FRtR > Documents > Constitution of the Confederate States
Constitution of the Confederate States of America (1861)
*** Quote ***
We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting
in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a
permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity-invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty
God-do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
Confederate States of America.
-
-
- All legislative powers herein delegated shall be
vested in a Congress of the Confederate States, which shall
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
-
-
- The House of Representatives shall be composed
of members chosen every second year by the people of the several
States; and the electors in each State shall be citizens of the
Confederate States, and have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature;
but no person of foreign birth, not a citizen of the Confederate
States, shall be allowed to vote for any officer, civil or
political, State or Federal.
- No person shall be a Representative who shall not have
attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a citizen of the
Confederate States, and who shall not when elected, be an
inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
- Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned
among the several States, which may be included within this
Confederacy, according to their respective numbers, which shall
be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of years, and
excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all slaves. ,The
actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the
first meeting of the Congress of the Confederate States, and
within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as
they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall
not exceed one for every fifty thousand, but each State shall
have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration
shall be made, the State of South Carolina shall be entitled to
choose six; the State of Georgia ten; the State of Alabama nine;
the State of Florida two; the State of Mississippi seven; the
State of Louisiana six; and the State of Texas six.
- When vacancies happen in the representation from any
State the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of
election to fill such vacancies.
- The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker
and other officers; and shall have the sole power of
impeachment; except that any judicial or other Federal officer,
resident and acting solely within the limits of any State, may
be impeached by a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the
Legislature thereof.
-
-
- The Senate of the Confederate States shall be
composed of two Senators from each State, chosen for six years
by the Legislature thereof, at the regular session next
immediately preceding the commencement of the term of service;
and each Senator shall have one vote.
- Immediately after they shall be assembled, in
consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as
equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators
of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the
second year; of the second class at the expiration of the fourth
year; and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth
year; so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if
vacancies happen by resignation, or other wise, during the
recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof
may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the
Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
- No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained
the age of thirty years, and be a citizen of the Confederate
States; and who shall not, then elected, be an inhabitant of the
State for which he shall be chosen.
- The Vice President of the Confederate States shall be
president of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be
equally divided.
- The Senate shall choose their other officers; and also a
president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President, or
when he shall exercise the office of President of the
Confederate states.
- The Senate shall have the sole power to try all
impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on
oath or affirmation. When the President of the Confederate
States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person
shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the
members present.
- Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend
further than to removal from office, and disqualification to
hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Confederate
States; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable
and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment
according to law.
-
-
- The times, places, and manner of holding
elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed
in each State by the Legislature thereof, subject to the
provisions of this Constitution; but the Congress may, at any
time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the
times and places of choosing Senators.
- The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year;
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December,
unless they shall, by law, appoint a different day.
-
- Each House shall be the judge of the
elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a
majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a
smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be
authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such
manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.
- Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings,
punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the
concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number, expel a member.
- Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may
in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the
members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire
of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
- Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall,
without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three
days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses
shall be sitting.
-
-
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a
compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and
paid out of the Treasury of the Confederate States. They shall,
in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace,
be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session
of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from
the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they
shall not be questioned in any other place. 'o Senator or
Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected,
be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the
Confederate States, which shall have been created, or the
emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time;
and no person holding any office under the Confederate States
shall be a member of either House during his continuance in
office. But Congress may, by law, grant to the principal officer
in each of the Executive Departments a seat upon the floor of
either House, with the privilege of discussing any measures
appertaining to his department.
-
- All bills for raising revenue shall originate in
the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or
concur with amendments, as on other bills.
- Every bill which shall have passed both Houses, shall,
before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the
Confederate States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not,
he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which
it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at
large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after
such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to
pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections,
to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered,
and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a
law. But in all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting
for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each
House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the
President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have
been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner
as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their
adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a
law. The President may approve any appropriation and
disapprove any other appropriation in the same bill. In such
case he shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations
disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations,
with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have
originated; and the same proceedings shall then be had as in
case of other bills disapproved by the President.
- Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the
concurrence of both Houses may be necessary (except on a
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of
the Confederate States; and before the same shall take effect,
shall be approved by him; or, being disapproved by him, shall be
repassed by two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules
and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.
-
- The Congress shall have power-
- To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for
revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common
defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States;
but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall
any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid
to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties,
imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate
States.
- To borrow money on the credit of the Confederate States.
- To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian tribes; but neither this,
nor any other clause contained in the Constitution, shall ever
be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate
money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate
commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons,
and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the
improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river
navigation; in all which cases such duties shall be laid on the
navigation facilitated thereby as may be necessary to pay the
costs and expenses thereof.
- To establish uniform laws of naturalization, and uniform
laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the Confederate
States; but no law of Congress shall discharge any debt
contracted before the passage of the same.
- To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of
foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.
- To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the
securities and current coin of the Confederate States.
- To establish post offices and post routes; but the
expenses of the Post Office Department, after the Ist day of
March in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three,
shall be paid out of its own revenues.
- To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by
securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.
- To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.
- To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on
the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations.
- To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal,
and make rules concerning captures on land and water.
- To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.
- To provide and maintain a navy.
- To make rules for the government and regulation of the
land and naval forces.
- To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
laws of the Confederate States, suppress insurrections, and
repel invasions.
- To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the Confederate States; reserving to the
States, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the
authority of training the militia according to the discipline
prescribed by Congress.
- To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases
whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square)
as may, by cession of one or more States and the acceptance of
Congress, become the seat of the Government of the Confederate
States; and to exercise like authority over all places purchased
by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same
shall be, for the . erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,
dockyards, and other needful buildings; and
- To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other
powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the
Confederate States, or in any department or officer thereof.
-
-
-
The importation of negroes of the African race
from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or
Territories of the United States of America, is hereby
forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall
effectually prevent the same.
- Congress shall also have power to prohibit the
introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or
Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.
- The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be
suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may require it.
- No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying
or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be
passed.
- No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless
in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed
to be taken.
- No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from
any State, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.
- No preference shall be given by any regulation of
commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of
another.
- No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in
consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular
statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all
public money shall be published from time to time.
- Congress shall appropriate no money from the Treasury
except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, taken by yeas and
nays, unless it be asked and estimated for by some one of the
heads of departments and submitted to Congress by the President;
or for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies;
or for the payment of claims against the Confederate States, the
justice of which shall have been judicially declared by a
tribunal for the investigation of claims against the Government,
which it is hereby made the duty of Congress to establish.
- All bills appropriating money shall specify in Federal
currency the exact amount of each appropriation and the purposes
for which it is made; and Congress shall grant no extra
compensation to any public contractor, officer, agent, or
servant, after such contract shall have been made or such
service rendered.
- No title of nobility shall be granted by the
Confederate States; and no person holding any office of profit
or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress,
accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind
whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government
for a redress of grievances.
- A well-regulated militia being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed.
- No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any
house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but
in a manner to be prescribed by law.
- The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but
upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons
or things to be seized.
- No person shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment
of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war
or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same
offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor be
compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against
himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation.
- In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy
the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of
the State and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained
by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor;
and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
- In suits at common law, where the value in controversy
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be
preserved; and no fact so tried by a jury shall be otherwise
reexamined in any court of the Confederacy, than according to
the rules of common law.
- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
- Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall
relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the
title.
-
- No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance,
or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin
money; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto
law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any
title of nobility.
- No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay
any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on
imports, or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the
Confederate States; and all such laws shall be subject to the
revision and control of Congress.
- No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any
duty on tonnage, except on seagoing vessels, for the improvement
of its rivers and harbors navigated by the said vessels; but
such duties shall not conflict with any treaties of the
Confederate States with foreign nations; and any surplus revenue
thus derived shall, after making such improvement, be paid into
the common treasury. Nor shall any State keep troops or ships of
war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with
another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless
actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit
of delay. But when any river divides or flows through two or
more States they may enter into compacts with each other to
improve the navigation thereof.
