Crittenden Compromise

Crittenden Compromise, proposal sponsored by moderate Southern unionists in 1860 to avert the U.S. Civil War. Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky submitted the package that proposed prohibition of slavery north of lat. 36°30'N and protection of it south of that line; a modified slave act; an end to the slave trade; and confirmation of the existing balance of free and slave states. Most of the measures were defeated.

See also: Civil War, U.S.