By the morning of October 18, mariners under Gen. Robert E. Lee stormed the building and captured all the men. Brown was hung for treason on December 2, 1859. Many new laws were passed in an effort to prevent future incidents, and also in an effort to reduce the growing tension over the uncertain future of slavery. Senator Clay of Kentucky came up with some ideas to reduce the tension by creating a series of compromises for both sides of the slavery issue. He wanted to admit California as a free state and keep slavery prohibited in the Mexico region, where the climate and land were wrong for cotton and slavery would not prosper. He also called for a more effective Fugitive Slave Law. Clay's plan was proposed in February 1850, but took several months to be heard by Congress, and wasn't approved until September 18, 1850. Two other measures were hopes for compromises. The first was the Crittenden of Kentucky, which an amendment to revive the Missouri Compromise by extending the southern border of Missouri west to the Pacific Ocean. It would prohibit slavery in territories north of the line and protect, not jus permit, slavery in the territories to the South of the line. The amendment introduced the word "slavery" into the Constitution for the very first time. The second compromise effort involved a call by the Virginia legislature for a meeting of delegates from all the states to convene in Washington, D.C., on February 4, 1861. The Peace Conference struggled to find common ground. Toward the end of February, they finally adopted a plan, the leading element of which closely resembled the Crittenden idea of extending the Missouri Compromise line westward. It transmitted its proposal to Congress shortly before Congress adjourned.
However, slavery was not the only cause of the Civil War. There were many other factors. some remote and some proximate. Cultural and economic differences were one of the remote causes.
