Crittenden Compromise

[krit-n-duhn]

noun

U.S. History.

1. a series of constitutional amendments proposed in Congress in 1860 to serve as a compromise between proslavery and antislavery factions, one of which would have permitted slavery in the territories south but not north of latitude 36°30′N.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Crittenden Compromise¹

Named after its proponent, John J. Crittenden (1787–1863), U.S. senator from Kentucky

Example Sentences

The war was instead fought over the refusal of the North to guarantee the expansion of slavery into Western territories. That is the point on which negotiations broke down over the Crittenden Compromise.

Read more on Washington Post

These were the Crittenden Compromise, including territory "hereafter acquired," and the right of slaveholders to pass with their slaves through the free states with protection to their slave property in transit.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

The dwellers in the small towns and on the farms were almost unanimously opposed to the Crittenden Compromise.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

It was a speech adverse to the Crittenden Compromise, and was a reply to Crittenden's final speech in support of it.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Simultaneously with the rejection of the Crittenden Compromise, the Senate, by a two-thirds majority, passed a joint resolution to amend the Constitution by adding to it the following article: Article XIII.

Read more on Project Gutenberg