241 years ago on Wednesday, a great Virginian, a great American, Patrick Henry, gave a speech that forever changed the course of history. He spoke words that deeply inspired both our Patriot Fathers in their secession from Great Britain in 1776 and that would again inspire our Southern Patriot Fathers in their fight to establish a Free Southern nation in 1861.

Sadly, the internet has been full this week of history revisionists and liberals who want us to believe that Patrick Henry never gave this great speech and that, I guess, means that our Patriot Fathers were inspired by something else?

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
 
Henry served as Virginia's governor for much of the Revolutionary War.
 
An ardent supporter of state rights, Henry was an outspoken critic of the United States Constitution. He argued against ratifying the Constitution on the grounds that it gave too much power to the federal government. When it passed over his objection he was instrumental in having the Bill of Rights adopted to amend the new Constitution and protect individual rights.

In 1798, while campaigning for John Marshall for Congress, Henry warned that the Constitution did not allow for the vast difference of ideaology between Virginia and her Northern counterparts and other Southern states. He warned that the Constitution, as the politicians of the North were interpreting it,"would probably produce civil war." 62 years later he would be proven a prophet.

The warnings of Patrick Henry remind us that our Constitution, wise and balanced as it may have been in 1787, cannot control politicians who have the unchecked power to tax and spend.  
 
 "It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains."  
  -- Patrick Henry

Confederate flag behind St. Mary's County welcome sign draws ire

A Confederate flag placed on private property behind a St. Mary's welcome sign this week is causing some controversy in the southern Maryland county.

The flag had been permanently lowered from outside South Carolina's state house, and banned by several major retailers last year. But officials in St. Mary's County say this flag, just over the line welcoming travelers from neighboring Charles County, will stay.

While some on social media have called for the flag to come down, St. Mary's County officials said it's not on county property or attached to the county sign.

The flag is about 45 feet behind the sign, on property owned by Budds Creek Motocross Track, and was raised several days ago, said County Commissioner John E O'Connor, who represents the area, and who spoke with the property owners.

"No further action needs to, or will be taken since it is on private property, and the property owner is exercising his right under the First Amendment," O'Connor said.

"We had not received any official complaints until this morning," he added. A Facebook page for the local radio station WSMD Star 98.3 FM's morning show "T-Bone Heather" posted photos of the flag, asking, "Can anyone identify the flag on the bottom of the Confederate Flag?"

Below the Confederate flag is a second white flag with a red cross, which O'Connor said is from a Maryland confederacy infantry regiment.

Some on Facebook complained about the sign on radio station's post, which was later taken down.
A message left at Budds Creek Motocross Track was not immediately returned this afternoon.

Given the fact that under the Democrat system Hillary is the "annointed one." Sorry Bernie, you just can't win enough contests to claim the nomination. The Super Delegates determined the outcome before the contest even started. Coupled with there is not another Primary contest on the Republican side until April 5th. You'd think that there wouldn't be a lot going on in the election front. Not so.

I wouldn't normally devote so much space to this but not a lot has changed on the Heritage front this week and national politics has been very interesting.

Let me say that the Photoshop picture of Mrs. Trump that was used in the Ted Cruz ad was in poor taste. Whether or not Cruz personally ordered the ad, he says he did not, is irrelevant. This is the whatteenth time that a Cruz staffer or his SuperPAC have done something sleezy and the candidate has disavowed it? Does he have that little control over his staff? I guess it made for some entertaining back and forth between Cruz and Trump in what would have been an otherwise low news cycle.

But the sad thing is that something BIG happened this week. Something that should have dominated every news cycle and did not because the mainstream media was too busy playing soundbytes over the whole rug photo thing.

FORD MOTOR COMPANY ISSUES BIG STATEMENT

We all know that Donald Trump has made American jobs one of his main planks for his campaign and he actively threatened Ford Motor Company with import taxes for moving to Mexico with a 2.5 billion dollar auto plant.

This week, Ford Motor Company announced that Ford is an American company and Ford is sending a letter to Donald Trump, promising just that.
 
In an interview with CNBC, Ford CEO Mark Fields said that the automaker would be "here to stay." He also said he had outlined his company's plans in a letter to Trump.

While he didn't offer specifics it was clear that Fields was committed to addressing Trump's complaints directly.

"Ford Motor Co. is here to stay in the United States," Fields said. "We're very proud as a company of what we do in terms of contributing to economic development here in the U.S.," he added.  

