On December 18th, 1860, John J Crittenden introduced a packaged proposal, consisting of six constitutional amendments and four Congressional resolutions, to the United States Senate, which would become known as the Crittenden Compromise. This compromise, proposed before Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States, was part of a last ditch effort to prevent the secession of the Southern states.
In full, the amendments were as follows-
- Slavery would be prohibited in any territory of the United States "now held, or hereafter acquired," north of latitude 36 degrees, 30 minute line. In territories south of this line, slavery of the African race was "hereby recognized" and could not be interfered with by Congress. Furthermore, property in African slaves was to be "protected by all the departments of the territorial government during its continuance." States would be admitted to the Union from any territory with or without slavery as their constitutions provided.
- Congress was forbidden to abolish slavery in places under its jurisdiction within a slave state such as a military post.
- Congress could not abolish slavery in the District of Columbia so long as it existed in the adjoining states of Virginia and Maryland and without the consent of the District's inhabitants. Compensation would be given to owners who refused consent to abolition.
- Congress could not prohibit or interfere with the interstate slave trade.
- Congress would provide full compensation to owners of rescued fugitive slaves. Congress was empowered to sue the county in which obstruction to the fugitive slave laws took place to recover payment; the county, in turn, could sue "the wrong doers or rescuers" who prevented the return of the fugitive.
- No future amendment of the Constitution could change these amendments or authorize or empower Congress to interfere with slavery within any slave state
And the resolutions were as follows:
- That fugitive slave laws were constitutional and should be faithfully observed and executed.
- That all state laws which impeded the operation of fugitive slave laws, the so-called "Personal Liberty Laws," were unconstitutional and should be repealed.
- That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 should be amended (and rendered less objectionable to the North) by equalizing the fee schedule for returning or releasing alleged fugitives and limiting the powers of marshals to summon citizens to aid in their capture.
- That laws for the suppression of the African slave trade should be effectively and thoroughly executed.
The compromise was rejected by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
This compromise was clearly intended to be a permanent and final solution to the question of slavery within the United States with it literally written into the compromise that upon approval, this compromise was permanently going to be part of American law for all time.
But of course, as we know, even during the 1860s, slavery was on it's way out, with Brazil being the final country to outlaw the practice in 1880 in our timeline. The Compromise was going to fall apart sometime.
So, feasibly, how long could the Crittenden Compromise have lasted had it been approvd?