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.

From the Annals of Museumology  –  In1939, the Texas Memorial Museum opened on the UT -Austin campus. The Texas Centennial Celebration Bill of 1935 had allocated funds for the “gathering and preparing materials for exhibits of natural and civic history … and for furnishing and equipping the Texas Memorial Museum.” The museum was owned by the State until 1959 at which time ownership was transferred to the University. The museum, which was extensively renovated in 2003, still attracts about 65,000 visitors a year even though it has been somewhat upstaged by the larger and flashier Bullock State History Museum.  The “exhibits are based on the 5.7 million collected specimens from research conducted at the Texas Memorial Museum. Exhibits focus on prehistoric life, evolution, rocks and minerals, and Texas wildlife.” One of the highlights is the fossilized Quetzalcoatalus northropi, the Texas Pterosaur, a flying reptile unearthed in West Texas by UT-Austin scientists. With a wingspan of 40 feet, Quetzalcoatalus northropi is the largest flying creature ever found.  As a young boy, I was particularly fascinated by the pterosaur exhibit, the Olmec head and the dinosaur footprints.