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(Areas highlighted in red are of importance. You will also note that the Confederate Constitution outlaws the international slave trade, and puts limits on slavery. Also note that the Constitution puts a tighter hold on taxes against the people, city, or state, & does not put one state above another. This is the real reason the Southern states seceded from the Union, not slavery.)
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 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 1
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 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 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 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 a 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 its judgment require secrecy, and the ayes and nays of the members of either House, on any
question, shall, at the desire of one fifth 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 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 term; 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
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 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 for and against the bill
shall not 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 then be had
as in case of other bills disapproved by the President.
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 defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall be granted from
the Treasury; not 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 appropriate money for any internal improvements 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 cost 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 marquee 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 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 forgoing 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 negros 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, 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 departments, and submitted to
Congress by the President; or for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies; or for 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 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 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 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 warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person 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 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 so tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the Confederacy
than according to the rules of common law.
19. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment 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
marquee and reprisal; coin money; make any thing 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 imposts or exports shall be for 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 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 of 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 re-eligible. 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 be entitled in 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 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 who 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 have such majority, then, from the person 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 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 of 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 a 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 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 thereof born in the United States prior to the 20th December, 1860, shall be eligible
to the office 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 the election.
8. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
power 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 the 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 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 respecting 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 appointments 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
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 therefore.
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
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
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 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 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.
Article IV
SECTION 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 citizen of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of 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 unlawfully 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 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 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 guarantee 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 V
SECTION 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.
Article VI
SECTION 1
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
of 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
SECTION 1
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. When five States shall have ratified this Constitution to 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 power granted them; not extending
beyond the time limited by the Constitution of the Provisional Government.
Adopted unanimously on March 11, 1861.