9th. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, elected Provisional President of the Confederate States of America, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. The question of attacking Fort Sumter has been referred to the Congress. 11th. Mr. Stephens announced his acceptance. Committee appointed to prepare a permanent Constitution. 12th. The Congress assumed "charge of all questions and difficulties now existing between the sovereign States of this Confederacy and the Government of the United States, relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, navy yards, custom-houses, and all other public establishments." The resolution was directed to be communicated to the Governors of the respective States of the Confederacy. 15th. Official copy of the Texas Ordinance of Secession presented. 16th. President Davis arrived and received with salute, etc. 18th. President Davis inaugurated. 19th. Tariff law passed. 21st Robert Toombs appointed Secretary of the State; C. G. Memminger, Secre tary of the Treasury; L. Pope Walker, of 4th. Whenever the word "Union" occurs in the February 4th, 1861. Howell Cobb of Georgia elected President, Johnson J. Hooper of Alabama, Secretary. Mr. Cobb announced that secession "is now a fixed United States Constitution the word "Confederacy' and irrevocable fact, and the separation is perfect, complete and perpetual. 6th. David L. Swain, M. W. Ransom, and John L. Bridgers, were admitted as Commissioners from North Carolina, under resolutions of the General Assembly of that State, passed January 29th, 1861, "to effect an honorable and amicable adjustFent of all the difficulties that disturb the country, upon the basis of the Crittenden resolutions, as modified by the Legislature of Virginia," and to consult with the delegates to the Southern Congress for their " common peace, honor and safety." 7th. Congress notified that the State of Alabama had placed $500,000 at its disposal, as a loan to the provisional government of the Confederacy of Seceding States. 8th. The Constitution of the Provisional Government adopted. * The Provisional Constitution adopted by the Seceded States differs from the Constitution of the United States in several important particulars. The alterations and additions are as follows: ALTERATIONS. 1st. The Provisional Constitution differs from the other In this: That the legislative powers of the Provisional Government are vested in the Congress now assembled. and this body exercises all the functions that are exercised by either or both branches of the United States Government. 28. The Provisional President holds his office for one year, unless socner superseded by the establishment of a permanent Government. 3d. Each State is erected into a distinct judicial district, the judge having all the powers heretofore vested in the district and circuit courts; and the several district judges together compose the supreme bench-a majority of them constituting & quorum, substituted. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ADDITIONS. 1st. The President may veto any separate appropriation without vetoing the whole bill in which it is contained. 2d. The African slave-trade is prohibited. 3d. Congress is empowered to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy. the President or heads of departments. 4th. All appropriations must be upon the demand of OMISSIONS. 1st, There is no prohibition on members of Congress holding other offices of honor and emolument under the Provisional Government. 2d. There is no provision for a neutral spot for the location of a seat of government, or for sites for forts, arsenals, and dock-yards; consequently there is no reference made to the territorial powers of the Provisional Govern ment. 3d. The section in the old Constitution in reference to capitation and other direct tax is omitted; also, the section providing that no tax or duty shall be laid on any exports. 4th. The prohibition on States keeping troops or ships of war in time of peace is omitted 5th. The Constitution being provisional merely, no provision is made for its ratification. March 2d. The Texas Deputies received. The Confederate States. The Alabama, Secretary of War; Stephen R. ving singleness of purpose, aided by the Mallory, Secretary of the Navy; Judah P. telegraph, secured a rapidity of execution. Benjamin, Attorney-General, and John H. to which no other very extensive conspiReagan, Postmaster-General; Philip Clay-racy of history can afford a parallel. ton, of Georgia appointed Assistant Secre- ordinance of secession was a negative intary of the Treasury, and Wm. M. Browne, strument, purporting to withdraw the state late of the Washington Constitution, from the Union and to deny the authority Assistant Secretary of State. of the federal government over the people of the State; the cardinal object of the senatorial group was to hurry the forma mation of a new national government, as an organized political reality which would rally the outright secessionists, claim the The Confederate States was the name of allegiance of the doubtful mass, and coerce the government formed in 1861 by the those who still remained recalcitrant. At seven States which first seceded. Bellige- the head of the senatorial group, and of rent rights were accorded to it by the lead-its executive committee, was Jefferson ing naval powers, but it was never recog- Davis, Senator from Mississippi, and natunized as a government, notwithstanding rally the first official step toward the forthe persevering efforts of its agents near mation of a new government came from the principal courts. This result was mainly the Mississippi Legislature, where a comdue to the diplomacy of the federal Sec-mittee reported, January 19th, 1861, resoretary of State, Win H. Seward, to the lutions in favor of a congress of delegates proclamations of emancipation in 1862-3, from the seceding States to provide for a which