

          THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA


    We the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its 
sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent 
government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity -- invoking the favor 
and guidance of Almighty God -- do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the Confederate States of America. 

                                 ARTICLE I

SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the Confederate States, which shall consist of a Senate and a 
House of Representatives. 

SECTION 2. (1)The House of Representatives shall be 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 to 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. (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 otherwise, 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 to the Age of 
thirty Years, and be a Citizen of the Confederate States, and who shall 
not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that 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) Judgement in case of impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust or profit under the Confederate States; but the party 
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, 
judgement and punishment, according to law. 

SECTION 4. (1)  The times, places and manner of holding elections for 
Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the 
Legislature thereof; 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.(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 shall provide. 

(2) Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its 
members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-thirds, 
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 judgement 
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 sessions 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. (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 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. 

(2) 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 in each of the Executive Departments a seat upon the floor of 
either House, with the privilege of discussing any measure appertaining to 
his department. 


SECTION. 7. (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 the Houses, shall before it become 
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 it 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 be had as in case of other bills disapproved by the 
President. 
 

(3) Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives 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 the Senate 
and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations 
prescribed in the case of a bill. 

SECTION. 8.. The Congress shall have power -- (1) to lay and collect taxes, 
duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and 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 be construed to delegate the power to 
Congress 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 

(4) To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the 
subject of bankruptcies throughout the Confederate States; but no law of 
Congress shall discharge any debt 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 roads; but the expenses of the Post-
office Department, after the first 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 square miles) as may, by cession of particular 
States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 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, dock yards, 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. (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 or 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 herein before 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 for 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 purpose 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 the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
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 shall 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 
tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the 
Confederacy, than according to the rules of the 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 (1)   No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills 
of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts; pass any bill of attainder, 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 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 the Congress.  

(3) No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, except on sea-going 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. 1 (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 the 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 the persons voted for as President, and  of all the persons voted for 
as Vice-President,  and of the number of votes for each; which list they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed to 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 shall have such majority, then the 
persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of 
those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall 
immediately choose by ballot, the President; But in choosing the President, 
the vote shall be taken by States, the representation from each State 
having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or 
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states 
shall be necessary to a choice.  And if the House of Representatives shall 
not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-
President shall act as President, as in case of the death, or other 
constitutional disability of the President. 

(4) The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall 
be the vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of 
electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two 
highest numbers on the list, the Senator 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 for 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 of 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 to 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 the 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 enter on the execution of the duties of his office, he shall 
take the following oath or affirmation: 

"I do solemnly swear  (or affirm).that I will  faithfully execute the 
office of President of the Confederate States, and will to the best of my 
ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution Thereof." 

SECTION 2 (1) The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy of the Confederate States, and of the militia of the several States, 
when called into the actual service of the Confederate States; he may 
require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the 
executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons 
for 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 up 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.(1)  He shall from time to time give to the Congress information 
of the state of the union, 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 (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 III

SECTION1 (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. 



                             ARTICLE IV

SECTION 1 (1)   Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the 
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And 
the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, 
records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

SECTION 2 (1)  The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all 
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, 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 
[un]lawfully into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs, or to whom such 
service or labor may be due. 

SECTION 3. (1)  Other States may be admitted into this Confederacy by a 
vote of two-thirds of the whole House of Representatives, and two-thirds of 
the Senate, the Senate voting by States; but no new state shall be formed 
or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be 
formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without 
the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the 
Congress. 

(2) The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules 
and regulations concerning the property belonging to the Confederate 
States, including the lands thereof. 

(3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and Congress shall 
have the power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of 
all territories belonging to the Confederate States, lying without the 
limits of the several States, and may permit them, at such times, and in 
such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into 
the Confederacy.  In all such territory, the institution of negro slavery, 
as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and 
protected by Congress and by the territorial government; and the 
inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have 
the right to take to such territory any slaves lawfully held 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 the 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.

Sec 1 (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 br 
ratified by the Legislature 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

(1) The Government established by this Constitution os 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 which shall 
be 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, any 
thing 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

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 Congress

