Corwin Amendment
From: cwipaulk@earthlink.net
Anyone else want to battle with this liberal yankee? I’m about tired of fooling with him.
Dr Scott
March 16, 2012
The proposed amendment was passed by 2/3 vote in the House on 28 February 1861, and by 2/3 vote in the Senate on 2 March 1861. It was signed by Buchanan.
Representatives from the secession principals had already resigned their seats – Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana – and had left congress by 4 February 1861. So they had no role in the proposed amendment. The Confederacy had already been formed, and the fact that they were no longer part of the USA made ratification moot.
Ohio ratified it 13 May 1861, but rescinded its ratification 31 March 1864. Maryland ratified it 10 January 1962. Illinois ratified it the same year, but in a constitutional convention, so it’s ratification may not be legal under the Constitution, which requires ratification by the state legislature. It was not a popular amendment.
The Corwin Amendment had no affect because it came too late and did not address the South’s complaint that Northern states weren’t ENFORCING Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution. The Confederacy had already been formed (tariffs were not raised until after the southern representatives had vacated or been expelled). Constitutional amendments were completely moot.
The South could read the writing on the wall. Slavery was going to end unless they formed their own country to protect this one majorly important domestic institution. So they went to war over their right to be slave owners.
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