Constitution of the Confederate States of America,
Articles II - IV

The sections where the Confederate States Constitution differs from that of the United States are indicated in the following way: those parts of the U.S. Constitution that were deleted are in braces, and the new words inserted in the C. S. Constitution are placed in brackets. Punctuation, spelling, and capitalization follow the C. S. Constitution except in the parts unique to the U.S. Constitution. Note that Amendments 9 and 10 of the C. S. Constitution are found in Art VI, Sec 5 and 6; Amendment 11 is incorporated in Art III, Sec 2, Par 1; and Amendment 12 is found in Art II, Sec 1, Par 3.

ARTICLE II

Section 1. (1) The executive power shall be vested in a President of the {United} [Confederate] States of America. {He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:} [He and the Vice President shall hold their offices for the term of six years; but the President shall not be re-eligible. The President and the Vice President shall be elected as follows:] (2) Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the {United} [Confederate] States shall be appointed an elector. (3) 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} [Confederate] 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 4th day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in the case of the death, or other constitutional disability of the President. (4) 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. (5) But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the {United} [Confederate] States. (7) The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the {United} [Confederate] States. (8) No person except a natural-born citizen {, or a Citizen of the United States,} [of the Confederate States, or a citizen thereof} at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, [or a citizen thereof born in the United States prior to the 20th day of December, 1860,] shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the {United States} [limits of the Confederate States, as they may exist at the time of this election]. (9) In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a President shall be elected. (10) The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the {United} [Confederate] States, or any of them. (11) Before he enter 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 {United} [Confederate] States [of America], and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution {of the United States} [thereof]."

Section 2. (1) The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the {United} Confederate States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the {United} [Confederate] States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the {United States} [Confederacy], except in cases of impeachment. (2) He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties; provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the {United} [Confederate] States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. (3) [The principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, and all persons connected with the diplomatic service, may be removed from office at the pleasure of the President. All other civil officers of the Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President, or other appointing power, when their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty; and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate, together with the reasons therefor.] (4) The President shall have power to fill {up} all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session; [but no person rejected by the Senate shall be re-appointed to the same office during their ensuing recess.]

Section 3. {He} [The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the {Union} [Confederacy], and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the {United} [Confederate] States.

Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the {United} [Confederate] States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE III

Section 1. The judicial power of the {United} [Confederate] States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Section 2. (1) The judicial power shall extend to all cases {, in Law and Equity,} arising under this Constitution, the laws of the {United} United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the {United} [Confederate] States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State [, where the State is the plaintiff]; between citizens [claiming lands under grants] of different States; {between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States,} and between a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects [; but no State shall be sued by a citizen or subject of any foreign state]. (2) In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. (3) The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Section 3. (1) Treason against the {United} [Confederate] States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. (2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ARTICLE IV

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State; and the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Section 2. (1) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 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]. (2) A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime [against the laws of such State], who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. (3) No [slave or other] person held to service or labor in {one State} [any State or Territory of the Confederate States], under the laws thereof, escaping [or unlawfully carried] into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party [to whom such slave belongs, or] to whom such service or labor may be due.

Section 3. (1) {New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union} [Other States may be admitted into this Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate voting by States]; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress. (2) The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations {respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State} [concerning the property of the Confederate States, including the lands thereof]. [(3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Confederate States, lying without the limits of the several States; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into the Confederacy. In all such territory 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; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States.] (4) The {United} [Confederate] States shall guarantee to every State {in this Union} [that now is, or hereafter may become, a member of this Confederacy,] a republican form of government; and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature (or of the Executive when the Legislature {cannot be convened} [is not in session]) against domestic violence.

Preamble & Article I
Articles V - VII

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