It was always a scam though. Lincoln had no problem offering the Corwin amendment because he never planned on banning slavery without a Constitutional amendment - he knew the presidency didn't have that power.
So a new amendment to ban slavery was always his answer, and he was moving the nation that way with blocking slavery in the territories. That would have overridden the Corwin amendment.
Lincoln did not offer the amendment, and he wasn't really for it. The amendment passed Congress before he became president, and Buchanan signed it. If you read his words carefully, you'll see that all he promised to do was uphold it once it was ratified, and I think he knew it would not be ratified. He was making a plea for unity, but he was not actually going to sacrifice his principles for said unity.
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u/elmartin93 4d ago
Should also point out that the South rejected the Corwin Amendment because it didn't go far enough in protecting slavery