Okla-homey
1/16/2006, 10:20 AM
sorry it's a little late, its a holiday and I overslept because I don't have to be anywhere.
January 16, 1861 Crittenden Compromise is killed in Senate
On this day 145 years ago, a piece of legislation which would become known as the Crittenden Compromise, the last chance to keep North and South together, dies in the U.S. Senate.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/315/zzzzsmithsoniancrittendonhealy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky.
By early January 1861, South Carolina and three other states had seceded from the Union. Yet James Buchanan, the outgoing Democratic president, urged Congress to find a peaceful solution to the problem between the North and the South.
The Senate and the House appointed committees to try and work out some kind of compromise. In the Senate, one idea that seemed to gather support was for the "Crittenden Compromise," put forth by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky
The compromise was a package of constitutional amendments. The amendments would resume the old "Missouri Compromise" provisions of 1820, which divided the west along the latitude of 36-30" -- North of that line, slavery was prohibited.
The 1820 "Missouri Compromise" had been nullified by the "Compromise of 1850", which allowed a vote by territorial residents (popular sovereignty) to decide the issue of slavery. Other amendments protected slavery where it existed within the district limits in Washington D.C., forbade federal interference with the interstate slave trade, and compensated owners whose slaves escaped to the free states.
Essentially, the "Crittenden Compromise" sought to alleviate all concerns of the southern states. As you read above,four states had already left the Union when it was proposed, but Crittenden hoped the compromise would lure them back. Crittenden thought he could muster support from both South and North and avert either a split of the nation or a civil war. He was wrong.
The major problem with the plan was that it called for a complete compromise by the Republicans with virtually no concessions by the Southern Democrats. The new "Republican" Party had been formed in 1854 solely for the purpose of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, particularly the areas north of the Missouri Compromise line.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2302/zzzcritt22yd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Brother against brother. Perhaps Senator Crittenden desired peace because he knew war would fracture his own family. Meet General Thomas L. Crittenden, USA photgraphed during the Civil War. He was the son of Senator John J. Crittenden and the brother of Confederate Major General George B. Crittenden
Just six years after its 1854 formation, in 1860 the Republican party elected a president, Abraham Lincoln, over the complete opposition of the slave states. This was possible because the larger and previously more powerful Democratic party was fractured and splintered over the issue of slavery and no single Democrat was able to garner the support of the entire party, making it possible for Linclon to win without a majority of popular votes.
At the core of GOP opposition to the Crittenden Compromise was that it asked the Republicans to abandon their most key issues. The vote in the Senate was 25 against the compromise and 23 in favor of it. All 25 votes against it were cast by Republicans, and six senators from states that were in the process of seceding abstained. One Republican editorial insisted that the party "cannot be made to surrender the fruits of its recent victory." There would be no compromise; with the secession of states continuing, the country marched inexorably towards civil war.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8160/zzzzphoto03da2ph.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
By the end of February 1861, the states here in "tan" would all be gone. By April, the states in brown will have left the Union bringing the total of Confederate states to eleven. In April 1861, the war began at Ft Sumter in Charleston SC.
John J. Crittenden was an amazing political figure in American history. He held a variety of offices, elected to the US Senate for an amazing four non-consecutive terms, interrupted by stints as US District Attorney, US Attorney General under Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, and then Governor of Kentucky and another run as Attorney General (this time under President Millard Fillmore).
In addition to these offices, he served as attorney general for Illinois territory, served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and the US House of Representatives, and he was nominated (though not confirmed) to the US Supreme Court by President John Quincy Adams. Confused? OK, here's a timeline of his public service:
Attorney General for Illinois Territory (1809-1810)
Kentucky House of Representatives (1811-1817, Speaker of the House during final term there)
US Senate (1817-1819)
Kentucky House of Representatives (1825)
US District Attorney (1827-1829)
Nominated to US Supreme Court (1828) [not confirmed]
Kentucky House of Representatives (1829-1832)
US Senate (1835-1841)
US Attorney General (1841)
US Senate (1842-1848)
Governor of Kentucky (1848-1850)
US Attorney General (1850-1853)
US Senate (1855-1861)
US Congress (1861-1863) [died in office]
Postscript: Although Senator Crittenden didn't live to see it, his youngest son had been attached to the flaming arsehole George Custer's command during the disastrous Sioux campaign of 1876. He died at Little Big Horn.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1517/zzzzhh1h30bu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Photographed in 1877.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/137/zzzcrittenden20john2020frankfo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Senator Crittenden died in 1863 during the middle of the war he sought to avoid. He's buried in Franfort KY.