secured the sympathy of the best southern confederacy, and to establish a elements of Great Britain and France for provisional government, therefore. The the federal government, and the obstinate other seceding States at once accepted the persistence of the federal government in proposal, through their State conventions, avoiding, as far as possible, any recognition which also appointed the delegates on the of the existence, even de facto, of a con- ground that the people had intrusted the federate government. The federal generals State conventions with unlimited powin the field, in their communications with ers. The new government therefore began confederate officers, did not hesitate, upon its existence without any popular ratio of occasion, even to give "president" Davis representation, and with only such popular his official title, but no such embarrassing ratification as popular acquiescence gave. precedent was ever admitted by the civil The provisional congress met Feb. 4th, at government of the United States. It at Montgomery, Ala., with delegates from first endeavored, until checked by active South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisipreparations for retaliation, to treat the ana, Florida and Mississippi. The Texas crews of confederate privateers as pirates; delegates were not appointed until Feb it avoided any official communication with 14th. Feb, 8th, a provisional constitution the confederate government, even when was adopted, being the constitution of the compelled to exchange prisoners, confining United States, with some changes. Feb. its negotiations to the confederate commis- 9th, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was sioners of exchange; and, by its persistent unanimously chosen provisional president, policy in this direction, it succeeded, with- and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, out any formal declaration, in impressing provisional vice-president, each State havupon foreign governments the belief that ing one vote, as in all other proceedings of any recognition of the confederate States the body. By acts of Feb. 9th and 12th, as a separate people would be actively re- the laws and revenue officers of the United sented by the government of the United States were continued in the confederate States as an act of excessive unfriendliness. States until changed. Feb. 18th, the The federal courts have steadily held the president and vice-president were inaugusame ground, that "the confederate states rated. Feb. 20th-26th, executive departwas an unlawful assemblage, without cor- ments and a confederate regular army were porate power;" and that, though the organized, and provision was made for separate States were still in existence and borrowing money. March 11th, the perwere indestructible, their state govern-manent constitution was adopted by ments, while they chose to act as part of Congress. the confederate States, did not exist, even The Internal legislation of the provide facto. Early in January, 1861, while sional congress was, at first, mainly the only South Carolina had actually seceded, adaptation of the civil service in the Souththough other Southern States had called ern States to the uses of the new governconventions to consider the question, the ment. Wherever possible, judges, postSenators of the seven States farthest South masters, and civil as well as military and practically assumed control of the whole naval officers, who had resigned from the movement, and their energy and unswer-service of the United States, were given Mississippi, February 21st, 1865; John H. The provisional Congress held four sessions, as follows: 1. February 4-March 16th, 1861; 2. April 29-May 22d, 1861; 3. July 20-August 22d, 1861; and 4. November 18th, 1861-February 17th, 1862. an equal or higher rank in the confederate service. Postmasters were directed to make their final accounting to the United States, May 31st, thereafter accounting to the Confederate States. April 29th, the provisional congress, which had adjourned March 16th, re-assembled at Montgomery, having been convoked by President Davis in consequence of President Lincoln's prepa- Under the permanent Constitution there rations to enforce federal authority in the were two Congresses. The first Congress South. Davis' message announced that held four sessions, as follows: 1. Februall the seceding States had ratified the ary 18-April 21st, 1862; 2. August 12permanent constitution; that Virginia, October 13th, 1862; 3. January 12-May which had not yet seceded and entered in-8th 1863; and 4. December 7, 1863-Febto alliance with the confederacy, and that ruary 18th, 1864. The second Congress other States, were expected to follow the held two sessions, as follows: 1. May 2same plan. He concluded by declaring June 15th, 1864; and 2. From November that "all we ask is to be let alone." May 7th, 1864, until the hasty and final ad6th, an act was passed recognizing the ex-journment, March 18th, 1865. istence of war with the United States. In the first Congress members chosen by Congress adjourned May 22d, re-convened at Richmond, Va., July 20th, and adjourned August 22d, until November 18th. Its legislation had been mainly military and financial. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, had passed ordinances of secession, and been admitted to the conf defacy. (See the States named, and secession.) Although Missouri and Kentucky had not seceded, delegates from thee States were admitted in December 1861. Nov. 6, 1861, at an election under the permanent constitution, Davis and ephens were again chosen to their reective offices by a unanimous electoral vote. Feb. 18th, 1862, the provisional congress (of one house) gave way to the permanent congress, and Davis and Stephens were inaugurated February 22nd. The cabinet, with the successive Secretaries of each department, was as follows, including both the provisional and permanent cabi rump State conventions, or by regiments in For four months between the Presidential election and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln those favoring secession in the South had practical control of their section, for while President Buchanan hesitated as to his constitutional powers, the more active partisans in his Cabinet were aiding their Southern friends in every practical way. In answer to the visitTreasury Department.