-
-
The executive power shall be vested in a
President of the Confederate States of America. He and the Vice
President shall hold their offices for the term of six years;
but the President shall not be reeligible. The President and
Vice President shall be elected as follows:
- Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the
Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to
the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the
State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or
Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit
under the Confederate States shall be appointed an elector.
- The electors shall meet in their respective States and
vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at
least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with
themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted
for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for
as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists
they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat
of the Government of. the Confederate States, directed to the
President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall,in
the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open
all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the
person having the greatest number of votes for President shall
be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed; and if no person have such
majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not
exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President,
the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President the votes
shall be taken by States-the representation from each State
having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a
member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority
of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever
the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 4th day
of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as
President, as in case of the death, or other constitutional
disability of the President.
- The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice
President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a
majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no
person have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on
the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum
for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number
of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be
necessary to a choice.
- But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office
of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the
Confederate States.
- The Congress may determine the time of choosing the
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes;
which day shall be the same throughout the Confederate States.
- No person except a natural-born citizen of the
Confederate; States, or a citizen thereof at the time of the
adoption of this Constitution, or a citizen thereof born in the
United States prior to the 20th of December, 1860, shall be
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be
eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of
thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the
limits of the Confederate States, as they may exist at the time
of his election.
- In case of the removal of the President from office, or
of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers
and duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice
President; and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of
removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President
and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as
President; and such officer shall act accordingly until the
disability be removed or a President shall be elected.
- The President shall, at stated times, receive for his
services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor
diminished during the period for which he shall have been
elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other
emolument from the Confederate States, or any of them.
- Before he enters on the execution of his office he
shall take the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the Confederate States, and
will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution thereof."
-
- The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the Confederate States, and of the militia of
the several States, when called into the actual service of the
Confederate States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of
the principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, upon
any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices;
and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for
offenses against the Confederate States, except in cases of
impeachment.
- He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, to make treaties; provided two-thirds of the
Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court,
and all other officers of the Confederate States whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which
shall be established by law; but the Congress may, by law, vest
the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper,
in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of
departments.
- The principal officer in each of the Executive
Departments, and all persons connected with the diplomatic
service, may be removed from office at the pleasure of the
President. All other civil officers of the Executive Departments
may be removed at any time by the President, or other appointing
power, when their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty,
incapacity. inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty; and
when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate,
together with the reasons therefor.
- The President shall have power to fill all vacancies
that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting
commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session;
but no person rejected by the Senate shall be reappointed to the
same office during their ensuing recess.
-
- The President shall, from time to time, give to
the Congress information of the state of the Confederacy, and
recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions,
convene both Houses, or either of them; and in case of
disagreement between them, with respect to the time of
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think
proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers;
he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and
shall commission all the officers of the Confederate States.
-
- The President, Vice President, and all civil
officers of the Confederate States, shall be removed from office
on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other
high crimes and misdemeanors.
-
- The judicial power of the Confederate
States
shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior
courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and
establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts,
shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at
stated times, receive for their services a compensation which
shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
-
- The judicial power shall extend to all
cases
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the Confederate
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their
authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Confederate States
shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States;
between a State and citizens of another State, where the State
is plaintiff; between citizens claiming lands under grants of
different States; and between a State or the citizens thereof,
and foreign states, citizens, or subjects; but no State shall be
sued by a citizen or subject of any foreign state.
- In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a
party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In
all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall
have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such
exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall
make.
- The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment,
shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State
where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not
committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or
places as the Congress may by law have directed.
-
- Treason against the Confederate States
shall
consist only in levying war against.them, or in adhering to
their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be
convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to
the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
- The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment
of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of
blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person
attainted.
-
- Full faith and credit shall be given in
each
State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of
every other State; and the Congress may, by general laws,
prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and
proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
-
- The citizens of each State shall be
entitled to
all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several
States; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any
State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property;
and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby
impaired.
- A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or
other crime against the laws of such State, who shall flee from
justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the
executive authority of the State from which he fled, be
delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of
the crime.
- No slave or other person held to service or labor in any
State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws
thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in
consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from
such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such slave belongs,. or to whom such service or
labor may be due.
