Editing Confederate States Congress (section)

==Provisional Congress==
{{Main|Provisional Congress of the Confederate States}}
The Confederate Congress first met provisionally on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, to form a unified national government among states whose secessionist conventions had resolved to leave their union with the United States. Most Deep South residents and many in the border states believed the new nation about to be born in a revolution to perpetuate slavery was the logical result of defeats in sectional contests.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p.1.</ref>

===Meeting at Montgomery===
{{multiple image
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| caption1 = The [[Alabama State Capitol]] (built 1850–1851, of [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] style architecture), at the [[state capital]] town of [[Montgomery, Alabama]], where the delegates to the new provisional Confederate States Congress met here in early 1861, setting up a national government for the first seven seceded southern states, in the [[Confederate States of America]]. Also drawing up and adopting a [[Constitution of the Confederate States|provisional constitution]] and electing a [[President of the Confederate States|president]] and [[Vice President of the Confederate States|vice president]] and organizing an [[Confederate States Army|Army]]. The beginnings of the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865).}}
The 1859 raid at the federal [[Harpers Ferry Armory]] in [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harper's Ferry]], then in [[Virginia]], at the confluence of the [[Shenandoah River|Shenandoah]] with the [[Potomac River]], by [[abolitionism|abolitionist]]  [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] to free [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] in [[Virginia]] was hailed in the [[Union (American Civil War)|North]] by other abolitionists, who proclaimed that it was a noble martyrdom, while many in the South saw Brown as a provocateur and dangerous extremist, seeking to incite servile insurrection and violent social upheaval. The North seemed unwilling to accept the [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruling in the [[Dred Scott v. Sandford|Dredd Scott case]] of March 1857, that slaves were not free citizens even if moved to Northern free states or to the [[Territories of the United States|western federal territories]], and by implication, therefore guaranteeing slavery in the territories, and the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] had split among Northern and Southern factions over the issue, especially in the controversial disputed [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]]. Sectional antagonism was magnified with the decline of the national [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] and the upsurge of the newly-organized [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in 1854, was insistent on ending the extension of slavery in the western territories, which was seen as a threat to the very existence of continued slavery in the South itself, and of a white Southern civilization.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p.1-2.</ref>
 
The increasing economic rivalry and gap of wealth between Northern industry and more  mechanized farming versus Southern slave cash-crop agriculture seemed to be a losing battle that would permanently subject the South as diminished colonists dependent on an aggressive business world. Secession was to the state delegates meeting in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], a clear cut solution to over several decades of humiliation, reverses, and defeats. A new nation of secessionist states exclusive to the South, would assure uncompromised slavery and deliver an independent economic security based on the [[King Cotton]] agriculture crop.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p.2.</ref>

The [[1860 United States presidential election|November 1860 election]] of [[Abraham Lincoln]] proved to be the deciding catalyst for the Deep South. Southern members of Congress repeatedly addressed their constituents, saying that all hope of sectional relief and redress was done and that "the sole and primary aim of each slaveholding State ought to be its speedy and absolute separation from an unnatural and hostile Union."<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p.3.</ref>

A chain reaction was set off, as the "secessionists", "straight-outs", and "[[States' rights]] men" demanded separate state action to withdraw from the United States and immediate regrouping as a Southern union for self defense. Cooperation towards such a new government was being achieved even before the Montgomery Convention, as the Southern states had been exchanging a series of commissioners to determine their joint action since the fall of 1860. On December 31, 1860, the South Carolina Convention issued an invitation to Southern states to form a Southern Confederacy, and, after their next commissioners returned on January 11, 1861, South Carolina invited all slave states in the Union to meet in Montgomery on February 4.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p.4-7.</ref> Another six states called secession conventions of their own, held statewide elections to select delegates, convened and passed secession ordinances between January 9 and February 1, 1861.<ref>Martis, Kenneth C., ''The Historical Atlas of the Congress of the Confederate States of America: 1861–1865'', Simon & Schuster, 1994, {{ISBN|0-13-389115-1}}, p. 7</ref>