Ford Motor Company just blinked! This was not Hillary Clinton grumbling. This was not Bernie Sanders droning. This was not Ted Cruz whining. This was not John Kasich mailman stories. Donald Trump, outside the White House, accomplished this already.

Senators Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Cruz - absolutely worthless - they have done NOTHING inside this regime, except make Obamatrade a reality.

This is the first time that a major American company has drastically changed its policy in response to a CANDIDATE.

My grandfather worked for Ford. He retired from Ford. He got his job in the 1920's when he was just 11 years old. When I was 18 I walked into the same plant in Chicago to fill out an application. I was met by a receptionist who did not know what to do when I asked for an application. She picked up a phone and sent me down the hall.

Down the hall I was met by another receptionist who did not know what to do. She picked up a phone and sent me to the second floor.

On the second floor I was met by another receptionist who did not know what to do. She picked up a phone and sent me to the second third floor.

On the third floor I was met by another receptionist who did not know what to do. She picked up a phone and told me to take a seat. I was then ushered into the office of a Vice-President.

He told me that the plant had not hired anyone in over 10 years. He went on to say that they did not have any job applications or at least nobody knew where they were. Then he said that there are probably Federal and State laws that would require that I be allowed to fill out an application if I really pressed it so he offered to have a secretary type one up if I was really insistent but that I had to understand that given the number of men already "laid off" who would all have to pass on a recall to work before I could be hired....

Long story short, I went home with some cool stuff. Racing jacket, ball caps, etc. But no job.

I think its great that Americans may soon be working in Ford plants again!  
 
   
THE TED CRUZ SEX SCANDAL

Actually, as I have said before, until his announcement to run for president, I had liked Ted Cruz. But there is that little clause in the Constitution about being a "natural born citizen" and Ted was born in Canada. But that pesky little detail has not been so much as a speed bump for Cruz. Are we going to discover that the National Enquirer has more power over the political process than the Constitution?

The National Enquirer alleged on March 23 that the Senator has had five extramarital affairs. And the descriptions it provided of the women-along with barely-pixelated headshots of them-left little to D.C. insiders' imaginations as to who the Enquirer had accused of being Cruz' paramours.

"A HOOKER, A TEACHER & COWORKERS: 5 romps that will destroy Ted Cruz!" the Enquirer piece boldly claims, in an article that includes a wild "sex-in-closet" allegation.

Cruz fired back on Friday, charging that the piece was baseless and that the Enquirer was taking its marching orders straight from "Donald Trump and his henchmen."

The truth behind the rumor-mongering, however, is a little more complex. A half-dozen GOP operatives and media figures have come forward telling that Cruz's opponents have been pushing charges of adultery for at least six months now-and that allies of former GOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio were involved in spreading the smears.

For months and months, anti-Cruz operatives have pitched a variety of stories to a host of prominent national publications: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, Politico, and ABC News-reporters at all those outlets heard some version of the Cruz-is-cheating story. None of them decided to run with rumors.

Breitbart News, the notoriously conservative outlet, was also pitched the story of Cruz's extramarital affairs, according to a source close to the publication. That source said an operative allied with Marco Rubio - but not associated with his official campaign - showed the publication a compilation video of Cruz and a woman other than his wife coming out of the Capitol Grille restaurant and a hotel on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But the outlet opted not to report on the video, which demonstrated no direct evidence of an affair.

"We got it from a Rubio ally....It was too thin, so [Breitbart's Washington political editor Matt Boyle] decided not to run it. There was no way to verify the claims."

The Cruz campaign team has been aware of the sex-scandal rumors for months. But it took the National Enquirer's report to force the story into the mainstream media conversation.

This afternoon, Trump disavowed any connection to the Enquirer's story:

"I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week's issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it," he said in a statement.

He then proceeded, "Ted Cruz's problem with the National Enquirer is his and his alone, and while they were right about O.J. Simpson, John Edwards, and many others, I certainly hope they are not right about Lyin' Ted Cruz.

I look forward to spending the week in Wisconsin, winning the Republican nomination and ultimately the Presidency in order to Make America Great Again."  
 
Just when Ted thought things were starting to turn for him. Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, and scores of GOP insiders have all given the Texas Senator begrudging endorsements this week - below is an ad:  

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YES, I finally updated the website. As a result, we have a few items on sale this week. Check back regularly as we will change the sale items periodically. 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE:

YES, we are still giving a FREE eBook (PDF) copy of the book The Truth About the Confederate Flag  to everyone who visits the website - so tell your friends - and your enemies!  
   
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Until next week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed

I want to begin this week's newsletter with a submission from Charlie Daniels. Yes, this is the Charlie Daniels of Country Music, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" fame.

