The Confederacy's preamble more-or-less deleted any reference to collective interests, presumably because it ostensibly intended to be a country focused more on state independence than any sort of grander, national goal. The CSA does not promise to form a "perfect union" nor does it aspire to provide for the "common defense" or promote the "general welfare."

It does, however, explicitly evoke God. So there would be no ACLU court challenges about the Pledge of Allegiance in alternate CSA-won-the-Civl-War-world.

The Confederacy explicitly declares that only citizens of the CSA can vote in elections. In the USA the individual states have the power to decide voter eligibility.

This is a complicated clause detailing how to measure the population of the states. At the time, the US formally regarded slaves as only counting as "three fifths" of a person, which allowed the non-slave states to be over-represented in the Congress. The CSA kept this rule for some reason, probably to even out representatives among their slave-heavy and slave-light states.

The US constitution also bent over backwards to avoid using the term "slave" or "slavery" in the document, but the pro-slavery CSA apparently didn't have a problem calling a spade a spade.

Lastly, the the CSA appeared to aspire to have a smaller Congress, as Representatives could represent up to 50,000 people, while in the US the max is 30,000 per Congressman.

And obviously the founding states are different.

The CSA gave state legislatures the power to impeach federally-appointed state court judges and other federally-appointed state officials.

This is relevant as some federal judicial districts at the time (and today) exist only within a single state, yet state governments are powerless to control them, because they are federal employees. This change thus gives (certain) states more power over their presiding federal judges, which in turn blurs the distinction between federal and state judicial authority.

The CSA clarifies that state legislatures will appoint senators at the last session before the Senator's term expires.

This prevented state legislatures from appointing a "reserve" senator to wait in the wings until the incumbent guy left office, as was common in some American states.

The CSA adds a disclaimer that the state legislatures are bound by the federal constitution when creating rules for elections to the Senate and House. This evokes Section 2(1) of the Confederate constitution, which demands that states only grant voting rights to citizens.

The CSA also takes away the Congress' power to alter the time of chosing Senators, as the CSA constitution already sets out a specific timeframe for appointments in Section 3(1).

Two of the US constitution's original clauses are merged into one big clause here.

Most of the content is unchanged....

... but the CSA tacks on a bit at the end, which introduces a psuedo-parliamentary reform to the Congress. Under the CSA system, cabinet secretaries can be given a "seat" in either house of Congress in order to answer direct questions from members.

This is actually not that different than what happens today, when Cabinet Secretaries can be summoned to answer questions before a Congressional committee.

This is the longest clause in the constitution and the Confederates added quite a bit to the end.

The bulk of the clause explains how the Congress can override the president's veto. The Confederates alter this a bit, and give the CSA president the power to approve certain parts of a bill into law, and reject other parts. Today this power is known as a "line-item veto." Many US state governors have such a power, but the American president does not.

In the CSA constitution Section 8 has an official title: "Congress shall have power", where as in the original it's much less organized.

The Confederates didn't mention "providing for the common defense" in their constitution's preamble, but they do here. "General welfare" is still omitted, however. Instead we get "carry on the Government."

Lastly, the CSA essentially bans trade protectionism by saying that tariffs cannot be imposed on foreign goods for the sole purpose of protecting local industry. It also bans "bounties" from the Treasury, which at the time was the term used to describe government subsidies distributed to offset the costs of managing certain uncompetitive industries.

Southerners had often been prevented from buying cheaper foreign goods because of such Yankee projectionist measures.

The Confederates added a ton here.

The changes basically place limits on the sort of infrastructure spending Congress can authorize, which the Confederates don't seem very big on. More important is the latter comment about "duties" to be laid upon those who use Confederate waterways — this was seen as an important way for the new country to raise revenue.

The Confederates set a cut-off day after which they would no longer provide cash for the Post Office Department.

It's also worth noting that the Confederates use the term "year of our Lord" when referencing dates. The US constitution just says "the year."

The Confederacy makes the meaningless clarification that "one or more" states can give up territory to provide the country's capital distract.

Trivia question: what was the capital district of the CSA?

