Constitution of the Confederate States We, the people of th.docx

Constitution of the Confederate States
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 tranquillity, 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 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 III.
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 other wise, 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,
then 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 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 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. 'o 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.
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 be entered on the journal of each
House respective}y.
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 E 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
repassed 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 defense, 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 Ist 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

offenses 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 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 departments 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 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 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
offense 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 reexamined 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 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 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 seagoing 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 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.
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 person voted for as Vice
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
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. And if the
House of Representatives shall not choose a President,
whenever the right of
choice shall devolve upon them, before the 4th day of March
next following, then
the Vice 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 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.

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 of 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 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 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 II.
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 offenses 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. All other civil officers of the
Executive Departments
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 III.
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 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 II.
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 III.
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 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 II.
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 III.
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
Sates; 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 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.
ARTICLE VI.
Section I.
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.
Section II.
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.

Section III.
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.
Section IV.
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.
Section V.
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.
Section VI.
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.
Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate States
of South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas,
sitting in convention at the

capitol, in the city of Montgomery, Ala., on the eleventh day of
March, in the year
eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
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. L,ewis, 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.
The Reconstruction Amendments
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6,

1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was
superseded by the 13th amendment.
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT XIV
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.
Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
section 2 of the 14th amendment.
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and
of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole
number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.
But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of
electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers
of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied
to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one
years of age,* and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime,

the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to
the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in
such State.
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil
or military, under the United States, or under any State, who,
having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as
an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State
legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to
support the Constitution of the United States, shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a
vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized
by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,
shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid
of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such
debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
*Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3,
1870.
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be

denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude--
Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
1865-1877
Reconstruction
Physical reconstruction of the South
Constitutional status of the Southern States...did they actually
leave the union?
Status of leading Confederates
Status of the Freedmen
Key Issues of Reconstruction in 1865
Perspective of the White South
Blacks are now free because they are no longer slaves, but still
need to be controlled
Former Slaves Free, but not independent
Mississippi planter Samuel Agnew, “A man may be free and not
yet be independent”
Kentucky newspaper, African Americans “free, but only free to
labor.”
Freedom more than simply not being owned by Whites
Means ability to do what White Southerners can do: travel, own
dogs and guns, meet in groups
Restored and Victorian family life
Independent Churches
Education

Vote
Land
Henry Adams, freed slave from Louisiana, “If I cannot do like a
white man, I am not free.”
Differing Ideas of Black Freedom in the South
Perspective of Black South
Emancipation both legitimized and transformed the families of
former slaves.
New laws, and the Civil War pension system brought legal
validation to slave families.
The freedom to travel allowed families to reunite after having
been split-up by slavery.
African American families in the South began to try to emulate
the Victorian era white families: Man head out household, men
and women occupying “separate spheres.”
Men saw it as a badge of honor for their wives not needing to
work, though poverty would undo this.
Emancipation and the Freedman’s Family
Churches
Emancipation brought an end to biracial churches in the South:
African American attendance fell from 42,000 before the Civil
War to 600 in 1876.
African American churches, in addition to places of worship,
served as community centers, social centers, and political
gathering sites.
African American pastors became political actors; 250 would
hold office during Reconstruction.
According to a Mississippi Freedman: education was “the next
best thing to liberty.”
In addition to its being denied under slavery and the desire to
read the Bible, Freedmen saw education as the road to economic
and political opportunity