On the Death of Justice Scalia

The founders of this nation were wise, practical and insightful, crafting our federal papers in such a way as to require a certain uniformity insofar as basic human rights are concerned and enough wiggle room for individual states to conduct their affairs in accordance to the concerns of its citizens. The branches of government are designed to counterbalance each other. We call it three branches - actually there seem to be four - as the House of Representatives and the Senate operate separately and can hurry, stall or even kill legislation independent of each other.

Actually, the only unassailable branch of the federal government is the Supreme Court, unassailable because they are not elected by the people and their tenure is for life. Their job is to interpret legislation and disputes by the constitutionality of the issue without ideological prejudice or political influence and without personal favor or bias. They are to rule based on what the Constitution says.

Their job description is not to write laws or legislation. Nor is it their place to twist the Constitution into shapes the founding fathers never intended. They are not to be beholden to the president who nominated them, nor the Senate who confirmed them, but instead focus on straightforward constitutional jurisprudence and decisions made for the best of the nation alone, individual politicians and political parties notwithstanding.

A president who can count on a majority in the Supreme Court actually has the power of two of the three branches at his fingertips, and now that the decisions of the Supreme Court have become basically untouchable, the final word, it gives a president the status of a monarch.

Any president is going to appoint justices that, as far as he can ascertain, will see things his way. Of course, that assumption has been known to go awry, as in the case of Bush appointee, Chief Justice Roberts, and other notable exceptions, But Obama has not had a problem along those lines, as his two appointees, Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, are basically the equivalent of Obama's rubber stamps.

With the death of Justice Scalia, which was a tremendous loss, not just for the conservative views he seemed to favor but even in a losing cause, Justice Scalia brought a sense of influence and balance to the court and never backed down from letting his opinion be known.

However, the vacancy on the court is a golden opportunity for Barack Obama to nominate another justice favorable to his programs, another ideological acolyte who would - like Sotomayor and Kagan - toe the liberal line in their belief that, instead of it being carved in stone, the constitution is a "living and breathing" document open to modern interpretation.

With another Obama appointee, the court would definitely lean far to the left. It is Congress's job to fend off another appointment for ten months and reserve the task for the next president, whoever he or she happens to be.

In all likelihood, the next president will be appointing Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement too, as Ms. Ginsburg will be well into her eighties in the next presidential term, which, should the Senate prevail in stalling an Obama nomination, would require the next president to appoint two justices. It would require that both appointees be somewhat conservative to bring the court back into a semblance of balance.

As it stands now: Sotomayor, Kagan, Breyer and Ginsburg are firmly in the liberal camp; Thomas and Alito are the only proven conservatives; Kennedy is a mostly liberal leaning moderate; and Roberts cannot be called a conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

So, this next election is for more than just a president. It's about the fairness and balance of the highest court in the land. It's about whether America will continue down the path of socialism and decay or start climbing out of the sludge pit we currently find ourselves in. It's about whether we elect a president who will truly rebuild the military or only pay lip service to it. It's about our survival as a free and prosperous nation. It remains to be seen if the Senate has the guts to hold off the political and media onslaught that's heading their way about Obama appointing another Supreme Court Justice. If I was making book on it, I'd call the odds about fifty/fifty. What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America                    

Charlie Daniels

This morning's Post and Currier led with an article calling for the removal of the Confederate Naval Jack from the chapel at The Citadel.

Also, this morning, ABC News called on Donald Trump to reward Nimrata Randhawa (a.k.a. Nikki Haley) with a VP spot. Their reasoning was that it should be Nimrata's reward for having removed the Confederate Battle Flag from the Statehouse in South Carolina. I'm sure that if Mr. Trump saw the ABC News report he got a good hearty laugh out of it.  
 
 
There have also been several news reports this week of protests in Mississippi calling for the removal of the flag.

But the Citadel is a new front on our Heritage War that we need to become proactive on very quickly because the Charleston City Council is set to vote on a resolution that if passed would voice city officials' support for removing the Confederate Naval Jack from The Citadel's Summerall Chapel. 

Currently, the flag is protected from removal under the South Carolina Heritage Act. But that did not stop the Governor from removing the flag from the Statehouse. 

The resolution before City Council cites efforts by Citadel alumni and officials to remove the Confederate Naval Jack from the school's chapel. The resolution would also call for support of a bill put forth by state Sen. Marlon Kimpson to amend the Heritage Act to allow for the flag to be taken down and placed in a museum. Under current legislation, a two-thirds vote by each branch of the state General Assembly is required to remove "monuments or memorials erected on public property." Kimpson's bill would allow for flags of the American Civil War on display in chapels in public institutions of higher learning to be relocated if approved by the institution's board of directors.

