Confederate States Constitution - States' Rights

States' Rights

Some today feel that the Confederate Constitution's Preamble including the phrase "each State acting in its sovereign and independent character" focuses the new Constitution on the rights of the individual States.

• The Preamble to the Confederate Constitution begins : "We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character..."

The Confederate States gain several rights that the U.S. States did not have.

• The ability for the States to impeach judges and federal officers working with in their States.

Article I Section 2(5)

The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment; except that any judicial or other federal officer, resident and acting solely within the limits of any state, may be impeached by a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the Legislature thereof.

• The Confederate Constitution omits the phrase “emit Bills of Credit” from Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, granting the Confederate States the right to issue such bills of credit.

Article I Section 10(1)

No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

And the U.S. Constitution's Article I Section 10 with the included "emit Bills of Credit."

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

• The Confederate States gain the ability to tax ships by omitting the phrase from the U.S. Constitution that prohibits it.

Article I Section 9(7)

No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another.

While the U.S. Constitution reads:

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

The ability to tax ships to raise revenue for the Confederate States is reinforced in Article 1 Section 10(3).

Article I Section 10(3)

No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, except on seagoing vessels, for the improvement of its rivers and harbors navigated by the said vessels; but such duties shall not conflict with any treaties of the Confederate States with foreign nations; and any surplus revenue thus derived shall, after making such improvement, be paid into the common treasury.

• Also in Article I Section 10(3) the Confederate States would have the power to make treaties between the each other concerning waterways.

Nor shall any State keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. But when any river divides or flows through two or more States they may enter into compacts with each other to improve the navigation thereof.

The Confederate States lose a few rights that the U.S. States retained.

• States lose the right to determine if foreigners can vote in their States: Article I Section 2(1) as mentioned above.

• Confederate States also lose the ability to restrict the rights of traveling and sojourning slave owners. : Article IV Section 2(1) as mentioned above (Note: Many Southerners were under the opinion that the U.S. Constitution already protected the rights of sojourning and traveling slave owners, thus the Confederate Constitution merely made this explicit).

• The ability for Confederate Congress to determine taxes between States.

Article I Section 9(6)

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.

• The U.S. Constitution contained many of the phrases and clauses which had led to disagreement among the states in the original Union, including a Supremacy Clause, a Commerce Clause, and a Necessary and Proper Clause. The Supremacy Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause are nearly identical in both Constitutions.
  • The Commerce Clause differs as follows in that the Confederate Congress is prevented from passing laws to "facilitate commerce", as shown above.