Buchanan's compromise plan.
Crittenden's plan of compromise. McMaster, 380-381.
It fails to pass Congress.
375. The Crittenden Compromise Plan.--Many men hoped that even now secession might be stopped by some compromise. President Buchanan suggested an amendment to the Constitution, securing slavery in the states and territories. It was unlikely that the Republicans would agree to this suggestion. The most hopeful plan was brought forward in Congress by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky. He proposed that amendments to the Constitution should be adopted: (1) to carry out the principle of the Missouri Compromise (p. 222);(2) to provide that states should be free or slave as their people should determine; and (3) to pay the slave owners the value of runaway slaves. This plan was carefully considered by Congress, and was finally rejected only two days before Lincoln's inauguration.
South Carolina secedes, 1860. Eggleston, 304-305.
Six other states secede.
376. Secession of Seven States, 1860-61.--The South Carolina convention met in Secession Hall, Charleston, on December 17, 1860. Three days later it adopted a declaration "that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." Six other states soon joined South Carolina. These were Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
Confederate states constitution.
Views of Jefferson Davis.
377. The "Confederate States of America."--The next step was for these states to join together to form a confederation. This work was done by a convention of delegates chosen by the conventions of the seven seceding states. These delegates met at Montgomery, Alabama. Their new constitution closely resembled the Constitution of the United States. But great care was taken to make it perfectly clear that each member of the Confederacy was a sovereign state. Exceeding care was also taken that slavery should be protected in every way. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was chosen provisional president, and Alexander H. Stephens provisional vice-president.
[Illustration: CHARLESTON MERCURY EXTRA: The UNION is DISSOLVED!]
Views of Jefferson Davis.
Views of Alexander H. Stephens. Source-Book, 296-299.
378. Views of Davis and Stephens.--Davis declared that Lincoln had "made a distinct declaration of war upon our (Southern) institutions." His election was "upon the basis of sectional hostility." If "war must come, it must be on Northern and not on Southern soil.... We will carry war ... where food for the sword and torch awaits our armies in the densely populated cities" of the North. For his part, Stephens said the new government's "foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man."
"Let the erring sisters" go in peace.
Greeley's opinions.
Buchanan's opinions.