fbpx

U.S. Constitution.net

Constitution of the Confederate States of America – The U.S. Constitution Online – USConstitution.net

—

by

Eleanor Stratton
in

Constitution of the Confederate States of America

Advertisement

The following is the complete text of the Constitution of the Confederate
States of America, as adopted on March 11, 1861. The text of the CSA
Constitution was verified at the University of
Oklahoma and the Library of Congress
and was marked up for Web display by Steve Mount. The
University
of Georgia has the original hand-written copies in its archives.

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is presented for
comparison purposes. The CSA Constitution and the US
Constitution are remarkably (or perhaps not so remarkably) similar.

A couple of small, interesting points. First, most of the Bill of Rights in
the U.S. Constitution was incorporated into the CSA Constitution (see Article 1, Section 9 and Article 6, Section
5). Next, each clause was specifically numbered (in the U.S. Constitution,
there are Section numbers only, and clause numbers are inferred). This being
mostly just a rewrite of the U.S. Constitution, the framers were able to adjust
and tweak this new constitution to fix those things that they felt were
structurally wrong with the U.S. Constitution.

Contents

Constitution of the Confederate States of America

Preamble

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 1. – The Legislative Branch

Section 1 – The Legislature

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 – The House

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 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 – The Senate

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
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.

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,
then 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 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 – Elections, Meetings

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 – Membership, Rules, Journals,
Adjournment

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 – Compensation

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. 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 – Revenue Bills, Legislative Process,
Presidential Veto

1. 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.

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 (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their
adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. The
President may approve any appropriation and disapprove any other appropriation
in the same bill. In such case he shall, in signing the bill, designate the
appropriations disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations,
with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have originated; and
the same proceedings shall then be had as in case of other bills disapproved by
the President.

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 by him, shall be repassed by
two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in
case of a bill.

Section 8 – Powers of Congress

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
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.

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 Post
Office 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 revenues.

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 – Limits on Congress, Bill of
Rights

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, 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 hereinbefore 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 the 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 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 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 so
tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the Confederacy,
than according to the rules of 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 – Powers prohibited of
States

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 Congress.

3. 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 2. – The Executive Branch

Section 1 – The President

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 reeligible. 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 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.

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 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.

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 – Civilian Power over Military,
Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

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 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 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 therefor.

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
reappointed to the same office during their ensuing recess.

Section 3 – State of the Union, Convening
Congress

1. 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 – Disqualification

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.

Article 3. – The Judicial Branch

Section 1 – Judicial powers

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 – Trial by Jury, Original
Jurisdiction, Jury Trials

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 – Treason

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 4. – The States

Section 1 – Each State to Honor all
others

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 – State citizens,
Extradition

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 – New States

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 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.

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 5. – Amendment

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.

Article 6. – The Confederacy

Section 1 – Transition from the
Provisional Government

1. 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 2 – Debts of the Provisional
Government

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.

Section 3 – Supremacy of the
Constitution

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.

Section 4 – Oaths of Office

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.

Section 5 – Reservation of unenumerated
rights

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.

Section 6 – State powers

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 7. – Ratification

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.

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,
Alabama, on the Eleventh day of March, in the year Eighteen Hundred and
Sixty-One.

HOWELL COBB,
President of the Congress.

1. 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.

2. Georgia: Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Benjamin H. Hill, Thos.
R. R. Cobb.

3. Florida: Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, Jas. B. Owens.

4. 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.

5. Mississippi: Alex. M. Clayton, James T. Harrison, William S. Barry, W. S.
Wilson, Walker Brooke, W. P. Harris, J. A. P. Campbell.

6. Louisiana: Alex. de Clouet, C. M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, Henry
Marshall.

7. Texas: John Hemphill, Thomas N. Waul, John H. Reagan, Williamson S.
Oldham, Louis T. Wigfall, John Gregg, William Beck Ochiltree.