Corwin amendment

The Corwin Amendment was, and remains, a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution offered by Ohio Republican Congressman Thomas Corwin during the closing days of the 2nd Session of the 36th Congress in the form of House (Joint) Resolution No. 80. The proposed—but not ratified and technically still pending—amendment would have forbidden any attempt to subsequently amend the Constitution to empower the Federal government to "abolish or interfere" with the "domestic institutions" of the states (a delicate way of referring to slavery). In particular, the Corwin Amendment was intended to prohibit Congress from banning the practice of slavery in those states whose laws permitted that practice. Offering the amendment was a last-ditch effort to avert the outbreak of the Civil War. Corwin's resolution emerged as the House of Representatives' version of an earlier, identical proposal in the Senate offered by William Seward.

Related Topics:
Amendment - United States Constitution - Ohio - Republican - Thomas Corwin - Slavery - Civil War - William Seward

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