Schools grew by the hundreds across the South after
emancipation founded by Northern Missionary Societies, The
Freedman’s Bureau, and by themselves.
The first “Historically Black Colleges” were also founded.
Growing Institutions in African American Communities
Schools
More than anything Freedmen wanted land.
Land was the road to economic independence.
It also provided an opportunity to establish communities free of
white control.
Many Freedmen felt they had the right the land they had worked
as slaves due to their enslavement.
Freedmen and Land
Industrialization
Wage Worker is noble
Public schools
Small towns
Independent farmers
Free Labor Ideology-The Northern Ideal of Freedom
The Freedman’s Bureau
Created by Congress in 1865 over the veto of President Andrew
Johnson
Led by Civil War Major General O. O. Howard
1,100 agents at peak
First “Social Welfare” program in American history
Had 4 primary functions
First, ensure equal treatments for blacks and whites in Southern
Courts
Second, Take over war hospitals from army and open to black

and white civilians in the South
Third, fund education initiatives in South
Fourth, Land Reform- attempted to turn confiscated land over to
former slaves
Disbanded in 1872
The Results of the Failure of Land Reform: The Cycle of
Sharecropping
Moderate/Lincolnite
Restoration, not Reconstruction
Secession illegal, South never left the union, Southern states
must be restored to proper relationship to the rest of the Union
Primary goal restoring the Union as quickly as possible, but
preserving reforms
Wholesale reform of all Southern society not a primary
objective
Southern states left the Union and must be readmitted
White Southerners must be punished for war/treason
Full Black Equality and complete reform of Southern Society on
Northern lines primary goal
Two Perspectives on Reconstruction
Radical Republicans
Andrew Johnson
17th President of the United States
Born December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raised poor and illiterate
Tailor
Moved to Greenville, Tennessee in 1820s, married, learned to
read

Served in the House of Representatives and as Governor of
Tennessee before becoming Senator in 1857
Democrat, but opponent of Planter class
Only Southern Senator to remain with the Union when his state
seceded, made military Governor of Tennessee as a reward
Named as Lincoln’s VP on Union Ticket of Republicans and
War Democrats in 1864
Endorsed emancipation as war aim, but virulently racist
Stubborn and Quick-tempered
Quick Process
Offered Pardon (restoring all rights and property, except slaves)
to all Southerners who took an oath of allegiance worth less
than $200,000
Granted individual pardons to most of the rest over the coming
months
Appointed provisional governors tasked with forming all-white
state conventions to draft new Constitutions, required to abolish
slavery, repudiate secession ,and refuse to pay rebel debt.
All completed before Congress sits in December, 1865
Presidential Reconstruction
Rights Protected
Marriage
Ownership of Property
Limited Access to the Courts
Could not testify against Whites
Could not serve on juries
Could not serve in state militias
No votes.
Blacks must sign yearly labor contracts with planters or face
arrest and be hired out to whites
Some states limited the occupations Blacks could engage in

Some states barred them from owning land
Some states granted judges the power to order black children to
work for former owners without parental consent.
Presidential Reconstruction and Race: Black Codes
Restrictions on Black Life
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
Leading Congressional Radical Republicans
Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
Embrace of National Power to remake the South in the vision of
the North and end racial inequality
Senator Charles Sumner: The same national authority that
destroyed slavery must see that this other pretension is not
permitted to survive.”
Representative Thaddeus Stevens: “The whole fabric of
southern society must be changed. Without this, this
Government can never be, as it has never been, a true republic.”
Radical Republicans were powerful, but most Republicans were
moderates, not Radicals
Radical Republicans and the South
All persons born in the United States as citizens
Equal protection of persons and property
Right to Make Contracts Protected
Right to Bring Lawsuits
Full Access to Courts
Voting Rights not included
Parallel legislation attempted to extend the Freedman’s Bureau
Johnson vetoed both bills arguing it interfered with state

sovereignty and that African-Americas did not deserve
citizenship
Civil Rights bill veto overridden and the Freedman’s Bureau
extended later in the year
The Moderate Moment:
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the
several States according to their respective numbers, counting
the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians
not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the
choice of electors for President and Vice President of the
United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and
Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State,
being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or
other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced
in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall
bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of
age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in
Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold
any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under
any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of
Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member
of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of

any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall
have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may,
by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of
pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection
or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave;
but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal
and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The Fourteenth Amendment
State Governments formed under “Presidential Reconstruction”
are abolished
South divided into 5 military districts
New state constitutions and governments formed with full Black
participation
Southern States could not be readmitted until they ratify the
14th Amendment
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867-1868
Radical Reconstruction: Military Occupation
Impeachment of President Johnson
Controversy around Secretary of War Edwin Stanton

