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HOME>LE NAZIONI E LA GUERRA>La costituzione degli Stati Confederati d'America
•La costituzione degli Stati
Confederati d'America
CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA
March 11, 1861
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 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.
Sec. 2. (I) 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.
Sec. 3. (I) 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. (I) 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. (I) 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. (I) 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 7. (I) 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 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.
(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. The Congress shall have power- (I) 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 Ist 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. (I) 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.
Sectiion 10. (I) 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 II. Section I. (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:
(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. (I) 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. (I) 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. (I) 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. (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 2. (I) 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. (I) Treason against the Confederate States shall consist
only in levying war against.them, or in adhering to their enemies,
giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or
on confession in open court.
(2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of
treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood,
or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV. Section I. (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 2. (I) 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. (I) 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 be Congress
and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the
several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to
take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of
the States or Territories of the Confederate States.
(4) The Confederate States shall guarantee to every State that now
is, or hereafter may become, a member of this Confederacy, a
republican form of government; and shall protect each of them
against invasion; and on application of the Legislature or of the
Executive when the Legislature is not in session) against domestic
violence.
ARTICLE V. Section I. (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. 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.
(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 to the people thereof.
ARTICLE VII. I. 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, m 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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