Rhode Island Delegation

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.

Visualize

Rhode Island Delegation

This is one of the 22 delegations in the convention, accounting for 5 of 138 people who took part.

Members (5):

Name	Visualize	Details	Delegations
Samuel Ames	Visualize	None	Rhode Island Delegation (This negotiation)
Samuel G. Arnold	Visualize	None	Rhode Island Delegation (This negotiation)
George H. Browne	Visualize	(January 11, 1811 — September 26, 1885) George Huntington Browne, a Representative from Rhode Island; born in Gloucester, R.I., January 6, 1811; attended the public schools and was graduated from Brown University in 1840; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1843 and commenced practice in Providence, R.I.; elected a representative to the so-called "Charter'' General Assembly of Rhode Island in 1842; at the same time was elected a representative to what was termed the "Suffrage'' legislature and attended the latter; member of the general assembly under the constitution 1849-1852; appointed United States district attorney in 1852 and served until 1861 when he resigned; delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore Democratic National Conventions in 1860; delegate to the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; elected as a candidate of the Democratic and Constitutional Union Parties to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1862 to the Thirty-eighth Congress; declined the appointment as Governor of the Territory of Arizona in 1861; entered the Union Army as colonel of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, October 13, 1862, and served throughout the Civil War; member of the State senate in 1872 and 1873; elected chief justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island in May 1874 but declined the office; died in Providence, R.I., September 26, 1885; interment in Swan Point Cemetery. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B000956]	Rhode Island Delegation (This negotiation) , Rhode Island Delegation (The Road to Civil War)
Alexander Duncan	Visualize	None	Rhode Island Delegation (This negotiation)
William W. Hoppin	Visualize	None	Rhode Island Delegation (This negotiation)