merce.

better Intercourse. Trust to the laws of Nature, which have poured through this vast continent the mighty streams that bind us in the indissoluble ties of ComTrust to that Charity, the follower and handmaid of Commerce, which clothes the naked and feeds the hungry and forgives the erring. Trust in that force of kindred Blood which leaps to reconciliation when the storms of passion are sunk to rest. Trust in that divine law of Love which has more power over the human soul than all the terrors of the dungeon or the gibbet. Trust in that influence over your own hearts and the hearts of others of that Religion which was sent as the messenger of Peace, Good Will to Men. Trust in the wise, beneficent, impartial, and mutual spirit of your Father, who gave tranquillity, prosperity, and happiness to the whole land. Trust in God, and you may yet see your national emblem, not as the emblem of victory, but as the sign of reunited American people, floating in the breath of a merciful Heaven, and more radiant with the glory of its restored constellation than with all the triumphs it has won, or ever can win, over a foreign foe.

THE PROVISIONAL AND FINAL

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE CONFEDERATE

STATES.

CONSTITUTION FOR THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

WE, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God, do hereby, in behalf of these States, ordain and establish this Constitution for the Provisional Government of the same: to continue one year from the inauguration of the President, or until a permanent Constitution or Confederation between the said States shall be put in operation, whichsoever shall first occur.

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1.-All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested in this Congress now assembled until otherwise ordained.

SECTION 2.--When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the same shall be filled in such manner as the proper authorities of the State shall direct.

SECTION 3.-1. The Congress shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its members; any number of Deputies from a majority of the States, being present, 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; upon all questions before the Congress, each State

shall be entitled to one vote, and shall be represented by any one or more of its Deputies who may be present.

2. The Congress may determine the rule of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

3. The Congress 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 on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, or at the instance of any one State, be entered on the journal.

SECTION 4.—The members of Congress shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the Confederacy. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of the Congress, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

SECTION 5.-1. Every bill which shall have passed the Congress, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the Confederacy; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections to the Congress, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the Congress shall agree to pass the bill, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the vote 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. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sunday excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner, as if he had sigued it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.-The President may veto any appropriation or appropriations and approve any other appropriation or appropriations in the same bill.

2. Every order, resolution or vote, intended to have the force and effect of a law, shall be presented to the President, 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 the Congress, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

3. Until the inauguration of the President, all bills, orders, resolutions and votes adopted by the Congress shall be of full force without approval by him.

SECTION 6.-1. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, for the revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the Government of the Confederacy; and all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the States of the Confederacy.

2. To borrow money on the credit of the Confederacy :

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes:

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the Confederacy;

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 Confederacy:

7. To establish post offices and post roads:

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 Confederacy, suppress insurrections, and repel invasion:

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 Confederacy, 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 make all laws that shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers expressly delegated by this Constitution to this Provisional Government:

18. The Congress shall have power to admit other States:

19. This Congress shall also exercise Executive powers, until the President is inaugurated.

SECTION 7.-1. The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States of the United States, is hereby forbidden; and Congress are required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the

same.

2. The Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy.

3. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended unless, when in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

4. No Bill of Attainder, or ex post facto law shall be passed.

5. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties, in another.

6. 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.

7. Congress shall appropriate no money from the treasury, unless it be asked and estimated for by the President or some one of the Heads of Departments, except for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies.

8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the Confederacy; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under it, 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.

9. 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 to petition the Government for a redress of such grievances as the delegated powers of this Government may warrant it to consider and redress.

10. 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.

11. No soldiers 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.

12. 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.

13. 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 shall 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.

14. 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 witness against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

15. 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 tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the Confederacy, than according to the rules of the common law.

16. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

17. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

18. The powers not delegated to the Confederacy by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 19. The Judicial power of the Confederacy shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the States of the Confederacy, by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.

SECTION 8.-1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or Confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, 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 Confederacy, and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, 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.

ARTICLE II.

SECTION 1.-1. The Executive power shall be vested in a President of the Confederate States of America. He, together with the Vice President, shall hold his office for one year, or until this Provisional Government shall be superseded by a Permanent Government, whichsoever shall first occur.

2. The President and Vice President shall be elected by ballot by the States represented in this Congress, each State casting one vote and a majority of the whole being requisite to elect.

3. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of one of the States of this Confederacy at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, 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 of one of the States of this Confederacy.

4. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death, resiguation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, (which inability shall be determined by a vote of two-thirds of the Congress,) 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.

5. The President shall at stated times receive for his services, during the period of the Provisional Government, a compensation at the rate of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum; and he shall not receive during that period any other emolument from this Confederacy, or any of the States thereof.

6. Before he enters on the excution 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 of America, 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 Confederacy, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into