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Constitution
of the Confederate States
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 tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity--invoking the favor and
guidance of Almighty God--do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the Confederate States of America.
ARTICLE
I.
Section
I.
All
legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested in a
Congress of the Confederate States, which shall consist of a
Senate and House of Representatives.
Section
II.
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.
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Section
III.
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.
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Section
IV.
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.
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Section
V.
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.
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Section
VI.
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. '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.
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Section
VII.
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 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.
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Section
VIII.
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
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.
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Section
IX.
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.
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Section
X.
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.
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ARTICLE
II.
Section
I.
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:
1.
"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."
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Section
II.
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.
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Section
III.
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.
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Section
IV.
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.
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ARTICLE
III.
Section
I.
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.
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Section
II.
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.
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Section
III.
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.
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ARTICLE
IV.
Section
I.
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.
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Section
II.
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.
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Section
III.
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.
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ARTICLE
V.
Section
I.
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.
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ARTICLE
VI.
Section
I.
The
Government established by this Constitution is the successor
of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of
America, and all the laws passed by the latter shall
continue in force until the same shall be repealed or
modified; and all the officers appointed by the same shall
remain in office until their successors are appointed and
qualified, or the offices abolished.
Section
II.
All
debts contracted and engagements entered into before the
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the
Confederate States under this Constitution, as under the
Provisional Government.
Section
III.
This
Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States made in
pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be
made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall
be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution
or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Section
IV.
The
Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the Confederate States and of
the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to
support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever
be required as a qualification to any office or public trust
under the Confederate States.
Section
V.
The
enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the
people of the several States.
Section
VI.
The
powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people
thereof
ARTICLE
VII.
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, Ala., on the eleventh day of
March, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
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