The Corwin Amendment

Season 3, Episode 3. With disunion looming, conservative Republicans and southern unionists sought a compromise that would keep the Union together. John Crittenden proposed a compromise that was too conciliatory for many Republicans, but out of these compromise plans came a proposal for what nearly became the Thirteenth Amendment, which would have protected slavery in the states where it already existed. Abraham Lincoln endorsed the Amendment, and worked behind the scenes to find a compromise that could prevent disunion without rupturing the Republican Party.

Chris Calton recounts the controversial history of the Civil War. This is the third episode in the third season of Historical Controversies.