The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government | Page 6

Confederate States.--Is the Law
necessary and proper?--Congress is the Judge under the Grant of

Specific Power.--What is meant by Militia.--Whole Military Strength
divided into Two Classes.--Powers of Congress.--Objections
answered.--Good Effects of the Law.--The Limitations
enlarged.--Results of the Operations of these Laws.--Act for the
Employment of Slaves.--Message to Congress.--"Died of a
Theory."--Act to use Slaves as Soldiers passed.--Not Time to put it in
Operation.
APPENDIXES.
[Transcriber's Note: There is no Appendix A.]
APPENDIX B.
Speech of the Author on the Oregon Question
APPENDIX C.
Extracts from Speeches of the Author on the Resolutions of
Compromise proposed by Mr. Clay
On the Reception of a Memorial from Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and
Delaware, praying that Congress would adopt Measures for an
Immediate and Peaceful Dissolution of the Union
On the Resolutions of Mr. Clay relative to Slavery in the Territories
APPENDIX D.
Speech of the Author on the Message of the President of the United
States, transmitting to Congress the "Lecompton Constitution" of
Kansas
APPENDIX E.
Address of the Author to Citizens of Portland, Maine
Address of the Author at a Public Meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston;
with the Introductory Remarks by Caleb Cushing

APPENDIX F.
Speech of the Author in the Senate, on the Resolutions relative to the
Relations of the States, the Federal Government, and the Territories
APPENDIX G.
Correspondence between the Commissioners of South Carolina and the
President of the United States (Mr. Buchanan), relative to the Forts in
the Harbor of Charleston
APPENDIX H.
Speech of the Author on a Motion to print the Special Message of the
President of the United States of January 9, 1861
APPENDIX I.
Correspondence and Extracts from Correspondence relative to Fort
Sumter, from the Affair of the Star of the West, January 9, 1861, to the
Withdrawal of the Envoy of South Carolina from Washington,
February 8, 1861
APPENDIX K.
The Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States, adopted
February 8, 1861
The Constitution of the United States and the Permanent Constitution
of the Confederate States, in Parallel Columns
APPENDIX L.
Correspondence between the Confederate Commissioners, Mr.
Secretary Seward, and Judge Campbell

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Jefferson Davis, aged Thirty-two
J. C. Calhoun
Briarfield, Early Residence of Mr. Davis
The First Confederate Cabinet
Alexander H. Stephens
General P. G. T. Beauregard
Members of President's Staff
General A. S. Johnston
General Robert E. Lee
Battle of Manassas (Map)

INTRODUCTION.
A duty to my countrymen; to the memory of those who died in defense
of a cause consecrated by inheritance, as well as sustained by
conviction; and to those who, perhaps less fortunate, staked all, and lost
all, save life and honor, in its behalf, has impelled me to attempt the
vindication of their cause and conduct. For this purpose I have decided
to present an historical sketch of the events which preceded and
attended the struggle of the Southern States to maintain their existence
and their rights as sovereign communities--the creators, not the
creatures, of the General Government.
The social problem of maintaining the just relation between
constitution, government, and people, has been found so difficult, that
human history is a record of unsuccessful efforts to establish it. A
government, to afford the needful protection and exercise proper care
for the welfare of a people, must have homogeneity in its constituents.

It is this necessity which has divided the human race into separate
nations, and finally has defeated the grandest efforts which conquerors
have made to give unlimited extent to their domain. When our fathers
dissolved their connection with Great Britain, by declaring themselves
free and independent States, they constituted thirteen separate
communities, and were careful to assert and preserve, each for itself, its
sovereignty and jurisdiction.
At a time when the minds of men are straying far from the lessons our
fathers taught, it seems proper and well to recur to the original
principles on which the system of government they devised was
founded. The eternal truths which they announced, the rights which
they declared "unalienable," are the foundation-stones on which rests
the vindication of the Confederate cause.
He must have been a careless reader of our political history who has not
observed that, whether under the style of "United Colonies" or "United
States," which was adopted after the Declaration of Independence,
whether under the articles of Confederation or the compact of Union,
there everywhere appears the distinct assertion of State sovereignty,
and nowhere the slightest suggestion of any purpose on the part of the
States to consolidate themselves into one body. Will any candid,
well-informed man assert that, at any time between 1776 and 1790, a
proposition to surrender the sovereignty of the States and merge them
in a central government would have had the least possible chance of
adoption? Can any historical fact be more demonstrable than that the
States did, both in the Confederation