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 [Senate Bu.t.. No. 16.] 
 
 SENATE, Nov. 18. 1864.— Road first and second times and 
 placed on calendar and ordered to be printed. Nov. 29, lS6i. — 
 Keferred to the Connnitteo on Foreign Relations. Dec. 13, 1864. — 
 Reported witli an nniendmont, engrossed and read the third time and 
 passed ' JAMES IT. NASII, Secretary. 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Dee. l;Mh, 1864.--Read 
 the first and second times and referred to tlie Coninn'ttee on Foreign 
 Affairs and ordered xc^ ]^^^ printed. 
 
 .lOLXT RESOLUTION 
 
 Defninij th< posUum. of the Confederate Staie.'<^ and dcdafinij the 
 det, rtii/nrttwn of t-fie Cojigress and the people thereof to prose- 
 cnti the war till their independence is- achnoirj edged. 
 
 1. Eriiolved by the Congresa of the Covfrderat, StateH of 
 
 2 America, That the people of the Confederat.*' :St:tte> arc vn- 
 
 ?* doM-ed by their Creator with the inalienable rialits of life, libcrtv 
 
 4 and the pursnir of happiness. That, to sccni-c \\wsq rights, gov- 
 
 o »'rnments were instituted among men. derivi)io- theii- just powers 
 
 6 from the consent of tlie governed, and uhfiu-ver anv uovern- 
 
 7 nient becomes desti-nctive of these ends, it is rlu- right of the 
 ■^ people to alter or abolish it, and tu institute .-i nr*v government 
 !) laying it^ foundation on such principh's a)ni orgaiuzing its 
 
 1(1 jKnvers in such form as to them shuli seem most likely to effect 
 11 ilitir s^ufety and happiness. That, (»n these principles, embodied 
 
2 
 
 12 in the Declaration iM' American Indepenience, the United Colo- 
 
 13 nifv, ill 1 776, dissolved the connection that bound them to th© 
 
 14 cjovt'.rntnent of Great Britain, and on thorn the Confederate 
 
 15 States have severed the bond^j of that political union which con- 
 
 16 nected tlienxwith the 'people and the government of the United 
 
 17 States of America, rather than Rubmit to the repeated injuriei 
 
 18 inflicted npon them by that peopk^ and to the usurpations of that 
 
 19 govtr-niment, all of which had the direct object to deprive them 
 
 20 oi' theii- rights, lob them of property secured to them by ccnsti- 
 
 21 tntional guarantees, and to establi^^h an :i.bsohite tyranny over 
 
 22 these States. 
 
 1 . Reaolmd^ That the Confederate States appealed to arms in 
 
 2 defence of these rights and to establish these principles only 
 
 3 aftei' they had in vain conjured the people and the government 
 
 4 of tlie United States, by all the ties of a common l^indred, to dis- 
 
 5 c«">imtenance and discontinue these injuries and usurpations, and 
 
 6 after they had petitioned for redres'^ in the most appropriate 
 
 7 terms, und received in answer only a repetition of insults and in- 
 
 8 juries, which foreshadowed usurpations still' more dangerous to 
 
 y liberty. 
 
 I. Resolved^ That after ne:irly four yt-ars of ci'uel, desolating 
 
 2 anrl unnatural war, in which the people of the Confederate States 
 
 i 
 
3 liavc unquestionably cfetablished theircapacity Ibrself-government, 
 
 4 and their alnlity to resist the attempts of the enemy to subjugate 
 
 5 them, this Congress docs not hesitate to avoAV its sincere desire 
 
 6 for peace, and to that end proclaims to tlie ^v(^rld the readiness 
 
 7 of the Government of the Confederate States to open negotiations 
 
 8 to establish a ])ermanenr and honorable peace between the Con- 
 federate States and the United Slates, upon the basis of the sep- 
 
 lO urate independence of the former. 
 
 1. ResoUed^ That the time has come when the Confederate Con- 
 
 2 gress, in the name of the })eople of the Confederate States, deem 
 
 3 it proper again to proclaiTii (o the woild their unalterable deter- 
 
 4 mination to be free, and that they do not abate one jot of their 
 . 5 high resolve to die freemen rather than endure the tyranny which 
 
 f) m«st follow subjugation ; and further, if the people «»f the United 
 
 7 States, by re-electing Abraham Lincoln, mean to tender to them 
 
 8 fonr years moi'e of war, or re-union witli them on any terms, 
 
 9 deeply deprecating the dire necessity so wantonly thrust upon 
 
 10 them, and relying upon the jnsticij of their cause and the gal" 
 
 11 lantry of their soldiers, they accept the gage of battle, and leave 
 
 12 the result to the righteous ai-bitrament of Heaven. 
 
 1. Resolved., That in view of the determination of t) e enemy to 
 
 2 prosecute this horrid Mar still further, against which the Confede- 
 
 3 rate States have at all times protested, and which the enemy have 
 •4 waged with extraordinary vigor, and which has l)»;en marked by 
 5 acts of extraordinary atrocity, in violation of all the usages of 
 
 ^5c 
 
4 
 
 C, civili/'d wtirfaiv, t]io Coiii^re63 "f flu- Confederate States will. 
 
 7 froin rhi'^ Imur. dcnlicate themselves anew to the great cause of 
 
 S Bclf-deteflcc airainst the comblued tyranny of the enemy. Tlint if 
 
 !> shall Mm lo!\i:;or lie tlie inoiiH^iifaiT <>(''cuj>:iiion of tlie ('!(iiiM:rt»>>s mikI 
 
 10 the peojile t.if the CJunfcdcrate States, but the business ul' iheir ii\ . - 
 
 J.l t) i;"alliei- t(»gother the entire strono;th of the cijuntrv in men and 
 
 I'J matt,rials <,>1' war. and put it forth as with the will of .me. man, 
 
 J."^ and with an micoiK^uerable determination to defend their altai-s 
 
 14 and their iiresi(b'- till the Uist votary of freedom falls around 
 
 lo ihtin.