(secretary); J. A. P. Campbell, Mississippi; David P. Lewis, Alabama; John Gill Shorter, Alabama; Major-general J. P. Anderson, Florida; John Perkins, Jr., Louisiana; Jabez L. M. Curry, Alabama; Henry Marshall, Louisiana; W. P., Harris, Mississippi; Alexander de Clouet, Louisiana; Thomas Fearn, M.D., Alabama; Colin J. McRae, Alabama; Duncan F. Kenner, Louisiana; John Hemphill, Texas; William S. Barry, Mississippi; W. B. Ochiltree, Texas; Alexander M. Clayton, Mississippi; Brigadier-general Thomas R. R. Cobb, Georgia; Christopher G. Memminger, South Carolina; Robert Toombs, Georgia; Thomas N. Waul, Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, Georgia; John H. Reagan, Texas; Benjamin H. Hill, Georgia; James T. Harrison, Mississippi; E. A. Nisbet, Georgia; Majorgeneral Howell Cobb, Georgia (president); Thomas J. Withers, South Carolina; Edward Sparrow, Louisiana; Francis S. Bartow, Georgia; James Chesnut, Jr., of South Carolina; Martin J. Crawford, Georgia.

In adopting as the basis for their own constitution the Constitution of the United States the Confederate States found it necessary to make some pronounced changes in the instrument which they had honored and respected as much as the States of the North. These changes were vital, and concerned those things upon which the unity of the States had beaten and finally broken. First in the preamble came a by no means indistinct declaration of States Rights. The Constitution that had been accepted by the States in 1787 stated that "We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The Constitution of the Confederate States differed radically inasmuch as it declared in the preamble that "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." In article I, section 8, in which are specified the powers of Congress, it is stated: "The Congress shall have power—(1) To lay and collect taxes, imposts, and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defence, and carry on the government of the Confederate States; but [this is the significant passage) 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." Finally, the question of slavery was dealt with in a manner that characterized the attitude of the South throughout the years preceding the movement toward secession. Article IV contains the following declarations: Section 2, (1) "The citizens of each State 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." (3) "No slave escaping or lawfully carried into another, [State] 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." Section 3, (3) "The Confederate States may acquire new territory. 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."

The first Cabinet consisted of Robert Toombs, of Georgia, secretary of state; Christopher G. Memminger, of South Carolina, secretary of the treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of Alabama, secretary of war; Stephen R. Mallory, of Florida, secretary of the navy; Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, attorney-general; John H. Reagan, of Texas, postmastergeneral.

Nothing more clearly illustrates the devotion of the people of the Confederate States to the institutions of their fathers as well as their sincere desire for peace, than the early acts of the Confederate Congress, and of the several State legislatures. The Provisional Constitution, article 6, section 2, ordains that: "The government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it and their late confederates of the United States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that Union upon the principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."

The day after the adoption of the Provisional Constitution, or February 9th, the Confederate Congress declared: "That all laws of the United States of America in force and in use in the Confederate States of America on the first day of November last, and not inconsistent with the Constitution of the Confederate States, be and the same are hereby continued in force until altered or repealed by the Congress."

The Confederate Congress, on February 15th, adopted the following resolution: "That it is the sense of this Congress that a commission of three persons be appointed by the president-elect, as early as may be convenient after his inauguration, and sent to the government of the United States of America, for the purpose of negotiating friendly relations between that government and the Confederate States of America, and for the settlement of all questions of disagreement between the two governments upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."

The Mississippi River, in its approach to the Gulf, would pass for a considerable distance through Confederate territory. In order to quiet in advance any apprehensions that might be felt by Northern States as to annoying restrictions which might be placed on its navigation, the Confederate