Answer:
in the wake of Abraham Lincoln's election as president in November of 1860, southern senators began leaving the Senate to attend secession conventions, while northern senators called for military preparedness. in December 1860, 74yr old Crittenden was in his last year of senate. as the nation edged closer to the precipice of war, Crittenden allies turned to him to find a peaceful way to preserve the union. today, such a compromise over slavery was still debated. for decades, contentious battles over this issue had been mitigated by legislative compromise. As late as December 1860 Crittenden hoped that one more compromise would keep the peace.
Referred to a special committee, the proposal had the backing of some powerful senators, including William Seward of New York, and gained support from the public who petitioned Congress to adopt the plan, but Radical Republicans like Iowa senator James Grimes, unwilling to accept Crittenden’s solution, rejected it. This peace proposal—like many others—died in committee. Crittenden left the Senate in March of 1861 and returned to Kentucky, where his persuasive arguments against secession kept that critical border state in the Union.