-
- Other States may be admitted into this
Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of
Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate voting
by States; but no new State shall be formed or erected within
the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by
the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without
the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well
as of the Congress.
- The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all
needful rules and regulations concerning the property of the
Confederate States, including the lands thereof.
- The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and
Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments
for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the
Confederate States, lying without the limits of the several
Sates; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as
it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into the
Confederacy. In all such territory the institution of negro
slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be
recognized and protected be Congress and by the Territorial
government; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate
States and Territories shall have the right to take to such
Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States
or Territories of the Confederate States.
- The Confederate States shall guarantee to every State
that now is, or hereafter may become, a member of this
Confederacy, a republican form of government; and shall protect
each of them against invasion; and on application of the
Legislature or of the Executive when the Legislature is not in
session) against domestic violence.
-
- Upon the demand of any three States, legally
assembled in their several conventions, the Congress shall
summon a convention of all the States, to take into
consideration such amendments to the Constitution as the said
States shall concur in suggesting at the time when the said
demand is made; and should any of the proposed amendments to the
Constitution be agreed on by the said convention-voting by
States-and the same be ratified by the Legislatures of two-
thirds of the several States, or by conventions in two-thirds
thereof-as the one or the other mode of ratification may be
proposed by the general convention-they shall thenceforward form
a part of this Constitution. But no State shall, without its
consent, be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate.
- The Government established by this Constitution is the
successor of the Provisional Government of the Confederate
States of America, and all the laws passed by the latter shall
continue in force until the same shall be repealed or modified;
and all the officers appointed by the same shall remain in
office until their successors are appointed and qualified, or
the offices abolished.
- All debts contracted and engagements entered into before
the adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the
Confederate States under this Constitution, as under the
Provisional Government.
- This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall
be made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall be
the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall
be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding.
- The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and
the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the Confederate States and of the
several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support
this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required
as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
Confederate States.
- The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by
the people of the several States.
- The powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States, respectively, or to the people thereof.
- The ratification of the conventions of five States shall be
sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between
the States so ratifying the same.
- When five States shall have ratified this Constitution,
in the manner before specified, the Congress under the
Provisional Constitution shall prescribe the time for holding
the election of President and Vice President; and for the
meeting of the Electoral College; and for counting the votes,
and inaugurating the President. They shall, also, prescribe the
time for holding the first election of members of Congress under
this Constitution, and the time for assembling the same. Until
the assembling of such Congress, the Congress under the
Provisional Constitution shall continue to exercise the
legislative powers granted them; not extending beyond the time
limited by the Constitution of the Provisional Government.
Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate
States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, sitting in convention at the
capitol, in the city of Montgomery, Ala., on the eleventh day of
March, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
HOWELL
COBB,
President of the Congress.
- South Carolina:
- R. Barnwell Rhett,
- C. G. Memminger,
- Wm. Porcher
Miles,
- James Chesnut, Jr.,
- R. W. Barnwell,
- William W. Boyce,
- Lawrence M. Keitt,
- T. J. Withers.
- Georgia:
- Francis S. Bartow,
- Martin J. Crawford,
- Benjamin H. Hill,
- Thos. R. R. Cobb.
- Florida:
- Jackson Morton,
-
J. Patton Anderson,
- Jas. B. Owens.
- Alabama:
- Richard W. Walker,
- Robt. H. Smith,
- Colin J. McRae,
- William P. Chilton,
- Stephen F. Hale,
- David P. Lewis,
- Tho.
Fearn, Jr.,
- Gill Shorter,
- J. L. M. Curry.
- Mississippi:
- Alex.
M. Clayton,
- James T. Harrison,
- William S. Barry,
- W. S.
Wilson,
- Walker Brooke,
- W. P. Harris,
- J. A. P. Campbell.
- Louisiana:
- Alex. de Clouet,
- C. M. Conrad,
- Duncan F. Kenner,
- Henry
Marshall.
- Texas:
- John Hemphill,
- Thomas N. Waul,
- John H. Reagan,
- Williamson
S. Oldham,
- Louis T. Wigfall,
- John Gregg,
- William Beck
Ochiltree.
*** Quote ***