Provisional Confederate States Congress

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The Provisional Confederate States Congress, for a time the legislative branch of the Confederate States of America, was the body which drafted the Confederate States Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis as Provisional Confederate States President, and designed the first Confederate flag. Unlike the later bicameral Confederate States Congress, the Provisional Congress consisted of only one house and its members were referred to as deputies and delegates.

The Congress was first organized as the Montgomery Convention, which marked the formal beginning of the Confederate States of America. Convened in Montgomery, Alabama, the Convention organized a provisional government for the Confederacy and created the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. It opened in the chambers of the Alabama Senate on February 4, 1861. On February 8, the Convention adopted the Provisional Confederate States Constitution, and so became the first session of the Provisional Confederate Congress.[1] John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845), served as a delegate from Virginia in the Provisional Confederate States Congress until his death in 1862.

Sessions

  • First Session February 4, 1861 – March 16, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama
  • Second Session April 29, 1861 – May 21, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama
  • Third Session July 20, 1861 – August 31, 1861 in Richmond, Virginia
  • Fourth Session September 3, 1861 (called) in Richmond, Virginia
  • Fifth Session November 18, 1861 – February 17, 1862 in Richmond, Virginia

Leadership

President of the Provisional Congress

President pro tempore

Members

Deputies

Deputies from the first seven states to secede formed the first two sessions of the Congress.

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

South Carolina

Texas

Delegates

Representatives from states to secede after the Battle of Fort Sumter were referred to as delegates, in contrast to the deputies from the original seven states.

See also

Notes

  1. Caplan, p. 57.

Sources

  • Caplan, Russell L. Constitutional Brinksmanship: Amending the Constitution by National Convention. Oxford University Press, 1988.

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