In the Crittenden Compromise six proposed constitutional amendments and four Congressional resolutions were proposed with the aim of calming Southern states and to stave off a looming civil war.
This legislation received its name because it was introduced by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden in December 1860. Despite this effort to avoid the war, it broke out during the winter of 1860-1861.
The abolition of slavery on federal land in slaveholding states was prohibited by the amendments of this compromise.
