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From the President Charles K ' A Monthly Publication of the Nashville Bar Association From the President Charles K. Grant, Publisher William T. Ramsey, Editor-in-Chief [email protected] Musings on the Thirteenth Amendment Eleanor Wetzel, Managing Editor by: [email protected] Charles K. Grant Journal Staff: Nikki Gray, Director of Communications [email protected] This year marks the 150th anniversary of the passing in the Senate of the resolution Tina Ashford, Communications Coordinator that would ultimately become the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which [email protected] forever abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. The measure Editorial Committee: was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, Kelly L. Frey and adopted on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State Wil- Kathleen Pohlid liam H. Seward proclaimed its adoption after the requisite three-fourths of the states Tim Ishii ratified it. The Amendment states: Tracy Kane Everette Parrish Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for Bill Ramsey crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within Rita Roberts-Turner the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Eleanor Wetzel David Winters Over four million slaves were freed by its passage. Victoria Webb Nashville Bar Association Staff Until the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery had been protected in the original Constitu- tion through clauses such as the Three-Fifths Clause, by which three-fifths of the slave Gigi Woodruff Executive Director population was counted for representation in the House of Representatives, and the ----------- Fugitive Slave Clause, which required slaves who fled to another state to be returned Tina R. Ashford Communications Coordinator to the owner in the state from which they escaped. Though many slaves in the states in Susan W. Blair rebellion had been declared free by Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, this Director, Continuing Legal Education document was of questionable legality and their post-war status remained uncertain. Shirley Clay Finance Coordinator What perhaps is unknown by many is that there was an earlier proposed Thirteenth Wendy K. Cozby Lawyer Referral Service Coordinator Amendment, the purpose of which was to forever constitutionally enshrine slavery in Nikki R. Gray the states allowing for that "peculiar institution." This proposed amendment, passed by Director of Communications the necessary two-thirds vote in the House on February 28, 1861, and the two-thirds Traci L. Hollandsworth Programs & Events Coordinator vote in the Senate on March 2, 1861, provided as follows: Malinda Moseley CLE Coordinator No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will autho- Judy Phillips rize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any CLE Coordinator State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons Vicki Shoulders Membership Coordinator/Office Manager held to labor or service by the laws of said State. The Nashville Bar Journal, ISSN 1548-7113, is In what later became known as the "Corwin Amendment,"1 named after Ohio Rep. published monthly by the Nashville Bar Association at 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 1050, Nashville, Thomas Corwin, this amendment was a last ditch effort to placate the South and TN 37219, (615) 242-9272. Periodicals Postage Paid, contain secessionist sentiment. The Senators and Representatives from the seven Nashville, TN (USPS 021-962). Subscription price: $25 per year. Individual issues: $5 per copy. slave states that had already declared their secession from the Union did not vote on it. The resolution called for the amendment to be submitted to the state legislatures POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to Nashville Bar Journal, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 1050, and to be adopted "when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures." Outgoing Nashville, TN 37219 President James Buchanan, a Democrat, endorsed the Corwin Amendment by taking No part of this publication may be reprinted the unusual step of signing it despite the fact that the chief executive had no role in without written permission of the Nashville Bar Journal Editorial Committee. The Nashville Bar the amendment process. However, Buchanan left to newly-elected President Abraham Journal is not responsible for the return or loss Lincoln, a Republican, the responsibility of transmitting the amendment to the state of unsolicited manuscripts or for any damage or other injury to unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. legislatures for ratification. All Articles and Letters contained in this publica- tion represent the views of the authors and do not Lincoln defended the states' right to adopt it. In his first inaugural address, on March necessarily reflect the opinions of the Nashville Bar Association. 4, 1861, Lincoln declared that he had "no objection" to the Corwin Amendment, nor Nashville Bar Association that it be made forever unamendable: 150 Fourth Avenue North Suite 1050 Nashville, TN 37219 615-242-9272 Fax 615-255-3026 www.nashvillebar.org 2 Nashville Bar Journal - April 2014 2014 NBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Charles K. Grant, President Edward D. Lanquist, Jr., President-Elect Dewey Branstetter, First Vice President John C. McLemore, Second Vice President Thomas J. Sherrard, Immediate Past President Stacey Billingsley Cason, Secretary Nicole James, Treasurer Hon. Joe B. Brown, Assistant Treasurer Gareth Aden, General Counsel Hon. Joe P. Binkley, Jr. Kathryn S. Caudle Irwin J. Kuhn Claudia Levy Hon. Randal S. Mashburn Jeffrey Mobley Andrea P. Perry Matt Potempa I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution — which amend- Sara F. Reynolds Nathan H. Ridley ment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Maria M. Salas Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of Saul Solomon the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction Jocelyn A. Stevenson of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular Overton Thompson, III amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be im- M. Bernadette Welch plied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. Got an Idea for an NBJ Article? We want to hear about the topics Thereafter, the man who would become the Great Emancipator transmitted an authenti- and issues readers think should cated copy of the Corwin Amendment with a cover letter to each of the governors. Ohio be covered in the magazine. was the first state to ratify the amendment and Maryland followed suit. An Illinois state Send it to constitutional convention that met in 1862, purported to ratify it, but had no legal au- [email protected] thority to do so. The onset of the Civil War interrupted the states' ratification processes. Ohio rescinded its ratification in 1864. Technically, the Corwin Amendment is not actually dead. Neither the amendment itself nor the enabling resolution, H.J.R. No. 80, placed a time limit during which it would NASHVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION remain open for ratification. To this day, it lies dormant and ready to be ratified by the required number of states. While this is too far from reality to be taken seriously, it has not Each day, we work hard to help stopped Maryland from beginning the process of rescinding its ratification. On February people and businesses in our com- 19, 2014, the Maryland Senate adopted a joint resolution to rescind Maryland's 1862 ratification. The joint resolution is now pending in the Maryland House of Delegates for munity. The NBA has a wide va- its consideration.2 riety of services and programs that can help lawyers work smarter, stay informed and keep connected with fellow attorneys. From sole (Endnotes) practitioners to the largest firms, 1 The Corwin Amendment appears officially in Volume 12 of the Statutes at Large at page 251. The Corwin from legal aid attorneys to those in Amendment was the second unsuccessful proposed "Thirteenth Amendment" submitted to the states by Con- private practice, the NBA supports gress, but not ratified by the states. The first was the similarly ill-fated Titles of Nobility Amendment in 1810. See Joel A. Sliversmith, The “Missing Thirteenth Amendment”: Constitutional Nonsense and Titles of Nobility, 8 S. all of us so we can better serve our Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 577 (Apr. 1999), available at http://www.thirdamendment.com/missing.html. clients and the justice system. 2 Reid Wilson, 150 years later, Maryland will try to rescind slavery amendment, WaSh. PoSt, Jan. 30, 2014, avail- Our Bar Association is much more able at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/01/30/150-years-later-maryland-will-try-to- than just a collection of services. rescind-slavery-amendment/. The power of our membership lies in the power of the people. WE are the Bar. And together, we shape the future of the legal https://www.facebook.com @theNashvilleBar /NashvilleBarAssociation profession. Nashville Bar Journal - April 2014 3 .
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