Nashville Convention

(1850) Two-session meeting of proslavery U.S. Southerners.

In 1849 Mississippi held a convention at the urging of John C. Calhoun, calling for all slaveholding states to send delegates to Nashville, Tenn., to form a united front against perceived Northern aggression. Delegates from nine Southern states met in June 1850; though extremists favoured secession, moderate Whigs and Democrats prevailed. The group adopted 28 resolutions defending slavery but was willing to allow an extension to the Pacific of the boundary established in the Missouri Compromise. After the Compromise of 1850, a smaller group of delegates met in November; dominated by extremists, it denounced the compromise and called again for secession.

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▪ United States history

      (1850), two-session meeting of proslavery Southerners in the United States. John C. Calhoun (Calhoun, John C) initiated the drive for a meeting when he urged Mississippi to call for a convention. The resulting Mississippi Convention on Oct. 1, 1849, issued a call to all slave-holding states to send delegates to Nashville, Tenn., in order to form a united front against what was viewed as Northern aggression.

      Delegates from nine Southern states met in Nashville on June 3, 1850. Robert Barnwell Rhett, a leader of the extremists, sought support for secession, but moderates from both the Whig and the Democratic parties were in control. The convention ultimately (June 10) adopted 28 resolutions defending slavery and the right of all Americans to migrate to the Western territories. The delegates were ready to settle the question of slavery in the territories, however, by extending the Missouri Compromise line west to the Pacific.

      In September the U.S. Congress enacted the Compromise of 1850 (1850, Compromise of), and six weeks later (November 11–18) the Nashville Convention reconvened for a second session. This time, however, there were far fewer delegates, and the extremists were in control. Although they rejected the Compromise of 1850 and called upon the South to secede, most Southerners were relieved to have the sectional strife seemingly resolved, and the second session of the Nashville Convention had little impact.

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