Talk:President of the Confederate States of America

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Was Jefferson Davis elected in the manner described? Also, has any anyone else, perhaps a leader of some fringe group, ever declared themselves "President of the Confederate States"?--Pharos 22:03, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I took this line out:

  • Instead of a "State of the Union" speech the President of the Confederacy was to give a "State of the Confederacy" speech to a joint session of Congress once a year.


First of all, I don't think the fact that it has a slightly different name makes it a "key" difference. Also, it's not true that it has to be a speech; until Woodrow Wilson, the State of the Union was a written address delivered to Congress by courier. I assume it worked the same way in the Confederacy. --Chowbok 18:34, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] Not a difference

Removed:

  • The Confederacy did not indicate who succeeds to the office of President following the removal or death of both the President and Vice President. The constitution states that Congress will appoint an officer to act as President in such cases. In the United States, the Presidency is passed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives then a long list of other offices.

This is the same as the US. That "long list of other offices" is provided by a law passed by Congress according to the provisions of the US Constitution

CS Constitution [1]

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of 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.

US Constitution [2]

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.

Only minor, unimportant, differences in wording, capitalization, and punctuation. -- Nik42 07:40, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Term limit

After the war, this innovation gained considerable popularity in the re-constituted Union, most notably being endorsed by Rutherford B. Hayes in his inaugural address.

Did this really gain greter popularity after the war than it had before? The writers of the CS Constitution didn't come up with this from scratch, after all. The idea had existed long before the Civil War, and had even been one proposal during the initial Constitutional Convention (along with such peculiar notions as a three-man presidency) -- Nik42 07:44, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Jefferson Davis the ONLY president?

According to their respective pages, Robert Woodward Barnwell and Howell Cobb were both "Heads of the Confederacy" at one point, and their pages point to Davis as their sucsessor. What exactly dose "Head of the Confederacy" mean in comparason to presidency? I think this article should reference them as leaders before the office of the president of the Confederate States was established. It should be noted that Barnwell's article states

"At the congress' first meeting on February 4, 1861, William P. Chilton moved that Barnwell be appointed to preside temporarily over the Congress until its permanent organization. The Congress approved that proposal, but later that day, Barnwell handed the presidency over to Howell Cobb, who was elected president. In that Congress, he cast the vote (February 9, 1861) that ensured the election of Jefferson Davis as the Confederate President,"

Wouldn't this technicaly make Davis the third president of the CSA?--ThrashedParanoid★ 03:21, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

They are not included as presidents for the same reason men like Peyton Randolph and John Hancock are not included in the list of US presidents: They were only presiding officers of Congress, like the Speaker of the House, with little to no executive poweres. They were not heads of government or formed an executive branch of government, not until the Constitutional Office of the President had been created and adopted, leaving Jefferson Davis as the sole President of the Confederacy.--Supersexyspacemonkey 17:23, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
  • User:Vital Component keeps adding this to the article, and I keep removing it. Howell Cobb was never the Confederate President. --JW1805 (Talk) 18:38, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Provisional President

Davis was Provisional President from February 18, 1861 to February 22, 1862. GoodDay (talk) 22:22, 23 January 2008 (UTC)