Kentucky 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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Kentucky Delegation

This is one of the 22 delegations in the convention, accounting for 6 of 138 people who took part.

Members (6):

Name	Visualize	Details	Delegations
Joshua F. Bell	Visualize	None	Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation)
William O. Butler	Visualize	None	Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation)
James B. Clay	Visualize	None	Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation)
James Guthrie	Visualize	None	Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation) , Kentucky Delegation (United States Fifteenth Amendment) , Kentucky Delegation (United States Fourteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act of 1866)
Charles S. Morehead	Visualize	None	Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation)
Charles A. Wickliffe	Visualize	(June 8, 1788 — October 31, 1869) Charles Anderson Wickliffe, (grandfather of Robert Charles Wickliffe, grandfather of John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham), a Representative from Kentucky; born near Springfield, Washington County, Ky., June 8, 1788; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1809 and commenced practice in Bardstown; served in the War of 1812; was aide to General Winlock; member of the State house of representatives in 1812 and 1813; again entered the Army as aide to General Caldwell; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1822, 1823, and 1833-1835, and served as speaker in 1834; elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress; reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth through the Twenty-second Congresses (March 4, 1823-March 3, 1833); chairman, Committee on Public Lands (Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination; one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1830 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against James H. Peck, United States judge for the district of Missouri; Lieutenant Governor in 1836; became Governor upon the death of Governor Clark and served from October 5, 1839, to September 1840; Postmaster General from October 13, 1841, to March 6, 1845; sent on a secret mission by President Polk to the Republic of Texas in 1845; member of the State constitutional convention in 1849; member of the peace conference held at Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); did not seek renomination; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1863; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1864; died near Ilchester, Md., October 31, 1869; interment in Bardstown Cemetery, Bardstown, Ky. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000442]	Kentucky Delegation (The Road to Civil War) , Kentucky Delegation (This negotiation)