January 16, 1861 Crittenden Compromise is killed in Senate
On this day 145 years ago, a piece of legislation which would become known as the Crittenden Compromise, the last chance to keep North and South together, dies in the U.S. Senate.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/315/zzzzsmithsoniancrittendonhealy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky.
By early January 1861, South Carolina and three other states had seceded from the Union. Yet James Buchanan, the outgoing Democratic president, urged Congress to find a peaceful solution to the problem between the North and the South.
The Senate and the House appointed committees to try and work out some kind of compromise. In the Senate, one idea that seemed to gather support was for the "Crittenden Compromise," put forth by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky
The compromise was a package of constitutional amendments. The amendments would resume the old "Missouri Compromise" provisions of 1820, which divided the west along the latitude of 36-30" -- North of that line, slavery was prohibited.
The 1820 "Missouri Compromise" had been nullified by the "Compromise of 1850", which allowed a vote by territorial residents (popular sovereignty) to decide the issue of slavery. Other amendments protected slavery where it existed within the district limits in Washington D.C., forbade federal interference with the interstate slave trade, and compensated owners whose slaves escaped to the free states.
Essentially, the "Crittenden Compromise" sought to alleviate all concerns of the southern states. As you read above,four states had already left the Union when it was proposed, but Crittenden hoped the compromise would lure them back. Crittenden thought he could muster support from both South and North and avert either a split of the nation or a civil war. He was wrong.
The major problem with the plan was that it called for a complete compromise by the Republicans with virtually no concessions by the Southern Democrats. The new "Republican" Party had been formed in 1854 solely for the purpose of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, particularly the areas north of the Missouri Compromise line.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2302/zzzcritt22yd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Brother against brother. Perhaps Senator Crittenden desired peace because he knew war would fracture his own family. Meet General Thomas L. Crittenden, USA photgraphed during the Civil War. He was the son of Senator John J. Crittenden and the brother of Confederate Major General George B. Crittenden
Just six years after its 1854 formation, in 1860 the Republican party elected a president, Abraham Lincoln, over the complete opposition of the slave states. This was possible because the larger and previously more powerful Democratic party was fractured and splintered over the issue of slavery and no single Democrat was able to garner the support of the entire party, making it possible for Linclon to win without a majority of popular votes.
At the core of GOP opposition to the Crittenden Compromise was that it asked the Republicans to abandon their most key issues. The vote in the Senate was 25 against the compromise and 23 in favor of it. All 25 votes against it were cast by Republicans, and six senators from states that were in the process of seceding abstained. One Republican editorial insisted that the party "cannot be made to surrender the fruits of its recent victory." There would be no compromise; with the secession of states continuing, the country marched inexorably towards civil war.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8160/zzzzphoto03da2ph.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
By the end of February 1861, the states here in "tan" would all be gone. By April, the states in brown will have left the Union bringing the total of Confederate states to eleven. In April 1861, the war began at Ft Sumter in Charleston SC.
John J. Crittenden was an amazing political figure in American history. He held a variety of offices, elected to the US Senate for an amazing four non-consecutive terms, interrupted by stints as US District Attorney, US Attorney General under Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, and then Governor of Kentucky and another run as Attorney General (this time under President Millard Fillmore).
In addition to these offices, he served as attorney general for Illinois territory, served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and the US House of Representatives, and he was nominated (though not confirmed) to the US Supreme Court by President John Quincy Adams. Confused? OK, here's a timeline of his public service:
Attorney General for Illinois Territory (1809-1810)
Kentucky House of Representatives (1811-1817, Speaker of the House during final term there)
US Senate (1817-1819)
Kentucky House of Representatives (1825)
US District Attorney (1827-1829)
Nominated to US Supreme Court (1828) [not confirmed]
Kentucky House of Representatives (1829-1832)
US Senate (1835-1841)
US Attorney General (1841)
US Senate (1842-1848)
Governor of Kentucky (1848-1850)
US Attorney General (1850-1853)
US Senate (1855-1861)
US Congress (1861-1863) [died in office]
Postscript: Although Senator Crittenden didn't live to see it, his youngest son had been attached to the flaming arsehole George Custer's command during the disastrous Sioux campaign of 1876. He died at Little Big Horn.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1517/zzzzhh1h30bu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Photographed in 1877.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/137/zzzcrittenden20john2020frankfo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Senator Crittenden died in 1863 during the middle of the war he sought to avoid. He's buried in Franfort KY.