| R 436 |
| 2026 -- H 7579 Enacted 06/23/2026 |
| J O I N T R E S O L U T I O N |
| REPEALING RHODE ISLAND'S RATIFICATION OF THE CORWIN AMENDMENT |
Introduced By: Representatives Solomon, Biah, Hull, Shekarchi, Felix, J. Lombardi, Sanchez, Diaz, O'Brien, and Giraldo |
| Date Introduced: February 06, 2026 |
| WHEREAS, On February 27, 1861, in an attempt to avert the secession of Southern |
| states, U.S. Representative Thomas Corwin of Ohio proposed an amendment to the United States |
| Constitution that would prohibit the United States Constitution from being amended in a manner |
| that authorizes Congress to abolish or interfere with the states' domestic institutions, including |
| slavery (hereinafter the "Corwin Amendment"); and |
| WHEREAS, On March 2, 1861, the Corwin Amendment was approved by a joint |
| resolution of the Thirty-Sixth United States Congress (12 Stat. 251) and was submitted to the |
| states under Article V of the United States Constitution for ratification with no deadline given for |
| completion of its ratification; and |
| WHEREAS, The Rhode Island General Assembly ratified the Corwin Amendment on |
| May 31, 1861, with the enactment of the May 1861, Resolution No. 4; and |
| WHEREAS, The Corwin Amendment has not yet been ratified by three-fourths of the |
| states and, therefore, is not part of the United States Constitution; and |
| WHEREAS, It is still possible that a sufficient number of states could belatedly ratify the |
| Corwin Amendment thereby adding it to the United States Constitution, as occurred with the 27th |
| Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was first proposed in 1789 and was not |
| ratified by a sufficient number of states until 1992; and |
| WHEREAS, With the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment to |
| the United States Constitution, the purposes of the Corwin Amendment have become moot; and |
| therefore, be it |
| RESOLVED, By the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, that the State of |
| Rhode Island hereby rescinds its ratification of the following proposition, known as the Corwin |
| Amendment to the United States Constitution: |
| "ARTICLE XIII. 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."; |
| and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That a certified copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Archivist of the |
| United States, the President of the United States, the President and Secretary of the United States |
| Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and each member |
| of the Rhode Island congressional delegation with the request that it be printed verbatim in the |
| Congressional Record. |
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| LC004802 |
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