- Committee on Resolutions
Committee on Resolutions
The Committee on Resolutions was created to examine the different proposals of amendment to the Constitution or resolutions to introduce alternative options, and then to make a report to the Conference recommending a course of action for their consideration. On 11 February 1861, the Conference voted to allow resolutions to be submitted directly to the committee. Unfortunately, we do not have the records of this committee.
The Peace Conference of 1861
In February 1861, following the inauguration of Lincoln and the secession of seven states from the Union, a convention of 131 politicians from the remaining states met in Washington, D. C., at the Willard Hotel. They aimed to prevent civil war, and the secession of further states, by proposing an amendment to the Constitution that would protect the existence and practice of slavery, within certain parameters, by enshrining them in constitutional law. An amendment was eventually agreed and recommended to Congress, where it was not passed.
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Membership (20 members):
- Roger S. Baldwin ( Connecticut Delegation ) Visualize
- Daniel M. Bates ( Delaware Delegation ) Visualize
- Stephen T. Logan ( Illinois Delegation ) Visualize
- Caleb B. Smith ( Indiana Delegation ) Visualize
- James Harlan ( Iowa Delegation ) Visualize
- James Guthrie ( Kentucky Delegation ) Visualize
- Lot M. Morrill ( Maine Delegation ) Visualize
- Reverdy Johnson ( Maryland Delegation ) Visualize
- Francis B. Crowninshield ( Massachusetts Delegation ) Visualize
- Alexander W. Doniphan ( Missouri Delegation ) Visualize
- Asa Fowler ( New Hampshire Delegation ) Visualize
- Joseph F. Randolph ( New Jersey Delegation ) Visualize
- David Dudley Field ( New York Delegation ) Visualize
- Thomas Ruffin ( North Carolina Delegation ) Visualize
- Thomas Ewing ( Ohio Delegation ) Visualize
- Thomas White ( Pennsylvania Delegation ) Visualize
- Samuel Ames ( Rhode Island Delegation ) Visualize
- F. K. Zollicoffer ( Tennessee Delegation ) Visualize
- Hiland Hall ( Vermont Delegation ) Visualize
- James A. Seddon ( Virginia Delegation ) Visualize
Resources (0):
Resource Collections (0):
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Resource Items (0):
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Sessions (6)
The Committee on Resolutions was appointed.
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15,
Late arrivals were appointed to the Committee.
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3,
Further arrivals were appointed to the Committee, which also received resolutions from Amos Tuck and from a Connecticut democratic meeting (presented by James Clay).
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The Committee reported on the resolutions from a Connecticut democratic meeting (presented by James Clay), recommending that they be withdrawn.
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The Committee made a majority report recommending proposals of amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Baldwin and Seddon both made minority reports and reported various substitutes for the proposals of the Committee.
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