Academic

Student Blogger - #13Amend Live Blog: Another Thirteenth Amendment

Depending on different historical circumstances, we may have ended up with a different Thirteenth Amendment. Known as the Corwin Amendment, it stated, "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." Professor Eric Slauter, in his commentary, provided a brief history of this proposed amendment. A handful of states ratified the Corwin Amendment, and Congress narrowly passed it, all on the hope of forestalling the Civil War. The proposed amendment became a dead letter when people realized that the War was inevitable. Our actual Thirteenth Amendment has the virtue of avoiding yet another euphemism in the Constitution for "slavery." When the institution finally ended, we were able to finally speak of it directly, rather than using phrases like "other persons" or "such persons" or "persons held to labor." Professor Slauter ended by remarking, "It is most expansive at the moment it is most precise."

Full post as published by The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog on April 17, 2009 (boomark / email).