Pennsylvania 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.

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Pennsylvania Delegation

This is one of the 22 delegations in the convention, accounting for 7 of 138 people who took part.

Members (7):

Name	Visualize	Details	Delegations
Thomas E. Franklin	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
Augustus W. Loomis	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
William McKennan	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
William M. Meredith	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
James Pollock	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
Thomas White	Visualize	None	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation)
David Wilmot	Visualize	(January 20, 1814 — March 16, 1868) David Wilmot, a Representative and a Senator from Pennsylvania; born in Bethany, Pa., January 20, 1814; completed preparatory studies in the academy at Aurora, N.Y.; studied law; admitted to the bar of Bradford County, Pa., in 1834 and commenced practice in Towanda, Bradford County, Pa.; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1851); was not a candidate for renomination in 1850; was the author of the 'Wilmot Proviso' relative to slavery in newly annexed territory; took a leading part in the founding of the Republican Party in 1854; presiding judge of the thirteenth judicial district 1851-1861; unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1857; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Simon Cameron and served from March 14, 1861, to March 3, 1863; was not a candidate for reelection in 1862; member of the peace convention of 1861, held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; appointed by President Abraham Lincoln a judge of the United States Court of Claims in 1863 and served until his death in Towanda, Pa., March 16, 1868; interment in Riverside Cemetery. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000566]	Pennsylvania Delegation (This negotiation) , Pennsylvania Delegation (The Road to Civil War)