Everything about The Congress Of The Confederate States totally explained
The
Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the
Confederate States of America, existing during the
American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Like the
United States Congress, the Confederate Congress consisted of two houses: the
Confederate Senate, whose membership included two senators from each state (chosen by their
state legislature), and the
Confederate House of Representatives, with members popularly elected by residents of the individual states.
Sessions
Deputies from the first seven states to secede from the Union,
Alabama,
Louisiana,
Florida,
Mississippi,
Georgia,
South Carolina, and
Texas, met at the
Provisional Confederate Congress in
Montgomery, Alabama, in two sessions in February through May
1861. They drafted and approved the
Confederate States Constitution, elected
Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States and designed the
Confederate flag.
Following the
Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the remaining states to secede sent delegates to the Confederate Congress, which met in three additional sessions between July 1861 and February 1862 in the Confederate capital of
Richmond, Virginia.
Elections for the
First Confederate Congress were held on
6 November 1861. While Congressional elections in the
United States were held in even-numbered years, elections for Confederate Congressman occurred in odd-numbered years. The First Confederate Congress met in four sessions in
Richmond.
Because of the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, only two Congressional elections were ever held; the
Second Confederate Congress was selected in November 1863 but served only one year of its two-year term. The final session of the Confederate Congress adjourned on
18 March 1865. That month, one of its final acts was the passage of a law allowing for the emancipation and military induction of any slave willing to fight for the Confederacy. This measure had originally been proposed by
Judah P. Benjamin a year earlier but met stiff opposition until the final months of the war.
Legislation
The Confederate Congress also passed legislation calling for the
execution of any
African American taken as a
prisoner of war with white officers suffering the same fate if they were captured in command of black troops
(External Link
). This act outraged many in the
United States Congress and the
Union Army promptly responded that if any United States soldiers were executed without cause, an equal number of Confederate soldiers would likewise be put to death. The Confederacy backed down on this official proclamation although summary and "unofficial" killings still took place. The act to execute black troops was portrayed in the
1989 motion picture
Glory.
Further Information
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