Tenure of Office Act
Congress and Stanton trying to keep President Johnson out of
Reconstruction Policy
Johnson, trying to stay within Tenure of Office Act fired
Stanton when Congress out of Session in August 1867
Congress refused to concur and Johnson refused to acknowledge
concurrence
Led to Impeachment in February 1868 and trial in March
11 Articles of Impeachment
Vote 35-19, one short to convict, 7 Republicans voted to acquit.
Former General Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois
The Republican Ticket-1868
Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax of Indiana
Former Governor Horatio Seymour of New York
The Democratic Ticket-1868
Former General Francis P. Blair of Missouri
“Waving the Bloody Shirt”
“Waving the Bloody Shirt”
Race and the 1868 Presidential Election

1868 Presidential Election
United States House of Representatives
1868 Congressional Election
United States Senate
Seats Republican Democrat Conservative 171 67 5
Seats Republican Democrat 62 12
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation
The Fifteenth Amendment
Free public education funded by state
New penitentiaries
Orphan asylums
Homes for insane
Political and civil rights
Ended whipping
Ended property qualification for holding office
Ended imprisonment for debt.

Reforms in Southern Reconstruction Constitutions
Senator Hiram Revels (1870-1871)
African–American Senators from Mississippi
Senator Blanche K. Bruce (1875-1881)
Governor Pinckney B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana (December
1872-January 1873)
Adelbert Ames: A Carpetbagger
Born October 31, 1835 in Maine
Graduate of West Point
Served in both Regular Army and Volunteers in the Civil War
Served as Military Governor, Senator, and Elected Governor of
Mississippi until 1876 when Mississippi was “redeemed”
James Longstreet
Scalawags
James Lusk Alcorn
First free public school systems in the South
Civil Rights legislation preventing discrimination in “public
accommodations”
Ensured sharecroppers had first right to crop, before bankers
SC Land reform

Attempted Economic Development
Attempted to purge law codes of racism
Accomplishments of Southern Republicans during
Reconstruction
The Southern White View of Reconstruction Governance
The First Ku Klux Klan
Founded in 1866
Decentralized
Run by white Southern elite
Dominated by Confederate veterans
Targeted black and white Republicans with terrorism and local
uprisings
Violence out of hand by 1870 leading to the Enforcement Acts
and Grant sending in troops in 1872
Movement that emerged in 1872 that was critical of the
corruption in the Grant administration, the increasing power of
the Federal Government due to Reconstruction, and a desire to
move on from the issues of Reconstruction.
Democrats, unhappily aligned with them in 1872.
Liberal Republicans
Horace Greeley
The Liberal Republican Ticket-1872
Former Senator B. Gratz Brown of Missouri

President Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois
Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts
“What I Know About Horace Greeley”
“Birds of a Feather”
Clasping Hands over Union Dead
Clasp Hands Over Andersonville
Seats Republican Democrat Independent 199 88 5

Seats Republican Democrat Liberal Republican 47 19
7
May 1873: Vienna Stock Exchange collapsed (due to a number
of factors, mostly dealing with problems concerning internal
issues of Austria-Hungary and the unification of Germany)
Congress also passed the Coinage Act of 1873 that Spring
demonetizing silver, causing deflation in the economy and
constricting the money supply and driving up interest rates
September 1873: Jay Cooke and Company, a pillar of the
American banking establishment, collapsed because it couldn’t
sell millions of dollars in bonds of the Northern Pacific
Railroad
This caused a financial panic that forced the New York Stock
Exchange to close for ten days.
What followed was the longest continued economic contraction
in American history, it will not hit bottom until 1878.
The massive economic contraction shifted northern focus away
from Reconstruction to economic issues and class issues and
damaged Republicans electorally.
The Panic of 1873
Seats Republican Democrat Independent 103 182 8
Seats Republican Democrat Independent Republican 46
28 1

