SECTION 2.- 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.
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 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 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 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 4.- 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 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 may provide.
2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds
of the whole number, expel a member.
3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment,
require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House,
on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be
entered on the journal.
4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other
place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
SECTION 6.- 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.
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
officers in each of the Executive Departments a seat upon the floor of
either House, with the privilege of discussing any measures appertaining
to his department.
SECTION 7.- 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 law, be presented to the President of the Confederate States; if
he approves, 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 law. But in all 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 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 re-passed by two-thirds of both Houses according to the rules
and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.
SECTION 8.- The Congress shall have power- 1. To lay and collect taxes,
duties, imposts and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide
for the common 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 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 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 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 and regulation of the land and
naval forces:
15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of
the Confederate States, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions:
16. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia,
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of
the Confederate States; reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment
of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to
the discipline prescribed by Congress:
17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of one
or more States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the
Government of the Confederate States; and to exercise like authority over
all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in
which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals,
dockyards, and other needful buildings: and
18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the government of the Confederate States, or in any department
or officer thereof.
SECTION 9.- 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 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 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 capitol 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.
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 re-examined 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; 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 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 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.
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 principle 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 courts of law or in the heads of Departments.
3. The principle 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 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 reappointed to the same office during their ensuing recess.
SECTION 3.- 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.
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.
SECTION 2.- 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.
SECTION 3.- 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.
SECTION 2.- 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.
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 jurisdiction of two or more States, or parts of States, without
the consent of the Legislature 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 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 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.
HOWELL COBB, President of the Congress.South Carolina: R. Barnwell Rhett, C. G. Memminger, Wm. Porcher Miles, James Chesnut, Jr., R. W. Barnwell, William W. Boyce, Lawrence M. Keitt, T. J. Withers.
Georgia: Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Benjamin H. Hill, Thos. R. R. Cobb.
Florida: Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, Jas. B. Owens.
Alabama: Richard W. Walker, Robt. H. Smith, Colin J. McRae, William P. Chilton, Stephen F. Hale, David P. Lewis, Tho. Fearn, Jno. Gill Shorter, J. L. M. Curry.
Mississippi: Alex. M. Clayton, James T. Harrison, William S. Barry, W. S. Wilson, Walker Brooke, W. P. Harris, J. A. P. Campbell.
Louisiana: Alex. de Clouet, C. M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, Henry Marshall.
Texas: John Hemphill, Thomas N. Waul, John H. Reagan, Williamson S. Oldham, Louis T. Wigfall, John Gregg, William Beck Ochiltree.
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