Talk:Confederate States Constitution

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This article should be cut back to a description of the Constitution and the events surrounding its adoption. The TEXT, now in the article should be moved to Wikisource. Then an external link can point to it, either there or on the Web. Any thoughts? Lou I 22:55, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I consolidated this page with Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which had little content and a copy of the const. turned Constitution of the Confederate States of America into a redirect and put a wikisource link on this page. I think this solves the problem. If anyone is interested about what I did. [[User:BrokenSegue|BrokenSegue]] 03:56, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Should there be a note concerning the fact that while the Confederate Constitution outlined a Supreme Court, the Confederates never actually appointed justices, for fear that they would be too powerful over the states? Rogue 9 00:56, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Wow, that was a blatant omission. Added the fact that the Confederate Constitution allowed state legislatures to impeach Confederate officials serving within the state. Rogue 9 01:01, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Present Physical Location 2 Naming Conventions 3 Filibuster Cartoons Link 4 Supreme Court 5 Branches 6 "Slavery as a right"

[edit] Present Physical Location

Added that the original Constitution of the CSA document (hand-written) is in the University of Georgia archives in Athens, Georgia. An article about the document should mention where it is currently physically located, shouldn't it?

[edit] Naming Conventions

Shouldn't this article be titled Confederate States of America Constitution? I was viewing the list of national constitutions, and it looks like it should. It would probably be more recognized, since that was the official title. Also, should we add this article to the list of constitutions under the category Constitutions of former countries? --Toddbloom7 11:43, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Filibuster Cartoons Link

While I do realize that Filibuster Cartoons is a political webcomic site, its study on the differences between the CS and US Constitutions is very fascinating and quite informative. Due to this, I believe it to be worthy of inclusion here. However, should someone else have a more academic source covering the matter, then by all means it should have precedence over my addition. RPH 05:31, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Supreme Court

Another reason that no Supreme Court was ever appointed was that Davis intended to appoint Judah P. Benjamin as chief justice, and many in Congress didn't like the idea of him being in that position. Should this be added to the article?

[edit] Branches

The paragraph beginning "In fact, slavery only became a constitutional issue..." seems to become opinion and unsubstantiated, um, facts in the section regarding Jefferson Davis. I intend to delete the words "In his august foresight..." immediately as it is completely unencyclopedic, and will re-visit the page and this talk page soon to consider further revision. The entire paragraph seems to be the work of Robertwhatley, but I am too new to using this editing feature to understand completely. Kcor53 15:04, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Removed uncited editorial which is not related to the topic of the article.

In fact, slavery only became a constitutional issue after the war had begun. In his 1861 inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln said, "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican administration their property [is] to be endangered.... I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists.... I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." The legal basis for slavery in the Confederacy is largely presented as an extension of property rights and by the mid to late 19c. was falling out of favor throughout the world and was gradually ending in the agrarian South as well through the educational reforms instituted by President Jefferson Davis. President Davis knew that there must be implemented a plan to educate the slaves, to teach them how to think for themselves, to read and write, an understanding of government, as well as a simple understanding of the judiciary prior to personal freedom.

Roadrunner 04:03, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Slavery as a right"

I changed this:

The constitution forbade the practice of importing slaves from outside the Confederacy, but explicitly established slavery as a right...

That's not quite true. What that provision did was forbid the Confederate government from banning slavery. State goverments would still have been free to ban slavery (not that they would have).—Chowbok ☠ 01:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)