Constitution of the Confederate States adopted at Montgomery

Background. Southern leaders convened in Montgomery in February 1861 to form the Confederate States, initially establishing a confederation of sovereign states. The subsequent permanent constitution, written in March 1861, sought to replace this confederation with a federal government. While much of the text replicated the United States Constitution, it included specific provisions guaranteeing the protection of slavery in any Confederate territory.

Adoption. Congress began to move for ratification of the Confederate States Constitution on March 11, 1861, and the Permanent Constitution was adopted on March 12, 1861, in Montgomery. The document did not take effect immediately as the supreme framework: it superseded the Provisional Constitution, the Confederate States' first constitution, in 1862. The adoption thus initiated a permanent legal framework whose full supersession of the provisional order came the following year.

Provisions. The constitution contained explicit protections for the institution of slavery, including provisions for the recognition and protection of slavery in any territory of the Confederacy. Alabama politician Robert Hardy Smith praised the document for its lack of euphemisms and its succinct protections of the right to own slaves, referring to the debate as the "Negro quarrel."