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)Butchers who were denied access
to a state-sponsored monopoly in LA sued under the 14th
Amendment. Court rejected their claim saying the 14th
Amendment doesn’t alter traditional Federalism
US v. Cruikshank (1876)- guts the Enforcement Acts and
dismisses the convictions of some involved in the Colfax
Massacre of 1873
Civil Rights Act of 1875 declared Unconstitutional in 1883
Supreme Court Retreat from Reconstruction
“Redemption”
Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio
Representative William A. Wheeler of New York
Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York
The Democratic Ticket-1876
Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana
Hayes Agrees
To recognize Democratic control of entire South and not

interfere in local affairs.
To appoint a Southerner as Postmaster General.
To fight for Federal Aid for Texas and Pacific Railroad
(southern transcontinental route).
Not to block Hayes’s path to office.
To respect Civil and Political rights of Blacks.
The “Compromise of 1877”
Democrats Agree
Emancipation Proclamation
Washington, D.C.
January 1, 1863
President Lincoln read the first draft of this document to his
Cabinet members on July 22, 1862. After some
changes, he issued the preliminary version on September 22,
which specified that the final document would
take effect January 1, 1863. Slaves in Confederate states which
were not back in the Union by then would
be free, but slaves in the Border States were not affected.
The most controversial document in Lincoln's presidency, its
signing met with both hostility and jubilation in
the North. After the preliminary version was made public,
Lincoln noted, "It is six days old, and while
commendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals
is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks
have declined, and troops come forward more slowly than ever.
This, looked soberly in the face, is not very
satisfactory." However, on the day he approved the final

version, Lincoln remarked, "I never, in my life, felt
more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this
paper."
By the President of the United States of America: A
Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the
United States, containing, among other things,
the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all
persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a
State, the people whereof shall then be in
rebellion against the United States, shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive
Government of the United States, including the military and
naval authority thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts
to repress such persons, or any of them, in
any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid,
by proclamation, designate the States and
parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively,
shall then be in rebellion against the United
States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
on that day be, in good faith, represented in
the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at
elections wherein a majority of the
qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in
the absence of strong countervailing

testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and
the people thereof, are not then in rebellion
against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, by virtue of the power in me vested as
Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United
States in time of actual armed rebellion against
the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit
and necessary war measure for suppressing
said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty
three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly
proclaimed for the full period of one hundred
days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate
as the States and parts of States wherein the
people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the
United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard,
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Johns, St.
Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne,
Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans,
including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, South-Carolina, North-Carolina,
and Virginia, (except the fortyeight counties designated as West
Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley,
Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth-City, York, Princess Ann,
and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present,
left precisely as if this proclamation were not
issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do
order and declare that all persons held as
slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are,

and henceforward shall be free; and that the
Executive government of the United States, including the
military and naval authorities thereof, will
recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to
abstain from all violence, unless in necessary
self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when
allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable
wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of
suitable condition, will be received into the
armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions,
stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution, upon military
necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and
the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/emanci
pate.htm
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/emanci
pate.htm
Mr. Gunnar
AP English Language and Composition
Abraham Lincoln: First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
This speech had its origins in the back room of a store in
Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln,
who lived in Springfield for nearly 25 years, wrote the speech
shortly before becoming America's
sixteenth President. As President-elect, he took refuge from
hordes of office seekers at his brother-in-
law's store in January 1861. There he used just four references
in his writing: Henry Clay's 1850 Speech
on compromise, Webster's reply to Hayne, Andrew Jackson's
proclamation against nullification, and the
U.S. Constitution. The desk Lincoln used has been preserved by
the State of Illinois.
A local newspaper, the Illinois State Journal, secretly printed
the first draft, which he took on his
inaugural journey to Washington. He entrusted the speech to his
son Robert, who temporarily lost the
suitcase, causing a minor uproar until it was found. Once in

