CONFEDERATE STATES.

Constitution and Government.

THE Constitution of the Confederate States-proclaimed by delegates from the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, who were afterwards joined by the representatives of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas-bears date February 4, 1861. By the terms of the constitution, all legislative powers shall be vested in a Congress consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. 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, and not a citizen of the Confederate States, shall be allowed to vote for any officer, civil or political, state or federal. 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 for which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within the 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. 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. 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 or acting solely

within the limits of any State may be impeached by a vote of twothirds of both branches of the Legislature of such individual State.

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 immediately preceding the commencement of the term of service; and each senator shall have one vote.

Immediately after the members of the Senate shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided 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.

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.

The Vice-President of the Confederate States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on cath 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. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, 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.

The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services 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. 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 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.

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. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate 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 whom it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House it shall become a law.

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: 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. 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 vicepresident, 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 presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as president, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from

two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice.

The person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the vice-president; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the Confederate States.

President of the Confederate States.-Jefferson Davis, born June 3, 1808, in the State of Kentucky; studied at the Military Academy of Westpoint, 1824-28; lieutenant in the cavalry of the United States, 1829; quitted the service, 1835; member of the Congress of the United States, 1844-46; colonel and commander of a corps of volunteers in the war against Mexico, 1846-47; elected member of the Senate for Mississippi, 1848-resigned, 1852; Secretary of War of the United States, 1853-57; elected, a second time, member of the Senate for Mississippi, 1857-resigned, Jan. 1861; appointed first President of the Confederate States, Feb. 4, 1861.

Vice-President of the Confederate States.-Alexander Henry Stephens, of Georgia, appointed Feb. 4, 1861.

The president, according to the constitution, shall be commanderin-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 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. He shall have power, also, 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 otherwise provided for and established by law; but the Congress may vest the appointment of inferior officers in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart

ments.

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 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.

The chief officers of the six executive departments of the Confederate States are the following:

1. Secretary of State.-Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana. 2. Secretary for War.-James A. Seddon, of Virginia.

3. Secretary of Treasury.-George A. Trenholm, of South Carolina.

4. Secretary of Navy.-Stephen R. Mallory, of Florida. 5. Attorney-General.-George Davis, of North Carolina. 6. Postmaster-General.-James H. Reagan, of Texas. According to the first paragraph of the ninth section, art. I. of the constitution of the Confederate States, 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 forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or territory not belonging to, the Confederacy. It is further ordered that the citizens of each State shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of the Confederacy with their 'slaves and other property,' and the right of property in such slaves shall not thereby be impaired.

Other States may be admitted into the Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of Representatives, and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate voting by States.

The 'institution of negro slavery' as it now exists shall be recognised and protected by Congress and by the Territorial Governments in the territory. And the inhabitants of the several States shall have a right to take to the territory any slaves held by them. No law impairing or denying the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.

The following was the order of the secession of the Confederate States:

The constitution of the Confederate States may be amended upon the demand of any three States for a convention of all the States sug