A failed compromise proposed on the eve of the Civil War by Senator John J. Crittenden. The goal of the compromise was to prevent civil war and bring an end to the slavery issue once and for all.

It was designed to contain slavery to states in which it was currently allowed, and that any new territories or states would be forbidden from engaging in slavery.

This half-measure satisfied neither abolitionists nor slavers (surprise, surprise) and so the last chance at avoiding the Civil War was left by the wayside.