CONSTITUTION

OF T H E

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. |
|

Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate States of America. March;
11,1861,
;

RICHMOND:
WYATT M. ELLIOTT, PRINTER.

1861.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate States of Americaj March
11, 1861,

felCHMONDf
WYATT M. ELLIOTT, PRINTEH

1861.

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 Federal 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 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
NStates; 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 atermof 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

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one for every fifty thousand, but each State shall have at least
one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made 7
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 I I I .

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
the age of thirty years, and be a citizen of the Confederate
States; and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of
>the State for which he shall be chosen.
4. The Yice 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 m 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-tbirds of the members present.

5
7. Judgment in cases 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, judgment and punishment according to law*.
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.
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.
SECTION VI.

1. The Senators and x 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.
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 ere-

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ated, 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 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 he entered on the journal of each H^use
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 iu 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 erlect, shall be approved by him; or being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed
by two-thirds of both Houses according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.
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

1
defence, 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 eosts 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 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 t'"> 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 offences 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 arid 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

8
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, 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 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 Department, 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

9
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. Ail 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
jof 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 offence,
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 defence.
2

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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 juiy 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 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 ail 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 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 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

11
be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative,
or person holding an office of trust or profit under the Confederate State, shall be appointed an elector.
3. The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote
by ballot for President and Yice 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 Yice
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 haying 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 choosp a President,
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before
the fourth day of March next following, then the Yice 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 Yice
President, shall be the Yice 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 Yice 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 Yice 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

12
to the 20th of December, I860., shall be eligible to the qffice 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 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 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 I I .

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 offences 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*

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All other civil officers of the Executive Department 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 re-appointed to the
same office during their ensuing recess.
SECTION I I I .

J. 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 execdtted, and shall
commission all the officers of the Confederate States. :
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.
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.
/

SECTION I I .

1. The judicial power shall extend to ail 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 citizen of another State where the State is plaintiff; between citizens claiming

14
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 beforementioned 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 trials 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 I I I .

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 d|i confession in open court.
3. 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.

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 I I .

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

15
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 I I I .

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 States.;' and may
permit them, at such times, and in such manner jaf 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 an3 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 guaranty 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 Y.
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.

16
ARTICLE VI.

1. The Government established by this Constitution is the successor of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States
of America, and all the laws passed by the latter shall continue
in force until the same shall be repealed or modified; and all the
officers appointed by the same shall remain in office until their
successors are appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished.
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.

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.