-Charles G. Mem-ing Commissioners from South Carolina, minger, South Carolina, February 21st, 1861, and March 22d, 1862; James L. Trenholm, South Carolina, June 13th, 1864. War Department.-L. Pope Walker, Mississippi, February 21st, 1861; Judah P. Benjamín, Louisiana, November 10th, 1861; James A. Seddon, Virginia, March 22d, 1862; John C. Breckinridge, Kentucky, February 15th, 1865. Navy Department. Stephen R. Mallory, Florida, March 4th, 1861, and March 22d. Attorney General. -Judah P. Benjamin, Louisiana, February 21st, 1861; Thomas H. Watts, Alabama, September 10th, 1861, and March 22nd, 1862; George Davis, North Carolina, November 10th, 1863. Postmaster-General.-Henry J. Elliot, Messrs. R. W. Barnwell, J. H. Adams and Jas. L. Orr, who formally submitted that State's ordinance of secession, and demanded possession of the forts in Charleston harbor, Buchanan said: "In answer to this communication, I have to say that my position as President of the United States was clearly defined in the message to Congress on the 3d inst. In that I stated that apart from the execution of the laws, so far as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to lished by Rand & McNally, Chicago, Ill. * From Lalor's Encyclopaedia of Political Science, pub change the relations heretofore existing December 17th, 1860, JEREMIAH 8. BLACK resigned as Attorney-General, and EDWIN M. STANTON, December 20th, was appointed his successor. between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolution of the Confederacy among our thirtythree sovereign States. It bears no resemblance to the recognition of a foreign de facto Government, involving no such responsibility. Any attempt to do this would, on his part, be a naked act of usurpation. It is, therefore, my duty to submit to Congress the whole question in all its bearings. "Such my opinion still. I could, therefore, meet you only as private gentlemen i the highest character, and was entirely willing to communicate to Congress proposition you might have to make to that body upon the subject. Of this you were well aware. It was my earnest desire that such a disposition might be made of the whole subject by Congress, who alone possess the power, as to prevent the inauguration of a civil war between the parties in regard to the possession of the Federal forts in the harbor of Charleston.' تم January 18th, 1861, JOSEPH HOLT resigned as Postmaster-General, and HoRATIO KING, February 12th, 1861, was appointed his successor. President Buchanan, in his annual message of December 3d, 1860, appealed to Congress to institute an amendment to the constitution recognizing the rights of the Southern States in regard to slavery in the territories, and as this document embraced the views which subsequently led to such a general discussion of the right of seces sion and the right to coerce a State, we make a liberal quotation from it: I have purposely confined my remarks to revolutionary resistang, because it has been claimed within the t few years that any State, whenever thall be its sovereign will and plea may secede from the Union in accordance with the Constitution, and without violation of the constitutional rights of the her members of the Confederacy. That aseach be came parties to the Union beyote of its own people assembled in yution, so any one of them may refimo, the Union in agimilar manner by the woof Further correspondence followed between the President and other seceding State Commissioners, and the attitude of the former led to the following changes in his Cabinet: December 12th. 1880, LEWIS CASS, each a convertion. resigned as Secretary of State, because thé President declined to reinforce the forts in Charleston harbor. December 17th. JEREMIAH S. BLACK was appointed his suc December 10th, HOWELL COBB, resigned as Secretary of the Treasury-"his duty to Georgia requiring it." December 12th, PHILIP F. THOMAS was appointed farsaccessor, and resigned, January 11, 1961, because differing from the President and a majority of the Cabinet, "in the measures which have been adopted in reference to the recent condition of things in South Carolina," especially "touching the authority, under existing laws, to enforce the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston." January 11th, 1861, JOHN A. DIX appointed his successor. 29th, JOHN B. FLOYD resigned as Secretary of War, because, after the transfer of Major Anderson's command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, the President declined "to withdraw the garrison from the harbor of Charleston altogether." December 31st, JOSEPH HOLT, Postmaster-General, was entrusted with the temporary charge of the War Department, and January 18th, 1861, was appointed Secretary of War. January 8th, 1861, JACOB THOMPSON resigned as Secretary of the Interior, because additional troops, he had heard, have been ordered to Charleston" in the of the Westt. secession as a must be on the ral Government is mere volunt association of States, to b dissolved pleasure by my one of the contracting parties. If this be so, th Confederacy is a rope of sand, to be pen rated and dissolved by the first adver wave of public pinion in any of the State this manner our thirty-three Statereny resolve themselves into as many petty, jarring, and hostile reptes, each one retiring from the Uni without responsi bility whenever an Budden excitement might impel them such a course. By this process a Union might be entirely broken into fragmes