Crittenden Compromise was a proposal submitted to the United States Senate in 1860 by Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky in an effort to keep the Southern States from leaving the Union. The Compromise proposed six amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Among other things it provided that slavery be protected south of 36° 30′, and prohibited north of that line. The Compromise also denied the right of Congress to abolish slavery “in places under its exclusive jurisdiction.” It protected the interstate slave trade, and it provided for compensation by the United States government to the owners of slaves who had been helped to escape. Defeat of the Compromise was due partly to President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s opposition to any extension of slavery.