Answer: they never had time to make one.

This clause is an updated version of what was originally a time-sensitive article in the US constitution. The original US Section 9(1), in its euphemistic language, stated that Congress could only ban the slave trade after 1808 (and they did).

The Confederate clause 9(1) makes this ban on the slave trade permanent, though slave trading with the US is still permitted. Curiously, the clause also "requires" Congress to pass anti-slave trading laws to further outlaw something that's unconstitutional anyway.

This clause was a completely new addition, the first of a few.

It gives Congress the power to ban slave imports from specific US states and territories, should they ever desire to do so. This clause is thus a clever loophole of sorts, in that it allows the CSA to ban slave imports from the US while simultaneously not contradicting clause 1.

The first of two new Confederate clauses that try to impose certain standards of fiscal responsibility on the legislative branch.

The CSA Congress can only appropriate cash:

• in response to a specific request from the executive branch
• to pay for its own expenses
• to pay for the national debt and other financial "claims" against the national government

The document also demands that the Confederate Congress establish a tribunal to "investigate" the validity of such claims made against the CSA.

The CSA Congress is forced to only issue money bills that cite an exact dollar amount, and cannot grant a penny more after such a bill is passed.

[Amendment I, see note at right]
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The CSA threw a lot of qualifications into this one.

The Confederates were quite eager to raise money by taxing ships that used their waterways, so this clause had to be rewritten to allow that.

The Confederate states also gain the power to make river-related treaties with each other. In the US, the federal government regulates bodies of water that overlap multiple states.

The Confederate president can only serve a single, six-year term, unlike the US president, who (at the time) could be re-elected forever.

Interestingly, the Confederate vice president could be re-elected.

[Amendment XII]
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; -- the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; -- The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

The CSA constitution breaks this clause, originally from the US constitution's 12th amendment, into three parts, but it is otherwise unchanged.

(10) Before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the Confederate States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution thereof."

The modifications to this section are based on the 11th Amendment to the US constitution, which enhanced the so-called "sovereign immunity" protection of states from federal lawsuits launched by non-residents.

CSA deletes the phrase "in law and equity" from the opening line.

The CSA clarifies that a federal court can only hear a lawsuit with between a state and non-residents when the state is the plaintiff, a restriction on federal jurisdiction that is similar to the terms of 11th Amendment but doesn't actually go quite as far.

They also reword the context in which citizens who are claiming multi-state land can sue. Originally the clause specifically says that this power is only available to "citizens of the same state" but the Confederates remove this qualifier, so that any citizen can sue.

Lastly, the CSA notes in this section that that foreigners cannot sue the states in federal court, which is also in the 11th Amendment.

In both constitutions, this clause was supposed to prevent slaves from escaping into freedom in another state.

The Confederates strengthen and clarify the language, though this is somewhat pointless since Article I, Sec. 9(4) already prevents states from passing "any law or regulation" that could possibly result in a slave becoming free by moving/being moved to a different state.

The language in this clause is simplified a bit in the CSA version. In both versions the federal government is given jurisdiction over the physical lands and property possessed by the country. The CSA does not promise that their constitution is free of prejudice towards specific property claims.

Another new clause created for the Confederacy.

Like the United States, the CSA creates two tiers of local self-government in its federal system: territories and states. This clause simply clarifies that slavery is legal in the former as well as the latter, an issue that had often been debated in the antebellum United States.

The CSA method for making constitutional amendments is a bit different, but keeps the general spirit intact.

The biggest difference is that in the Confederacy the Congress has no role in passing amendments. It's all done by the state legislatures.

In the CSA system it only takes three states to summon a constitutional convention, where as in the US it takes the request of "two-thirds" of them. Likewise, in the CSA it only takes two-thirds of the states to ratify an amendment, while in the US it takes three-fourths.

Lastly, the CSA changes the final rule. In the US a state cannot be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate, but under the Confederacy it cannot be denied equal representation. So theoretically CSA states could be given different voting powers so long as they all have the same number of senators.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

This page last updated: 01/03/17 06:00 PM © Griffin PNP