The President’s Message:
Happy Birthday to George Washington, Abraham
Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, Thomas Edison, Frederick Douglass, and
Susan B. Anthony. Our
February program will be presented by Round Table member, Ken Corhan.
His topic will be Financing the Civil War.
It will be interesting to learn how that was done.
In March, Robert Krasner will be our speaker.
The topic will How Those Who served in the Mexican War Were
Able to Apply Their Experiences to the Civil War.
In this newsletter you will find an article about Ben Butler.
I found it in a very old magazine and thought that you would find
it interesting. See you at
the February 11th meeting.
Gerridine LaRovere
The Confederate Constitution
The Provisional Constitution of the
Confederate States, formally the Constitution for the Provisional
Government of the Confederate States of America, was an agreement among
all seven original states in the Confederate States of America that
served as its first constitution.
The drafting by a committee of twelve was appointed by the
Montgomery Convention on February 5,1861.
In Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861,
a convention consisting of delegates from South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana met in order to create a
new form of government based on the constitution of the United States of
America. Their efforts
resulted in the drafting of a Provisional Constitution that became known
as the Confederate States of America.
Before the Montgomery Convention could
accomplish anything, it required a set of guidelines.
On February 5th, Christopher Memminger proposed a
committee of thirteen be created for the purpose of drafting a
provisional constitution in order to grant congressional power at the
convention. Thomas Cobb from
Georgia, moved that the committee consist of two members from each state
delegation which was adopted.
Members of the committee were Cristopher Memminger and Robert
Barnwell from South Carolina, William Barry and Wiley Harris from
Mississippi, James Anderson and James Owen from Florida, Richard Walker
and Robert Smith from Alabama, Alexander Stephens and Eugenius Nisbet
from Georgia, and John Perkins and Duncan Kenner from Louisiana.
The Committee of Twelve elected Memminger as the chairman.
He arrived at the Convention with a draft already prepared.
The Provisional Constitution was formally
adopted on February 8th.
The government under the Provisional Constitution was superseded
by a new constitution and permanent government “organized on the
principles of the United States” on February 22, 1862.
It was in effect for one year and provided for a unicameral
legislature and election of the President and Vice President by the
states each with one vote.
The Supreme Court would consist of district courts and an amendment
could be made by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
The permanent Constitution of the Confederacy
contained important clarifications of the Federal Constitution.
The Bill of Rights was worked into the Text and “Almighty God”
appeared in the preamble.
The President and Vice President would serve a term of six years and
could not succeed himself.
The President had the item veto and had to report reasons to the Senate
for removal of all officers except Cabinet members and diplomats.
With congressional consent Cabinet members could sit on the floor
of either house to discuss their departments.
No bounties would be granted, no protective tariff passed, or
export tax levied without a two -thirds majority, unless it was
requested in the President’s budget.
Each law was to have one title and was to focus on one subject.
No general welfare clause appeared in the document.
Slavery was recognized in the territories but slave trade was
strictly prohibited.
Various phrases paid homage to the state’s
rights nature of the government.
Amendments would be difficult to pass.
The Confederate Constitution copied much of the Federal Document.
Virginia was not present at the Confederate
Constitution Convention in February, 1861 because it had not yet
seceded. Virginia joined the
Confederacy and ratified the Provisional Confederate Constitution in
April of 1861.
Lest We Forget- Ben Butler
I happened to find this article that was
published in the Nashville Daily American Newspaper and thought that it
was very interesting.
Perhaps it should be titled “We Shall Never Forget.”
“Old Ben Butler is dead!
Early yesterday morning the angel of death, acting under the
devil’s orders, took him from earth and landed him in hell.
In all this Southern country there are no tears, no sighs, and no
regrets. He lived only too
long. We are glad he has at
last been removed from earth and even pity the devil the possession he
has secured.
If there is a future of peace in store for
Ben Butler, after his entrance upon eternity, then there is no heaven
and the Bible is a lie. If
hell be only as black as the good book describes it, then there are not
degrees of punishment in which some Christians so firmly believe.
He has gone, and from the sentence which has already been passed
upon him there is no appeal.
He is ready so deep down the pit of everlasting doom that he couldn’t
get the most powerful ear trumpet conceivable to scientists and hear
echoes of old Gabriel’s trumpet or fly 1,000,000 kites and get a message
to St. Peter, who stands guard at heaven’s gate.
In our statute books many holidays are
decreed. I t was an egregious oversight that one on the occasion of the
death of Ben Butler was not foreordained.
The ‘BEAST’ is dead.
The cymbals should beat and the tin horn should get in its work.
Butler was outlawed by Mr. Davis in a
proclamation.”
I thought the article was very interesting
for the time.
Ben Butler died on January 11, 1893.
After the War he was elected to Congress and was Governor of
Massachusetts.
Last changed: 02/06/26 |