in a few weeks, which cost our forefers many years of toil, privation, and blood to establish. Such a principle is wholly inconsistent with the history as well as the character of the Federal Constitution. After it was framed with the greatest deliberation and care, it was submitted to conventions of the people of the several States for ratification. Its provisions were discussed length in these bodies, composed of the first men of the country. Its opponents contended that it conferred powers upun the Federal Government dangerous to the rights of the States, whilst its advocaten maintained that, under a fair constrnofi of the instrument, there was no foundation for such apprehensions. In that mighty struggle between the first intellects of or any other country, it never occurred to | shall be inviolably observed by every any individual, either among its opponents State, and the Union shall be perpetual.' or advocates, to assert or even to intimate The preamble to the constitution of the that their efforts were all vain labor, be- United States, having express reference to cause the moment that any State felt her- the Articles of Confederation, recites that self aggrieved she might secede from the it was established 'in order to form a more Union. What a crushing argument would perfect union.' And yet it is contended this have proved against those who dreaded that this 'more perfect union' does not inthat the rights of the States would be en- clude the esssential attribute of perpedangered by the Constitution. The truth tuity. is, that it was not until some years after But that the Union was designed to the origin of the Federal Government that be perpetual, appears conclusively from such a proposition was first advanced. It the nature and extent of the powers conwas afterwards met and refuted by the ferred by the Constitution of the Federal conclusive arguments of General Jackson, Government. These powers embrace the who, in his message of the 16th of January, very highest attributes of national soy1833, transmitting the nullifying ordinance ereignty. They place both the sword and of South Carolina to Congress, employs the purse under its control. Congress has following language: 'The right of the peo-power to make war and to make peace; to ple of a single State to absolve themselves raise and support armies and navies, and at will and without the consent of the to conclude treaties with foreign governother States from their most solemn obli- ments. It is invested with the power to gations, and hazard the liberty and happiness of the millious composing this Union, cannot be acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be utterly repugnant both to the principles upon which the General Government is constituted, and to he objects which it was expressly formed to coin money, and to regulate the value thereof, and to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States. It is not necessary to enumerate the other high powers which have been conferred upon the Federal Government. In order to carry the enumerated powers into effect, Congress possesses the exclusive right to lay and collect duties on imports, and, in common with the States, to lay and collect all other taxes. It is not pretended that any clause in the Constitution gives coubenance to such theory. It is altogether founded upon nference, not from any language con- "But the Constitution has not only contained in the instrument itself but from ferred these high powers upon Congress, the sovereign character everal but it has adopted effectual means to reStates by which it was miti But it is strain the States from interfering with their beyond the power of a State an indi-exercise. For that purpose it has in strong vidual, to yield a portion of its sovereign prohibitory language expressly declared rights to secure the remainder? In the that no State shall enter into any treaty, language of Mr. Madison, who has been alliance, or confederation; grant letters of called the father of the Constitution, 'It marque and reprisal; coin money; emit was formed by the States that is, by the bills of credit; make anything but gold people in each of the States acting in their and silver coin a tender in payment of highest sovereign capacity, and formed con- debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post sequently by the ame authority which facto law, or law impairing the obligation formed the State constitutions.' 'Nor is of contracts.' Moreover, without the conthe Government of the United States, sent of Congress no State shall lay any imcreated by the Constitution, less a Govern- posts or duties on any imports or exports, ment, in the strict sense of the term with-except what may be absolutely necessary in the sphere of its powers, than the gov- for executing its inspection laws,' and if eraments created by the constitutions of they exceed this amount, the excess shall the States are within their several spheres. belong to the United States. And 'no It is like them organized into legislative, State shall, without the consent of Conexecutive, and judiciary departments. It operates, like them, directly on persons and things; and, like them, it has at command a physical force for executing the powers committed to it.' gress, lay any duty of tonnage, 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 delay.' "It was intended to be perpetual, and not to be annulled at the pleasure of any one of the contracting parties. The old In order still further to secure the unArticles of Confederation were entitled interrupted exercise of these high powers Articles of Confederation and Perpetual against State interposition, it is provided Union between the States;' and by the that this Constitution and the laws of the thirteenth article it is expressly declared United States which shall be made in purthat 'the articles of this confederationsuance thereof, and all treaties made or |