Washington, Lincoln allowed a handful of
people to read the speech before delivering it. William H.
Seward, his Secretary of State, offered several
suggestions which softened its tone and helped produce its
famous closing. Although meant to allay the
fears of Southerners, the speech did not dissuade them from
starting the war, which broke out the
following month.
Californians read the speech after it traveled via telegraph and
Pony Express. It was telegraphed
from New York to Kearney, Nebraska, then taken by Pony
Express to Folsom, California, where it was
telegraphed to Sacramento for publication. Today you can see
the First Inaugural Address manuscript
and the Bible from the inaugural ceremony online or at the
American Treasures exhibit, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.
Fellow-Citizens of the United States:
In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I
appear before you to
address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath
prescribed by the Constitution of the
United States to be taken by the President "before he enters on
the execution of this office."
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those
matters of administration
about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the southern
States that by the
accession of a Republican Administration their property and

their peace and personal security are
to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause
for such apprehension. Indeed, the
most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed
and been open to their inspection. It
is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now
addresses you. I do but quote from
one of those speeches when I declare that --
I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the
institution of slavery in the
States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so,
and I have no inclination to do so.
Those who nominated and elected me did so with full
knowledge that I had made this and
many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and
more than this, they placed in the
platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to
me, the clear and emphatic
resolution which I now read:
Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the
States, and especially the
right of each State to order and control its own domestic
institutions according to its own
judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on
which the perfection and
endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the
lawless invasion by armed force
of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as
among the gravest of crimes.
2

I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press
upon the public attention the
most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that
the property, peace, and security
of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now
incoming Administration. I add, too,
that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution
and the laws, can be given will be
cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for
whatever cause -- as cheerfully to
one section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives
from service or labor. The
clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any
other of its provisions:
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping 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 service or labor may be due.
It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by
those who made it for the
reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of
the lawgiver is the law. All
members of Congress swear their support to the whole
Constitution -- to this provision as much
as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose
cases come within the terms of this
clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now,
if they would make the effort in
good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame

and pass a law by means of
which to keep good that unanimous oath?
There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should
be enforced by national or
by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very
material one. If the slave is to be
surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to
others by which authority it is done.
And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go
unkept on a merely unsubstantial
controversy as to how it shall be kept?
Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards
of liberty known in
civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a
free man be not in any case
surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same
time to provide by law for the
enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees
that "the citizens of each State
shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in
the several States"?
I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and
with no purpose to
construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and
while I do not choose now to
specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I
do suggest that it will be much
safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to
and abide by all those acts which
stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find
impunity in having them held to be
unconstitutional.

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a
President under our National
Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly
distinguished citizens have in
succession administered the executive branch of the
Government. They have conducted it
through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with
all this scope of precedent, I
now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of
four years under great and
peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union,
heretofore only menaced, is now
formidably attempted.
I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the
Constitution the Union of these
States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in
the fundamental law of all national
governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever
had a provision in its organic
law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express
provisions of our National
3
Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being
impossible to destroy it except by some
action not provided for in the instrument itself.
Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an
association of States in the
nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably
unmade by less than all the parties
who made it? One party to a contract may violate it-break it, so

to speak-but does it not require
all to lawfully rescind it?
Descending from these general principles, we find the
proposition that in legal
contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history
of the Union itself. The Union is
much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the
Articles of Association in 1774.
It was matured and continued by the Declaration of
Independence in 1776. It was further
matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly
plighted and engaged that it should
be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And
finally, in 1787, one of the declared
objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to
form a more perfect Union."
But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the
States be lawfully possible,
the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having
lost the vital element of perpetuity.
It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere
motion can lawfully get out
of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are
legally void, and that acts of violence
within any State or States against the authority of the United
States are insurrectionary or
revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the
laws the Union is unbroken,
and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the
Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon
me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the

