Confederate Congress

The Confederate Congress was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Like the United States Congress, the Confederate Congress consisted of two houses: the Confederate Senate, whose membership included two senators from each state (and chosen by the state legislature), and the Confederate House of Representatives, with members popularly elected by residents of the individual states.

Sessions

Deputies from the first seven states to secede from the Union — Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas — met at the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama in two sessions in February through May 1861. They drafted and approved the Confederate Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States and designed the Confederate flag.

Following the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the remaining states to secede sent delegates to the Confederate Congress, which met in three additional sessions between July 1861 and February 1862 in the Confederate Capitol of Richmond, Virginia.

Elections for the First Confederate Congress were held on 6 November 1861. While Congressional elections in the United States were held in even-numbered years, elections for Confederate Congressman occurred in odd-numbered years. The First Confederate Congress met in four sessions in Richmond.

Because of the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, only two Congressional elections were ever held; the Second Confederate Congress was selected in November 1863, but served only one year of its two-year term. The final session of the Confederate Congress adjourned on 18 March 1865.

Documents

• A bill to be entitled An act to prohibit the importation of luxuries, or of articles not necessaries or of common use. At head of title: Senate bill no. 183, Senate, January 13, 1864
• Acts passed by the sixth legislature of the state of Louisiana, at its first session, held and begun in the city of Baton Rouge, on the 25th of November 1861. Also in French: Actes passes par la sixieme legislature de l'etat de la Louisiane a sa première session, tenue et commencée en la ville de Baton Rouge, le 25me jour de Novembre 1861.

Further Reading

• The Federal and the Confederate Constitutions, for use of Government Officers, and for the People. Arranged in parallel columns. With the differences indicated, for convenient reference and comparison. Publisher: Columbus, Ohio. J. Walter & Co.,1863.

• THE MAKING OF THE CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION, Publications of the Southern History Association vol.IX, no.5,. Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Southern History Association, 1897–1907