Jefferson Davis, new president of the Confederacy, had a great reverence for the U. S. Constitution. As such, when the issue of a new constitution for the Confederate States arose, the form selected was that of the United States, with such changes as were necessary to the situation and, in Davis' words, to express "the well-known intent" of America's founding fathers.
The first effect was an altered Preamble. The U. S. Constitution had pleased centrists with its "We the people of the United States ... ", creating an interpretation quagmire for States' Rights advocates. It also failed to acknowledge God. The Confederate Preamble remedies both perceived oversights.
Another difference is the use of the word "slave" in the Confederate document, something the U. S. Constitution steers around. But opposing this seeming blatantcy is the fact that the CSA Constitution prohibits, in no uncertain terms, all further importation of slaves.
But perhaps the most paradoxical omission is the failure to include a right to secession -- the fact upon which the morality of the entire endeavor relied.
Interesting because of the important times in which it played a part, the Constitution of the Confederacy is perhaps most telling in the fact that it is not so very different from that of the Union from which its namesake seceeded. North and South disagreed on important issues, but all remained Americans.
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The CONSTITUTION of the CONFEDERATE STATES of AMERICA 1861
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.
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 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 fourth 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.
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.
6. 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.
7. No person except natural born citizen of the Confederate
States, or at 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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
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 offences against the Confederate States,
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
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 Department
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 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
3
1. The
President shall from time to time, give to the Congress information
of the state of the Confederacy, and recommend to their
confederation 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
1. 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.
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 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.
2. 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.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 government 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 guaranty 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.
1. 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.
1. The government established by this Constitution is
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.
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, 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 the people thereof.
1. The ratification of the
conventions of five States shall be sufficient for the establishment
of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.
2. 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.
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
Alabama
Richard W. Walker
Robt. H. Smith
Colin J. McRae
William P. Chilton
Stephen F. Hale
David P. Lewis
Tho. Fearn
Jno Gill Shorter
J.L.M. Curry
Louisiana
John Perkins, Jr.
Alex de Clouet
C. M. Conrad
Duncan F. Kenner
Henry Marshall
Edward Sparrow
Georgia
R. Toombs
Francis S. Bartow
Martin J. Crawford
Alexander Stephens
Benjamin H. Hill
Tho. R.R. Cobb
E. A. Nisbet
Augustus R. Wright
A. H. Kenan
Florida
Jackson Morton
J.Patton Anderson
Jas. B. Owens
Texas
John Hemphill
Thomas N. Waul
John H. Reagan
Williamson S. Oldham
Louis T. Wigfall
John Gregg
William B. Ochiltree
Got a favorite historical document? Use the
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Jefferson Davis, new president of the Confederacy, had a great reverence for the U. S. Constitution. As such, when the issue of a new constitution for the Confederate States arose, the form selected was that of the United States, with such changes as were necessary to the situation and, in Davis' words, to express "the well-known intent" of America's founding fathers.