Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment

Josh Chafetz gets the Lincoln story a bit wrong:

Anecdote: The Thirteenth Amendment was accidentally sent to the White House after having been passed by the requisite two-thirds majority in both Houses of Congress. President Lincoln, apparently unthinkingly, signed it. The Senate, at the behest of Senator Lyman Trumbull, later passed a resolution pointing out that the President's signature had been unnecessary.

As noted below, Lincoln signed the Thirteenth Amendment not by accident but as a deeply symbolic act: in part to show his strong support of the Amendment, and in part as a symbolic response to James Buchanan's signature of the Corwin Amendment, which was never ratified.

UPDATE: Apparently, Josh is planning to study at Yale. This is very good news for us; we can always use another smart blogger.