Constitution of the Confederate States
- 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.
ARTICLE I.
Section I.
- 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 II.
- 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.
Section III.
- 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.
Section IV.
- 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.
Section V.
- 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.
Section VI.
- 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.
Section VII.
- 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 respective}y. 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 E 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.
Section VIII.
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.
Section IX.
- 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.
Section X.
- 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.
ARTICLE II.
Section I.
- 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."
Section II.
- 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.
Section III.
- 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 IV.
- 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 I.
- 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 II.
- 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.
Section III.
- 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.
ARTICLE IV.
Section I.
- 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 II.
- 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.
Section III.
- 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 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.
- 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.
Section I.
- 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.
ARTICLE VI.
- Section I.
- 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.
- Section II.
- 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.
- Section III.
- 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.
- Section IV.
- 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.
- Section V.
- 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.
- Section VI.
- 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 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. L,ewis, Tho. Fearn, Jno. 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.
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