John J. Crittenden - Association With The Whigs

Association With The Whigs

Crittenden was active in organizing the Whig Party from the remnants of the defunct National Republican Party in 1834. On July 4, 1834, he called to order the party's first organizational meeting in the state at Cove Spring, Kentucky. He was chosen as chair of the committee on resolutions and in a speech on July 5, bitterly condemned President Jackson. Later in 1834, Kentucky governor James T. Morehead appointed Crittenden Secretary of State. In the August elections, Whigs won a majority in both houses of the General Assembly. When the Assembly convened, they elected Crittenden to the U.S. Senate over Democrat James Guthrie by a vote of 94–40.

Immediately upon taking his seat in the Senate, Crittenden was named to the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on the Judiciary, probably due to Clay's influence. Early in his term, Crittenden vociferously opposed Senator Thomas H. Benton's proposal to spend the federal budget surplus on public land graduation and military fortifications along the eastern seaboard. He also blasted the Jackson administration for issuing the Specie Circular, requiring that all payment for government land be made in gold or silver. He pointed out that the principles of the circular had been presented in a resolution on the Senate floor, but had been tabled by a large majority. Crittenden maintained that the tabling of the resolution was a condemnation by the Senate, yet the administration issued the circular only months later, overstepping, as Crittenden saw it, the bounds of the executive branch's authority. Crittenden debated the issue at length with Senator Benton, and Congress ultimately passed a bill requiring the government to accept the notes of specie-paying banks for the purchase of government lands, but President Jackson employed his pocket veto to prevent it from becoming law.

During his term, Crittenden remained an outspoken critic of Jackson and his successor, Martin Van Buren. He supported Henry Clay's plan for distributing proceeds from the sale of public lands among the states, and also joined Clay in opposing the administration-backed Second Seminole War. One of the few administration proposals he supported was the recognition of the new Republic of Texas. During this period of Crittenden's service in the Senate, the issue of slavery rose to prominence. Crittenden was regarded as a moderate on the issue, seeking to keep it out of politics altogether. In 1836, he resisted petitions by the Quakers to abolish slavery in Washington, D. C., but he also opposed radical pro-slavery measures such as John C. Calhoun's proposal to ban abolitionist literature from being delivered by mail in the Southern states.

In contrast to his usually conciliatory nature, Crittenden was drawn into a disagreement between congressmen Jonathan Cilley and William J. Graves that ended in a duel. On the floor of the House, Cilley had attacked the integrity of Whig newspaper editor James Watson Webb. Webb demanded a retraction of Cilley's comments through his friend, Congressman Graves. When Cilley refused to receive the communication from Graves, Graves charged that Cilley was questioning Webb's honor and challenged him to a duel. Graves, accompanied by Kentucky Congressman Richard Menefee and Virginia Congressman Richard Wise asked Crittenden to serve as a second for Graves in the duel; Crittenden initially protested, but finally agreed. After two misses by both combatants, Cilley was killed on the third exchange. The House proposed the expulsion of Graves and the censure of the other participants (excluding Crittenden, who was a senator and not subject to House censure). The resolutions of expulsion and censure were eventually tabled, but Crittenden personally felt the sting of what he considered an indirect censure and later regretted his actions.