CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA
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 tranquility, 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.
Article I.
Section 1.
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.
Section 2.
(1) 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.
(2) No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to 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.
(3) 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.
(4) When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive
authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
(5) 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.
Section 3.
(1) 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.
(2) 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
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 otherwise,
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.
(3) 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, when
elected, be an inhabitant of the State for which he shall be chosen.
(4) The Vice President of the Confederate States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
(5) 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.
(6) 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.
(7) Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal
from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy 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.
Section 4.
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
Section 5.
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
(3) 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.
(4) 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.
Section 6.
(1) 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.
(2) No 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.
Section 7.
(1) All bills for raising the revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on
other bills.
(2) 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 (Sunday 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.
(3) 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, shall be repassed by two thirds of
both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a
bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have power--
(1) 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.
(2) To borrow money on the credit of the Confederate States;
(3) 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 this
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.
(4) 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.
(5) To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the
standard of weights and measures.
(6) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current
coin of the Confederate States.
(7) To establish post offices and post routes; but the expenses of the Postoffice
Department, after the 1st day of March in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred
and sixty-three, shall be paid out of its own revenue.
(8) 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.
(9) To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.
(10) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and
offenses against the law of nations.
(11) To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
concerning captures on land and water.
(12) To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use
shall be for a longer term than two years.
(13) To provide and maintain a navy.
(14) To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.
(15) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
Confederate States, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.
(16) 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.
(17) 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
(18) 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.
Section 9.
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
(3) 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.
(4) No bill of attainder or ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the
right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.
(5) No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the
census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
(6) No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State, except by
a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.
(7) No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the
ports of one State over those of another.
(8) No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations
made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of
all public money shall be published from time to time.
(9) 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.
(10) All bills for 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.
(11) 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.
(12) 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.
(13) 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.
(14) 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.
(15) 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.
(16) 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 shall 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.
(17) 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.
(18) 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 tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the Confederacy, than
according to the rules of the common law.
(19) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
(20) Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall relate to but one
subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.
Section 10.
(1) 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.
(2) 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 the
Congress.
(3) No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage,
except on sea-going vessels, for the improvement of its rivers and harbors
navigated by said vessels; but such duties shall not conflict with any treaties of
the Confederate States with foreign nations; and any surplus of revenue thus
erived 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.
Article II
Section 1.
(1) 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 re-eligible. The President and the Vice
President shall be elected as follows:
(2) 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.
(3) 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 the case of the death, or other constitutional disability of the
President.
(4) 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.
(5) But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be
eligible to that of Vice President of the Confederate States.
(7) 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.
(8) 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 day 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 to 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 this election.
(9) In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the 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.
(10) 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.
(11) Before he enter 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 of America, and will, to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution thereof."
Section 2.
(1) 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 Confederacy, except
in cases of impeachment.
(2) 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.
(3) 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 therefore.
(4) 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 re-appointed
to the same office during their ensuing recess.
Section 3.
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.
Section 4.
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.
Article III
Section 1.
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.
Section 2.
(1) The judicial power shall extend to all cases arising under this Constitution,
the laws of the 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 the
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.
(2) In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,
and those in which a State shall be 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.
(3) 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.
Section 3.
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
Article IV
Section 1.
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.
Section 2.
(1) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 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.
(2) 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.
(3) No slave or other person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of
the Confederate States, under the laws thereof, escaping 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.
Section 3.
(1) 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 States 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.
(2) 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.
(3) 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
States; 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 by 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.
(4) 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.
Article V
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 it 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.
Article VI
1. The Government established by this Constitution is the successor of the
Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, and all 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.
2. 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.
3. This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States which shall be 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
Article VII
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
resident. 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
Government 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 Chestnut, Jr., R.W. Barnwell, William W. Boyce, Lawrence M.
Georgia: Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Benjamin H. Hill,
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, Gill Shorter,
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
Texas: John Hemphill, Thomas N. Waul, John H. Reagan, Williamson S.
Oldham, Louis T. Wigfall, John Gregg, William Beck Ochiltree.
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