The permanent Constitution of the Confed erate States, while providing in almost the same words for the same division of powers, differed from that of the United States in some import ant details. If a good case of infringement of copyright could be made out against the South, it is to be remembered that that section could claim a large share in the framing and wording of the original instrument. Nor did the South desire to draw up a new constitution. The in tention rather to make explicit certain States-rights principles that were held to be im plicit in the old Constitution, and to make some additions which it was believed the experience of 70 years had shown to be necessary. Only the more important of the changes can be given here. In the preamble, instead of the ambiguous "we the people of the United States?) is found "we the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and in dependent character in order to form a perma nent Federal government." As an additional qualification of electors, it is declared that "no person of foreign birth, not a citizen of the Confederate States, shall be allowed to vote in State or Federal elections)) (a restriction upon the previous powers of the States). Further changes were 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-third of both branches of the legislature thereof. Congress may by law grant to the principal officer in each of the executive depart ments a seat upon the floor of either house, with the privilege of discussing any measure apper taining to his department (an excellent arrange ment which, though practised under the pro visional government, was never put into force by the Congress). The President may approve any appropriation and disapprove any other ap propriation in the same bill. All taxes or im portations shall be for revenue only; not to foster any branch of industry. The "general phrase of the Federal Constitution is omitted: taxes are to be laid for "the common defense and to carry on the government." The power of Congress to provide for internal im provements is limited. Congress is denied the right to emit bills of credit (legal tender). No bankrupt law must be retroactive. The African slave trade is forbidden. Taxes may be laid on exports by a two-thirds vote of both houses. Except in certain specified cases Congress can appropriate no money from the treasury without a vote of two-thirds of both houses. A State may lay a duty on the tonnage of sea-going ves sels for the improvement of its rivers and har bors. When a river divides two or more States, they may enter into compacts with each other to improve the navigation thereof. The Presi dent and the Vice-President are to hold their offices for six years, but the President is not to be re-eligible. The President may at his pleas ure remove the principal officer in each of the executive departments. All other civil officers of the executive department may be removed by the President or other appointing power when their services, etc., are unnecessary, or for inca pacity, dishonesty, etc., and the removal with the reasons therefor shall be reported to the Senate. Citizens of any State shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of the Confed eracy with their slaves or other property, and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired. The Confederate States may acquire new territory (a clause much desired by Jefferson in the original Constitution), and in all such territory the institution of negro slav ery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected by Congress and by the Territorial crovernment. Amend mends to the Constitution are not be made through the initiation of Congress as in the old Constitution; but upon the demand of any three States, legally assembled in their several conven tions, the Congress shall summon a convention of all the States to. consider such amendments as may be proposed by the States. If these amendments are agreed on by the convention and are ratified by two-thirds of the States act ing through their legislatures or conventions, they shall form a part of the Constitution. Finally the ratification of five States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitu tion between the States so ratifying the same. Southern writers have very generally main tained that every point which differentiated this Constitution from its predecessor was an im provement on the latter. As to the correctness of this claim jurists will differ accordingly as they approve or disapprove of loose confed eracies. Under this Constitution the Confeder ate government levied taxes, negotiated raised armies and for several years carried on a terrible conflict. The test of the worth of a constitution, however, is its working in times of peace as well as in times of war. If this Con
stitution had been tested in times of peace, it is likely that it would have shown the fatal tend ency of all confederacies to disintegrate when no external pressure holds them together. Nor will it be maintained that in time of war the Constitution proved itself a very efficient instru ment. The States, endowed with fresh "sover eignty," were jealous of their rights and some times nullified the constitutional acts of the government. For such cases the Constitution spoke no word of coercion. On the other hand, while the government was clearly a confeder acy, the exigencies of war compelled a concen tration of power into the hands of the President and his Cabinet which grew into a military despotism. Congress protested, but grew feebler as the conflict became more desperate. There was friction between the legislature and the executive and between both and the States. Among the acts of the government that caused particular dissatisfaction may be mentioned the repeated suspension of the writ of habeas cor pus down to 1 Aug. 1864; though Dr. Schwab has shown that this suspension was carried out with less stringency in the South than in the North. Other grievances were the severe con scription acts, the impressment of supplies for the army at fixed prices, the constant interfer ence with interstate commerce and the issue of vast quantities of irredeemable paper money. This currency was never formally made legal tender as was done in the North, but it was practically forced upon those who sold supplies to the government. All these measures which may easily be paralleled in history, and which seem to have been rendered necessary by the dire necessities of the war, caused distress and met with opposition in some of the States.
The blockade of the Southern ports by the navy of the United States was so strict that the wealth of the South, its cotton and other crops, could not be sent abroad, save at fatal risk, in exchange for the munitions of war. In the early stage of the conflict there had been no desire to export the ,cotton. The strange delu sion that "cotton is king" was so widespread that it was thought possible to compel England to recognize the Confederacy by withholding from her the great staple. When, however, the fallacy of this embargo was as clearly seen as once before in our history, both the Confederate government and some of the State governments utilized the blockade runners to send cotton abroad to exchange for the thousand and one things which the South, from lack of industrial development, was unable to supply for the sup port of the army. But the help thus obtained was infinitesimal in comparison with the needs, and the government had to fall back upon the sacrifices of devoted men and women. "The Southerners' sacrifices," says Dr. Schwab, "far exceeded those of the Revolutionary patriots. The Southern cause evoked as much devoted loyalty as has been called forth by any cause in history; and that cause was supported at a cost greater than in any similar conflict." Yet, in 1865, after four years of terrible struggles, it was seen that the Confederacy was tottering to its falL It is generally held that the most po tent factor in its ruin was the effective blockade of its ports, cutting it off from the only markets in which its products were available. Doubt less this is true. The Confederacy, with a debt of $1,400,000,000, was now hopelessly bankrupt. But it must also be remembered that the crop of men was beginning to fail. While the North i was able to increase its active army each year, and even draw from its foreign population 720,000 men, the South in 1865 was reduced to the desperate resource of passing a law to draft the slaves into military service. "The total military population of the South," says Wood row Wilson, "was 1,065,000, of which 900,000 went into the army for at least three years' service. The losses were about 300,000. At the end, 175,000 surrendered to armies of 980,000." It is idle, therefore, to attribute the downfall to the errors of the President and his Cabinet or the deficiencies of the Constitution. In ac cumulated wealth, in industrial development, in ships and in men, the South, in a prolonged struggle, was no match for its powerful adver sary. The logic of facts pointed to a united country. See CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMER ICA; UNITED STATES - CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
Callahan J. M., 'Diplo matic History of the Southern Confederacy' (1901) ; Curry, J. L. M. 'Civil History of the Government of the Confederate States' (Rich mond 1901) ; Jefferson, D., 'Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government' (2 vols., New York 1::1) ; Schwab, J. C.,