H 7579

2026 -- H 7579
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LC004802
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  STATE  OF      RHODE  ISLAND
  IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
  JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
  ____________
  JOINT RESOLUTION
  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
  Referred To: House State Government & Elections
1WHEREAS, On February 27, 1861, in an attempt to avert the secession of Southern
2 states, U.S. Representative Thomas Corwin of Ohio proposed an amendment to the United States
3 Constitution that would prohibit the United States Constitution from being amended in a manner
4 that authorizes Congress to abolish or interfere with the states' domestic institutions, including
5 slavery (hereinafter the "Corwin Amendment"); and
6WHEREAS, On March 2, 1861, the Corwin Amendment was approved by a joint
7 resolution of the Thirty-Sixth United States Congress (12 Stat. 251) and was submitted to the
8 states under Article V of the United States Constitution for ratification with no deadline given for
9 completion of its ratification; and
10WHEREAS, The Rhode Island General Assembly ratified the Corwin Amendment on
11 May 31, 1861, with the enactment of the May 1861, Resolution No. 4; and
12WHEREAS, The Corwin Amendment has not yet been ratified by three-fourths of the
13 states and, therefore, is not part of the United States Constitution; and
14WHEREAS, It is still possible that a sufficient number of states could belatedly ratify the
15 Corwin Amendment thereby adding it to the United States Constitution, as occurred with the 27th
16 Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was first proposed in 1789 and was not
17 ratified by a sufficient number of states until 1992; and
18WHEREAS, With the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment to
19 the United States Constitution, the purposes of the Corwin Amendment have become moot; and
20 therefore, be it
1RESOLVED, By the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, that the State of
2 Rhode Island hereby rescinds its ratification of the following proposition, known as the Corwin
3 Amendment to the United States Constitution:
4"ARTICLE XIII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize
5 or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic
6 institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.";
7 and be it further
8RESOLVED, That a certified copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Archivist of the
9 United States, the President of the United States, the President and Secretary of the United States
10 Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and each member
11 of the Rhode Island congressional delegation with the request that it be printed verbatim in the
12 Congressional Record.
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  EXPLANATION
  BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
  OF
  JOINT RESOLUTION
   REPEALING RHODE ISLAND'S RATIFICATION OF THE CORWIN AMENDMENT
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1This Joint Resolution would repeal the General Assembly's previous ratification of the
2 Corwin Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States that would
3 prohibit the United States Constitution from being amended in a manner that would authorize
4 Congress to abolish or interfere with the states' domestic institutions, including slavery.
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