Examining the Confederate Constitution
A rewrite of the U.S. Constitution from a Southern perspective
May 8, 2009
The founders of the Confederacy revered the U.S. Constitution while abhorring the way northern leaders interpreted it. So they tried to clone the original document, departing from its language mostly to make explicit the Southern interpretation.
Asserting State Primacy
The fundamental difference is reflected in the Preambles. The U.S. Constitution begins with the words "We the people of the United States. . ." It reflects the conviction of James Madison, expressed in The Federalist No. 39, that federal sovereignty rests not on the states alone but on the will of the people, both as citizens of the nation and as citizens of their states. Patrick Henry contended that the Preamble should begin, "We the states. . . ." (Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention). The constitution was adopted, not by state governments, but by conventions of delegates elected by the people in each of the original states.
The Confederate Preamble begins: "We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character." The primary role of the states was thus emphasized.
Replacing the Welfare Clause
The Confederate Constitution made other "corrections" in Yankee constitutional interpretations. The pernicious "Welfare Clause" in Article I, Section 8, was out. Instead of authorizing taxes to "provide for the common defence and general welfare," the Confederate Constitution empowered its Congress to "provide for the common defence and carry on the government of the Confederate States."
Banning the Protective Tariff
It ruled out the hated protective tariff, banning "any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations . . . to promote or foster any branch of industry."
Defanging the Interstate Commerce Clause
The Confederate statesmen also yanked the teeth out of the "Interstate Commerce Clause." in Article I, Section 8. The federal government had used it as a basis for building or subsidizing infrastructure such as roads, canals and railroads. The Southern document's Interstate Commerce Clause stipulated that "neither this, nor any other clause contained in the Constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvements intended to facilitate commerce."
Differences on Slavery
The federal Constitution avoids the words "slave" "slavery" or "slaveholding." The Confederate Constitution uses them freely.
Like the U.S. Constitution after 1808, the Confederate version banned the importation of slaves, except from slaveholding states in the United States. But while the federal Constitution euphemized imported slaves as "such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit," the Confederate Constitution referred to them forthrightly as "Negroes of the African race."
The U.S. constitution implicitly recognized the existence of slavery and mandated the return of fugitive slaves to their owners. The Confederate Constitution explicitly guaranteed the right to own slaves of African descent and to travel with them anywhere in the country.
Right to Slaves Guaranteed
Article I, Section 9 of the Confederate Constitution provided: "No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in Negro slaves shall be passed."
Article IV, Section 2, stated: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and 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."
The Confederate Constitution was ostensibly based on states’ rights, but these did not include the right to outlaw slavery. Article IV, Section 3, provides that in all Confederate states and territories, “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.”
