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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --FRIDAY, March 8, 1861.
The Congress having resolved itself in convention, proceeded to the consideration of the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.
On motion of Mr. Stephens, by unanimous consent, the action of the Convention on the seventh clause of the first section of the second article, defining who shall be eligible to the office of President, was reconsidered and amended so as to read:
No person except a natural-born citizen, being a native of one of the States composing this Confederacy at the time of the election, or a citizen of the Confederate States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, etc.
The pending question being on the motion of Mr. Harris to the amendment of Mr. Miles,
Mr. Harris withdrew his amendment.
Mr. Perkins moved to amend the amendment of Mr. Miles by striking out the same and inserting in lieu thereof the words as follows: "Provided, That no nonslaveholding State shall be admitted into this Confederacy."
Mr. Hill moved to lay the amendment to the amendment on the table.
Mr. Hale demanded the question; which was seconded, and, at the instance of the State of Georgia, the yeas and nays of the entire body thereon were recorded, and are as follows:
Yea: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, 4.
Nay: Florida and South Carolina, 2.
Divided: Georgia, 1.
The motion prevailed.
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Mr. Cobb moved to amend the same clause by adding to the end of the same the following words, viz:
But no State shall be admitted which, by its constitution or laws, denies the right of property in negro slaves, or the right of the master to recapture his slave.
Mr. Cobb demanded the question; which was seconded, and, at the instance of the State of Georgia, the yeas and nays of the entire body were recorded, and are as follows:
Yea: Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina, 4.
Nay: Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, 3.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Walker, at the instance of the State of Alabama, moved to reconsider the vote just, taken.
Mr. Marshall demanded the question; which was seconded, and, at the instance of the State of Georgia, the yeas and nays of the entire body were recorded, and are as follows:
Yea: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, 4.
Nay: Florida and South Carolina, 2.
Divided: Georgia, 1.
The motion to reconsider prevailed.
The question then recurred on the amendment of Mr. Cobb.
Mr. Stephens demanded the question; which was seconded, and, at the instance of the State of South Carolina, the yeas and nays of the entire body were recorded, and are as follows:
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Yea: Florida and South Carolina.
Nay: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Divided: Georgia.
The motion of Mr. Cobb to amend was lost.
Mr. Withers moved to amend the clause by striking out the following words, viz:
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of each House,
and inserting in lieu thereof the words:
Other States may be admitted into this Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole representation of each House of Congress; the vote of the Senate to be counted by States.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Withers moved to amend the clause by striking out the word "New" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "Other;" which motion prevailed.
The second clause having been read as follows:
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations concerning the lands or other property of the Confederate States.
On motion of Mr. Withers, the words "concerning the hinds or other property of the Confederate States" were amended so as to read as follows:
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.
The third clause having been read as follows:
Mr. Withers moved to amend the same by striking out the words "and the citizens of the Confederate States," etc., and inserting in lieu thereof the words "and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States or Territories."
The motion prevailed.
Mr. Curry moved to amend the same by striking out the following words: "so long as it remains in a territorial condition."
The motion prevailed.
The clause as amended reads as follows, to wit:
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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 or 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.
On motion of Mr. Clayton, the following was added as an additional section to the fourth article, viz:
The Confederate States shall guaranty 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.
The first division of the first clause of the first section of the fifth article being as follows:
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.
Mr. De Clouet moved to amend the same by adding to the end thereof the following words: "at the time when the said demand is made."
The motion prevailed.
On motion of Mr. Reagan, the same was further amended by striking out the words "any three" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "one-third of the."
The clause so far as reported and amended reads as follows:
Upon the demand of one-third of the 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.
The following words occurring in the same clause, viz: "and should any of the proposed, amendments to the Constitution be agreed on by the said Convention,"
Mr. Hill moved to amend the same by inserting after the word "Constitution" the words "in the form suggested, or in any other form,"
The motion was lost, and the Convention proceeded to consider the first section of the sixth article.
Mr. Conrad moved to amend the words "and all laws passed by the latter shall continue in force until the same are repealed or modified" by striking out the word "are" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "shall be;" which motion prevailed, and the words as amended feud as follows: "and all laws passed by the latter shall continue in force until the same shall be repealed."
The third clause having been read as follows:
The Confederate States recognize their ultimate liability for such proportion of the debts contracted by the United States of America prior to the twentieth day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty, as the representative population of the United States according to the last census thereof.
Mr. Curry moved to amend the same by striking out the words "last census" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "census of eighteen hundred and sixty;" which motion prevailed.
Mr. Hale moved to amend by striking out the whole clause.
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Mr. Rhett, at the instance of the State of South Carolina, moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendment offered by Mr. Reagan to strike out the words "any three," where they first occur, in the first section of Article V was adopted.
The motion to reconsider prevailed, and the amendment offered by Mr. Reagan to strike out the words "any three" and insert in lieu thereof the words "[one-third] of the" was lost.
The question being on the motion of Mr. Hale to strike out the third clause of the sixth article,
Mr. Keitt moved to amend the clause by adding thereto the following words:
and as may be ascertained to be due upon an adjustment of the claims of these Confederate States and the United States.
Mr. Keitt demanded the question; which was seconded, and the motion to amend was lost.
The question recurring on the motion to strike out,
Mr. Stephens demanded the question; which was seconded, and the motion to strike out the clause prevailed.
The fourth clause being as follows:
Mr. Gregg moved to amend the same by striking therefrom the following words:
This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States which shall be 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 to insert in lieu thereof the following words:
This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, by the Confederate States, under the authority of the same, shall be the supreme law of the land.
Mr. Stephens demanded the question; which was seconded, and the motion to amend was lost.
The sixth clause of the sixth article being as follows.
The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Mr. Miles moved to amend the same by adding thereto the words "of the several States;" which was agreed to.
Mr. Kenner offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Committee on the Permanent Constitution appoint from their number a subcommittee of three, to whom shall be referred the Constitution, with instructions to perfect its style and arrangement, and have the same printed and reported for revisal at the earliest possible day;
which was adopted.
Mr. Cobb, at the instance of the State of Georgia, moved to reconsider the vote by which the motion of Mr. Cobb to amend the twelfth clause of the ninth section of the first article was lost.
The motion to reconsider was postponed for the time,
Convention resolved itself into Congress.
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