Crittenden, John J

Crittenden, John J(ordan)

(born Sept. 10, 1787, near Versailles, Ky., U.S.—died July 26, 1863, Frankfort, Ky.) U.S. politician. A graduate of the College of William and Mary (1807), he became territorial attorney general in Illinois (1809). He also served in the U.S. Senate (1817–19, 1835–40, 1842–48, 1855–61), as U.S. attorney general (1840–41, 1850–53), and as governor of Kentucky (1848–50). He is best known for the Crittenden Compromise. In 1861 he chaired the Frankfort convention of leaders of border states, which asked the South to reconsider its position on secession.