Corwin Amendment

[2] Because it was only ratified in a handful of Northern states and Kentucky, the Corwin Amendment failed to achieve its goal of preventing civil war and preserving the Union.

[7] A group of House members proposed a national convention to accomplish secession as a "dignified, peaceful, and fair separation" that could settle questions like the equitable distribution of the federal government's assets and rights to navigate the Mississippi River.

[8] Senator John J. Crittenden proposed a compromise consisting of six constitutional amendments and four Congressional resolutions,[9] which were ultimately tabled on December 31.

[11]While the House debated the measure over the ensuing weeks, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas had joined South Carolina in seceding from the Union.

The contentious atmosphere in the House during the debate was relieved by abolitionist Republican Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, who questioned the amendment's reach: "Does that include polygamy, the other twin relic of barbarism?"

"[7] On February 26, Congressman Thomas Corwin, who had chaired the earlier House committee, introduced his own text as a substitute, but it was not adopted.

Outgoing President James Buchanan endorsed the Corwin Amendment by taking the unprecedented step of signing it.

[16] His signature on the Congressional joint resolution was unnecessary, as the President has no formal role in the constitutional amendment process.

In 1963, more than a century after the Corwin Amendment was submitted to the state legislatures by Congress, a joint resolution to ratify it was introduced in the Texas House of Representatives by Dallas Republican Henry Stollenwerck.

But if it had done so, then, under the plain meaning rule, it would have made slavery immune to the constitutional amendment procedures and to interference by Congress.

As a result, the later Reconstruction Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth) would not have been permissible, as they abolish or interfere with the domestic institution of the states.