South Carolina set the pattern for electing delegates to the Provisional Congress. Six state conventions elected two delegates at large, and one from each congressional district. Florida allowed its secessionist governor to appoint the state delegation. There was no popular election to the Provisional Congress; vacancies were filled by the secessionist conventions, state legislatures or temporarily by a convention president.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 7.</ref>

===Membership and politics===
Historian of the Confederate Congress, Wilfred Buck Yearns, held that the most significant feature of the Montgomery gathering was its moderation. The secessionist conventions had not only intended to establish a slaveholding republic of the Lower South, they also hoped to attract the border slaveholding states, and they sought to reconcile their own in-state cooperationists and union men. The result was that the Confederate Provisional Congress began its work in relative harmony.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 7-8.</ref>

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| caption1 = Meeting of the Provisional Confederate Congress, 1861
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The state secessionist conventions had generally chosen delegates that truly represented their congressional districts, so the Provisional Congress fairly represented the diversity of the Southern states, excluding, of course, the millions of black people held in bondage throughout the South. Fifty delegates attended the first sessions at Montgomery. A majority of them had served in state secessionist conventions, and, overall in Congress, straight-out secessionists held a three-to-two ratio over the former conditional unionists. Alabama and Mississippi had the only state delegations with majority conditional unionists.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 9.</ref>

Most of the Provisional Congressional delegates were prominent men of major political parties. The majority of the former Democrats to former Whigs was narrow, with Alabama and Louisiana delegations majority Whig and Georgia evenly divided.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 8-9.</ref> Thirty-six members of Congress had attended college, forty-two were licensed lawyers, and seventeen were planters. Their average age was 47, ranging from 72 to 31. Thirty-four had previous legislative experience, twenty-four having served in the U.S. Congress. [[Charles Magill Conrad|Charles Conrad]] had served as Secretary of War under President [[Millard Fillmore]], and [[John Tyler]] had been the tenth U.S. president. As Yearns noted, "As a whole the Provisional Congress represented a higher type of leadership than either of the subsequent congresses."<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 9-10.</ref>

During the Provisional Congress, the expected political rivalries between secessionist fire-eaters and conservative conditional unionists did not appear, nor did the older factions of former Democrats versus former Whigs. Past politics were reserved for short-hand labeling during election campaigns. The main basis for political division in the Confederate Congress were the issues related to the policies of the President and his administration. In the first year of the Provisional Congress, opposition stemmed from personal and philosophical differences with Jefferson Davis. Davis spoke in states' rights terms, but his actions were increasingly nationalist from early on, and he freely used his veto power against bills meant to limit national policy in a way that led to charges of "military despotism".<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 218-219.</ref>

Some opposition came from personal dislike of Davis; other opponents believed the presidency rightfully belonged to [[Robert Barnwell Rhett|Robert Rhett]]. [[Henry S. Foote]] and Davis had a long running dislike for each other, which had previously lead to physical fight on the floor of the U.S. Congress.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wynne |first1=Ben |title=Jefferson Davis's Lesser-Known Nemesis |url=https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2020/08/12/jefferson-davis-henry-stuart-foot-rivalry/ideas/essay/ |website=Zócalo Public Square |publisher=Arizona State University |access-date=July 4, 2024 |date=August 12, 2020}}</ref> Another representative, [[William Lowndes Yancey]], resented Davis for distributing patronage jobs. Even friends of Davis's resented his habit of leaving Congress in total ignorance of executive policy and administration. He disliked personal interaction and met members only in state delegations. Generally speaking, Davis showed little interest in compromise, and Congressional legislators returned the favor by holding onto the opinions that got them elected.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 220-222.</ref>

Despite some resistance to the Davis administration proposals, because victory seemed imminent, little of the Confederacy was occupied, and any legislation that might require real sacrifice among the citizenry seemed unnecessary. Most Congressional debates were kept secret from the public, measures passed with substantial majorities, and the president's messages were encouraging.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 222-223.</ref>

