Nashville Convention

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.