=443. Last Attempts at Compromise.=—In the course of 1860 and the early part of 1861, several attempts were made to reach a compromise. The most famous of these was the one introduced by Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, December 18, 1860. He proposed a constitutional amendment in which the main clauses should prohibit slavery north of 36° 30′, but protect it, as other property is protected, in all territory south of that line, and should arrange for admitting states north or south of that line, with or without slavery, as their constitutions might provide. While the Compromise was before a committee of thirteen, of which Seward was the most prominent Republican and Jefferson Davis the most prominent Democrat, Seward was offered by Lincoln the Secretaryship of State. Lincoln wrote, “On the territorial question, I am inflexible.” In further explanation he said that the adoption of the Compromise would only postpone the difficulties that then confronted the nation. In the committee, the Republicans voted against the Compromise, and Davis of Mississippi, and Toombs of Georgia, voted with them. The Republicans were responsible for its defeat. On January 3, 1861, Crittenden proposed that the whole subject of his Compromise be submitted to a direct vote of the people. Douglas powerfully supported the proposition; but Davis, in an elaborate speech in behalf of the South, made it apparent that compromise was now impossible. Other minor attempts met with similar failure. [Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS.] =444. Southern Confederacy Formed.=—Soon after the Ordinances of Secession were passed by the several Southern states, their representatives, with only two exceptions, withdrew, one by one, from Congress. The Secession Conventions appointed delegates in number equal to their former senators and representatives at Washington, and the members so appointed met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1861, to form a Southern Confederacy. President Buchanan offered no opposition to this movement. The body was soon organized by the choice of Howell Cobb, of Georgia, as chairman. A provisional government for one year, under the name, “The Confederate States of America,” was adopted February 8, and the following day Jefferson Davis[196] was chosen President of the Confederacy, and Alexander H. Stephens,[197] of Georgia, Vice President. The Constitution, as elaborated and completed, was adopted on the 11th of March. Stephens, as Vice President, was formally inaugurated on the 10th of February, and Davis, as President, on the 18th. Thus the Confederate government was fully installed two weeks before the inauguration of Lincoln. [Illustration: ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.]