===Constitution drafting===
{{See also|Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States|Constitution of the Confederate States}}
Deputies from the first seven states convening in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], resolved themselves into the Confederate Provisional Congress. Delegations from Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas met in the [[Alabama State Capitol]] in two sessions from February through May 1861.<ref>{{cite book |section=Appendix I: Sessions of the Confederate Congress |last=Warner |first=Ezra J. Jr. |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/516301 |title=Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress |date=1975 |publisher=Project Muse |access-date=March 1, 2017 |ref=warner |page=267 |isbn=978-0-8071-4941-6 |archive-date=March 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302025220/https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/516301 |url-status=live }}</ref> A committee of twelve drafted a proposal from chairman [[Christopher Memminger|Christopher G. Memminger]] from February 5–7.<ref name="ReferenceA">Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 24.</ref> Receiving the committee report the following day, the convention of secession delegates assembled, with one vote cast for each state delegation, unanimously approved the [[Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]] on February 8.<ref name="Coulter, E. Merton 1950">Coulter, E. Merton. The Confederate States of America (1950, 1962), Louisiana State University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0007-3}}, p. 23, 25</ref>

[[File:Image of Confederate Constitution.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Preamble to the [[Constitution of the Confederate States|Confederate States Constitution]]]]

The Provisional Constitution was, as [[Alexander H. Stephens]] noted, "the Constitution of the United States with such changes as are necessary to meet the exigencies of the times."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In a pointed effort to incorporate states' rights principles, the Provisional Confederate Constitution referred to the "Sovereign and Independent States" of the permanent union. The U.S. Constitution's "general welfare" was omitted. The Confederate Congress was to be similar to the Continental Congresses, with one chamber representing states, with a quorum of state delegations. Each state could fill Provisional Congressional vacancies as it wished.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Although not mandatory, the President might appoint cabinet members from Congress. In an effort at government economy, the president was authorized to veto individual items from appropriation bills. The Provisional Constitution organized each state into a federal judicial district – this provision was adopted in the permanent Confederate Constitution, but, in the only amendment to either document, this provision was amended to allow Congress to determine federal districts on May 21, 1861. A supreme court was to be constituted by convening all the federal district judges. To continue judicial procedure in the Confederacy as it had been in the United States, judicial power was extended to all cases of law and equity arising under the laws of the United States.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 25.</ref>

From February 28 until March 11, 1861, the Provisional Congress resolved itself into a Constitutional Convention each day, and, as a convention, it adopted the Permanent Confederate Constitution unanimously. On March 12, [[Howell Cobb]] of Georgia, as president of the Constitutional Convention, forwarded it to the state secessionist conventions. Several Congressmen returned to their home states to lobby for adoption, and all conventions ratified without submitting the new Constitution to a referendum by the people.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 26, 29.</ref>

The permanent Constitution, like the provisional one before it, was primarily modeled on the U.S. Constitution, modified by the Convention's desire to write a Southern constitution. The national government was clearly to be only an agent of the states, powers to the central government were "delegated" not "granted".<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 26.</ref> It provided for a bicameral national legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate.<ref name=autogenerated2>Martis, p. 1</ref> The rights and duties of Congress received the most attention, most importantly related to fiscal matters such as export duties, discouraging internal improvements but for navigational aids, and the self-sustaining post office.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 26-27.</ref>

To limit log-rolling, a two-thirds vote in each house was required for appropriations bills not recommended by an executive department, and the president had line-item-veto power. In Article III, radical states' righters struck the provisional Constitution's provision extending federal jurisdiction over cases between citizens of different states. Additionally, federal judicial power no longer applied to all cases of law and equity to accommodate the Roman law concept of single jurisdiction in Louisiana and Texas.<ref name="ReferenceB">Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 28-29.</ref>

Congressional apportionment remained on the U.S. federal ratio, with three-fifths of the slave population counted for representation, over the objections of the South Carolina secessionist convention. Returning escaped slaves was removed from the discretion of state governors in the provisional Constitution and made the responsibility of the Confederate government.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 28.</ref>