States. Doing this I deem to be
only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as
practicable unless my rightful
masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite
means or in some authoritative
manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a
menace, but only as the declared
purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and
maintain itself.
In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and
there shall be none unless it
be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me
will be used to hold, occupy,
and possess the property and places belonging to the
Government and to collect the duties and
imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects,
there will be no invasion, no using
of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility
to the United States in any
interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent
competent resident citizens from
holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force
obnoxious strangers among the
people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in
the Government to enforce the
exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so
irritating and so nearly impracticable
withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of
such offices.
The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all
parts of the Union. So far
as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of
perfect security which is most
favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here

indicated will be followed unless
current events and experience shall show a modification or
change to be proper, and in every
case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised,
according to circumstances actually
existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of
the national troubles and the
restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.
That there are persons in one section or another who seek to
destroy the Union at all
events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm
nor deny; but if there be such, I
need address no word to them. To those, however, who really
love the Union may I not speak?
4
Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our
national fabric, with all
its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to
ascertain precisely why we do it?
Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any
possibility that any portion of the ills you
fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills
you fly to are greater than all the
real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so
fearful a mistake?
All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights
can be maintained. Is it
true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has
been denied? I think not. Happily,
the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the

audacity of doing this. Think, if
you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written
provision of the Constitution has ever
been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should
deprive a minority of any clearly
written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view
justify revolution; certainly would if
such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the
vital rights of minorities and of
individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and
negations, guaranties and
prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise
concerning them. But no organic
law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable
to every question which may
occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate
nor any document of reasonable
length contain express provisions for all possible questions.
Shall fugitives from labor be
surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution
does not expressly say. May
Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution
does not expressly say. Must
Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution
does not expressly say.
From questions of this class spring all our constitutional
controversies, and we divide
upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will
not acquiesce, the majority must, or
the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for
continuing the Government is
acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case
will secede rather than
acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and
ruin them, for a minority of their

own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be
controlled by such minority. For
instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year
or two hence arbitrarily secede
again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to
secede from it? All who cherish
disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper
of doing this.
Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to
compose a new union as to
produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?
Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.
A majority held in restraint
by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing
easily with deliberate changes of
popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a
free people. Whoever rejects it
does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is
impossible. The rule of a minority,
as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that,
rejecting the majority principle,
anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.
I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional
questions are to be
decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions
must be binding in any case
upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they
are also entitled to very high
respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other
departments of the Government. And
while it is obviously possible that such decision may be
erroneous in any given case, still the evil
effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with

the chance that it may be overruled
and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be
borne than could the evils of a
different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must
confess that if the policy of the
Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is
to be irrevocably fixed by
5
decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in
ordinary litigation between parties
in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own
rulers, having to that extent
practically resigned their Government into the hands of that
eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this
view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from
which they may not shrink to
decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of
theirs if others seek to turn their
decisions to political purposes.
One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to
be extended, while the
other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is
the only substantial dispute. The
fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the
suppression of the foreign slave trade
are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a
community where the moral sense
of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body
of the people abide by the dry
legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each.
This, I think, can not be perfectly

cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation
of the sections than before. The
foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be
ultimately revived without restriction
in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially
surrendered, would not be surrendered at
all by the other.
Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove
our respective sections
from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A
husband and wife may be
divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of
each other, but the different parts of
our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to
face, and intercourse, either
amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible,
then, to make that intercourse
more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than
before? Can aliens make treaties
easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more
faithfully enforced between aliens than
laws can among friends? suppose you go to war, you can not
fight always; and when, after much
loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the
identical old questions, as to
terms of intercourse, are again upon you.
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who
inhabit it. Whenever they
shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise
their constitutional right of
amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or
overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the
fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of
having the National Constitution

amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I
fully recognize the rightful
authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised
in either of the modes prescribed
in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing
circumstances, favor rather than oppose a
fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will
venture to add that to me the
convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments
to originate with the people
themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject
propositions originated by others,
not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be
precisely such as they would wish
to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment
to the Constitution -- which
amendment, however, I have not seen -- has passed Congress, to
the effect that the Federal
Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions
of the States, including that of
persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I
have said, I depart from my purpose
not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that,
holding such a provision to now be
implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made
express and irrevocable.
The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people,
and they have referred
none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The
people themselves can do this if
also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do
with it. His duty is to administer

6
the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit
it unimpaired by him to his
successor.
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate
justice of the people? Is
there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present
differences, is either party without
faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations,
with His eternal truth and justice, be
on your side of the North, or on yours of the south, that truth
and that justice will surely prevail
by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.
By the frame of the Government under which we live this same
people have wisely given
their public servants but little power for mischief, and have
with equal wisdom provided for the
return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals.
While the people retain their virtue
and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness
or folly can very seriously injure
the Government in the short space of four years.
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this
whole subject. Nothing
valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to
hurry any of you in hot haste to a step
which you would never take deliberately, that object will be
frustrated by taking time; but no
good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now
dissatisfied still have the old
Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of
your own framing under it;

while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if
it would, to change either. If it
were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side
in the dispute, there still is no
single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence,
patriotism, Christianity, and a firm
reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land
are still competent to adjust in the
best way all our present difficulty.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in
mine, is the momentous
issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can
have no conflict without being
yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in
heaven to destroy the Government,
while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect,
and defend it."
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must
not be enemies. Though
passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of
affection. The mystic chords of
memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to
every living heart and hearthstone
all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union,
when again touched, as surely
they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/1inaug
.htm
http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnFirstInaugural.html

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
[Fellow Countrymen:] March 4, 1865
At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential
office, there is less occasion
for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a
statement, somewhat in detail,
of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at
the expiration of four years,
during which public declarations have been constantly called
forth on every point and
phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and
engrosses the enerergies
[sic] of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The
progress of our arms, upon
which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as
to myself; and it is, I
trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high
hope for the future, no
prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all
thoughts were anxiously
directed to an impending civil-war. All dreaded it---all sought
to avert it. While the
inaugeral address was being delivered from this place, devoted
altogether to saving the
Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to
destroy it without war---
seeking to dissol[v]e the Union, and divide effects, by
negotiation. Both parties
deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let
the nation survive; and
the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war

came.
One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not
distributed generally over
the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves
constituted a peculiar and
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the
cause of the war. To
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object
for which the insurgents
would rend the Union, even by war; while the government
claimed no right to do more
than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party
expected for the war, the
magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained.
Neither anticipated that the
cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the
conflict itself should cease.
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental
and astounding. Both
read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each
invokes His aid against the
other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a
just God's assistance in
wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let
us judge not that we be
not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of
neither has been answered
fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ``Woe unto the
world because of offences!
for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by
whom the offence
cometh!'' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of
those offences which, in the
providence of God, must needs come, but which, having
continued through His appointed

time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North
and South, this terrible
war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall
we discern therein any
departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
Living God always ascribe
to Him? Fondly do we hope---fervently do we pray---that this
mighty scourge of war may
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all
the wealth piled by the
bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall
be sunk, and until every
drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword, as was
said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ``the
judgments of the Lord, are true
and righteous altogether.''
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
the right, as God gives us
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to
bind up the nation's
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow, and his
orphan---to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a
lasting peace, among
ourselves, and with all nations.
[Endorsement]
Original manuscript of second Inaugeral presented to Major
John Hay. A. LINCOLN

April 10. 1865
Source: Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865, Collected
Works of Abraham Lincoln,
Vol. VIII, pp. 332-333.

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