D. Kentucky) proposed a series of constitutional amendments aimed at protecting slavery in the South. The basic plan was to resurrect the old Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had divided the West along the latitude of 36 30′ into slave and free zones.  In contrast, the Compromise of 1850 allowed a vote by territorial residents to decide the issue of slavery. Crittenden’s plan also would have protected slavery in the District of Columbia, allowed continuation of the interstate slave trade, and provided compensation to slave owners whose slaves escaped to the free states.

By the time Crittenden put forth his amendments, four states had already seceded and the prospect of more states leaving the Union loomed large.  The Compromise was overly weighted to addressing concerns of the slave-holding states and Crittenden believed that passage of his plan might convince them to rejoin the Union and avoid war.  But his plan would have been a major set back for the Republicans. The plan essentially consisted of a complete surrender by the Republicans on the issue of slavery with almost no compromise from the slave-holding states.  The Republican Party had been founded six years earlier for the express purpose of opposing the western expansion of slavery. Their remarkable success in electing Abraham Lincoln as President within six years of the party’s creation would have been eviscerated by the Crittenden Compromise.  Ultimately the plan failed with all 25 Republican senators voting against Crittenden’s plan.