The permanent Confederate Constitution served for the duration of the government, with only one Amendment on May 21, 1861, when Congress was given the right to draw multiple federal judicial districts in the large states. The reservations of the South Carolina secession convention ratification were never taken up by any other state legislatures.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

===Functioning national government===
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| caption1 = The first Confederate States  [[Cabinet of the Confederate States|presidential cabinet]] with  President [[Jefferson Davis]], Vice President [[Alexander H. Stephens]], Attorney General [[Judah P. Benjamin]], Secretary of the Navy [[Stephen M. Mallory]], Secretary of the Treasury [[C. G. Memminger]], Secretary of War [[Leroy Pope Walker]], Postmaster [[John H. Reagan]], and Secretary of State [[Robert Toombs]]
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Sitting as the Provisional Congress, the gathering elected Jefferson Davis [[President of the Confederate States of America]] on February 9, the day after the Provisional Constitution had been adopted and five days after initially convening in Montgomery.<ref name="Coulter, E. Merton 1950"/> On February 21, a week before it sat as a Constitutional Convention, the Provisional Congress established the several executive departments, virtually mirroring those of the U.S. Government. The only major exception was the [[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States|Confederate Post Office]], which was required to be financially self-sustaining.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 36.</ref> On March 4, 1861, the Confederacy adopted its [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|first flag]], which was used throughout the Confederacy on the battlefield and at government office buildings for the duration of the Civil War.<ref>Coulter, p. 117</ref>

Following the Confederate attack on [[Battle of Fort Sumter|Fort Sumter]] in April 1861, the remaining six states admitted to the Confederate States of America with representation in its Congresses met in three additional sessions between July 1861 and February 1862 in the [[Virginia State Capitol]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]].<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The Virginia secessionist convention was already in session, and, after Lincoln's call-up of 75,000 troops to secure federal property, on April 17 that convention voted 88 to 55 to secede. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas soon after called secessionist conventions that voted to leave the Union by overwhelming majorities.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 39.</ref> On May 6, 1861, the Confederate Congress officially declared war on the United States and authorized the President to use all land and naval forces in pursuit of the war that had commenced.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 16.</ref>

Arizona secessionists met in convention at La Mesilla and resolved to leave the Union on March 16, and duly sent a delegate to Montgomery to lobby for admission. On January 18, 1862, Congress seated [[G. H. Oury|Granville H. Oury]] as a non-voting delegate. The Southwest Indians were initially sympathetic to the Confederate cause, as many were slaveholders. During the spring and summer of 1861, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Creeks, and Cherokees held tribal conventions that resolved themselves into independent nations and began negotiations with the Provisional Congress. Commissioner of Indian Affairs [[Albert Pike]] made three kinds of treaties. The [[Five Civilized Tribes]] were allowed a non-voting delegate in Congress and the Confederacy assumed all debts owed to the United States Government. They, in turn, promised mounted volunteer companies. Agricultural tribes of Osages, Senecas, Shawnees, and Quapaws received clothes and industrial aids in return for military assistance. The Comanches and ten other tribes promised non-aggression in return for rations from the Confederate Government.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 40-41.</ref>

===Mobilization===
In the campaign leading up to state conventions, secessionist leaders had assured the Southern people that severing ties with the United States would be an uncontested event. As a precautionary measure, on February 28, the Provisional Congress authorized Davis to take control of all military operations among the states in the Confederacy, and on March 6 it authorized raising 100,000 troops for Confederate national forces for a year, with additional levies of state militias for six months.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 60.</ref>

Following the assault on Fort Sumter in April, Lincoln responded with a call for 75,000 troops among loyal states to restore federal property ceded by Southern state legislatures to the United States. The Provisional Congress answered by removing its limit on enlistment durations, and, following the victory at [[First Battle of Bull Run|First Manassas]], it authorized a Confederate army of 400,000 for the duration. Davis was authorized an additional 400,000 of state militia troops for service of one to three years.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 61.</ref>

On May 6, 1861, Congress authorized presidential issue of [[Letter of marque|letters of marque and reprisal]] against vessels of the United States. Ship owners were eligible for eighty-five percent of everything seized. Subsequent legislation provided for a bonus of $20 for each person aboard a captured or destroyed vessel, and twenty percent of the value of each enemy warship sunk or destroyed. The tightening [[Union blockade]] made the privateers less effective, as they could not return prizes to Southern ports for disposition.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 100.</ref>

Early volunteer law enabled the president to accept seamen from the state navies, but few enlisted in Confederate service. In December 1861, Congress authorized an enlistment bonus of $50 in the attempt to raise 2,000 sailors for the duration, but the quota was not met. The draft law of April 16, 1862, in the First Session of the First Congress allowed conscripts to choose their branch of service. Navy enlistment was so small that state courts later recruited sailors by sentencing criminals to serve in the Navy.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 99.</ref>

===Meeting at Richmond===
On May 23, the Virginia Secession Convention voted to secede, and, shortly thereafter, the Virginia legislature invited the Confederate Congress to move to Richmond. After the state's voters overwhelmingly ratified the secession decisions a month later, the Congress ordered the next session to convene in Richmond on July 20.<ref>Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 13.</ref>

Because Davis believed the Confederacy should embrace Kentucky and Missouri, the Provisional Congress appropriated $1&nbsp;million each in late August to secure secession in those states.<ref>Coulter, p. 46,48</ref>

The Provisional Congress in the Fifth Session reached two of the most far-reaching decisions for the Confederacy, both politically and militarily. The border states of Missouri and Kentucky were admitted into the Confederate States of America, requiring offensive military decisions otherwise uncalled for in the western theater, including violating Kentucky's neutrality. Their admission also provided a solid two-state delegation support amounting to 17% of the House and 15% of the Senate backing the Davis administration throughout the existence of the Confederacy.<ref>Martis, p. 10,12</ref> Treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes also allowed for their seating non-voting representatives in the Confederate Congress, as did the [[Confederate Arizona|Arizona Territory]].<ref>Coulter, p. 51, 53</ref> With the short-lived claim to the far-western Arizona Territory, by the end of 1861, the Confederacy had gained the greatest extent of its territorial expansion. After that point, its ''de facto'' governance contracted as Union military actions prevailed.<ref>Coulter, p. 54</ref>

While the initial response to calls to rally to the Confederate Army and state militias was overwhelming in the short run, Davis foresaw that substantial numbers of the twelve-month volunteers would not re-enlist. Fully half of the entire Confederate Army might vanish in the spring of 1862. In an effort to extend volunteer service, on December 11, 1861, Congress provided for a $50 reenlistment bounty and a 60-day furlough for an enlistment of three years or the duration. The measure destabilized the entire Provisional Army, resulting in the ousting of large numbers of serving officers in company and regimental election campaigns. Railroad transportation was snarled with the glut of furloughed soldiers coming and going.<ref name="ReferenceC">Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, (1935, 2010) {{ISBN|978-0-820-33476-9}}, p. 62-63.</ref>

In the last of its actions, the Provisional Congress instructed the states in several duties. These included redrawing congressional districts to conform to the Confederate apportionment, reenacting election laws conforming to Confederate timetables, permitting out-of-state voting by soldiers and refugees, and electing two Confederate Congress senators to meet at the permanent Congress called on February 18, 1862.<ref>Martis, p. 13</ref> The Confederate Congresses and the Davis administration were the only two national civilian administrative bodies for the Confederacy.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

The Confederate constitution contained a provision (Article I, Section 8, Clause 17), essentially duplicated from the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]], for the establishment of a federal district of up to one hundred square miles. It was widely assumed in the Confederacy that this district would be sited somewhere other than an existing state capital after the war was won, similar to how Washington, D.C., was founded, or even more optimistically that the Confederate seat of government might eventually be moved to Washington itself, provided that [[Maryland]], a slave state with considerable pro-Confederate sympathies, were to come under Confederate control. Since none of this ever occurred, the permanent Confederate Congress continued to meet in Richmond until its dissolution.