In a decision last June, The Citadel Board of Visitors voted 9 to 3 for removal of the Confederate Naval Jack from the Summerall Chapel.

Following the vote, Citadel President Lt. Gen. John Rosa released a statement, saying, "The Board of Visitors and I believe now is the right time to move the flag...We pride ourselves on our core values of honor, duty, and respect. Moving the Naval Jack is consistent with these values and is a model to all of the principled leadership we seek to instill in our cadets and students. It also promotes unity on our campus, in our community and across our state...."

Tennessee has also flashed on the Heritage Alert radar screen this week. On Monday the State Legislature began debating a proposed ban on Confederate flag license plates.

The bill's sponsor said the state should not celebrate a symbol of racism while the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization said the flag represents a diverse group of people who deserve freedom of expression from the state.

When choosing a license plate in Tennessee, drivers have a plethora of options, all to showcase symbols important to them. The Confederate flag is one of them.
But State Sen. Sara Kyle, D-Memphis, believes it's one that shouldn't have government support. Her bill would stop the issuance and renewal of the Sons of Confederate Veterans specialized plates that don the flag. It would apply to all motor vehicles and motorcycles.

The fiscal note on the bill said as of Oct. 1, 2015, a little more than 3,000 specialty plates and 28 personalized plates were registered as SCV, displaying the flag.

"I do not want the state to issue this symbol of racism and hate," said Kyle. "Any time you have symbols that designate hate or racism, we are just empowering more people to use these type symbols."
Last June Gov. Bill Haslam said he'd support the removal of the Confederate flags from Tennessee license plates. He said he still does today.

The executive director of the Sons of Confederate Veterans said it is an attempt to limit first amendment rights and freedom of expression. "I don't think the state has any responsibility to deny an individual of his freedom of expression, and the second part of that is money from the sale of each SCV license plate goes right back to the state," said Sons of Confederate Veterans Executive Director Michael Landree. "It actually goes to the state museum to preserve Confederate flags, original Confederate flags, that are in the state museum."

Confederate flag sparks disruption at North Carolina High School

BRUNSWICK COUNTY -- Five students will face consequences for an incident involving the Confederate flag at West Brunswick High School on Wednesday.

A disruption was sparked from a student walking around with the Confederate flag on his or her back like a cape in the courtyard and cafeteria, Brunswick County Schools spokeswoman Jessica Swencki said late Wednesday.

Swencki could not further elaborate on what transpired, but she said administrators became aware of the incident after the fact, which led to an investigation later in the afternoon and evening.

The Confederate flag was the catalyst for Wednesday's disruption, and Swencki clarified that it was "the manner in which the object was used" that the administrators were addressing.

Students involved were not named in a news release Wednesday night due to school privacy standards, but Swencki said all five students would face consequences.
 
  
IN LOUISIANA ANOTHER MONUMENT COMES UNDER ATTACK

A tall memorial that honors Confederate soldiers has stood in front of the Rapides Parish Courthouse for more than 100 years, but an organization of black attorneys believes it is offensive and should be removed.

Malcolm Larvadain, an attorney who is president of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, asked Rapides Parish police jurors on Monday to remove the memorial, which features a statue of a Confederate soldier on top. The society is made up of area African-American attorneys.

"In this day and age of 2016, I feel that that statue is offensive. Honestly, it should be placed in a museum," said Larvadain, whose father, Ed Larvardain Jr., is a longtime civil rights attorney and whose brother, Ed Larvadain III, is an Alexandria city councilman. "I just feel the South was on the wrong side of history and humanity. I feel that it needs to come down. I can only imagine how people who look like me (black) who walk up to this courthouse and see this the statue and see the word 'Confederate' at the bottom of the statue, how they feel about that," he added.
 
Police jurors did not take any action on Larvadain's request because they said they'll wait to see what happens with Senate Bill 276 by Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton.

The bill would create the Louisiana Heritage Protection Commission, which jurors said might exercise control over such memorials.

Police Juror Richard Billing says he's against removing the statue because it is part of history. "I think it's history. I think it declares who we are - the place in America," Billings said. "We were Southerners. You're a Southerner," he told Larvadain. "Whether you like it or not, you were born here ... raised here. Black or white, it's history. We recognize black people all over, and I have no problem with that."

He said he went to look at the statue only after he heard it would be raised as an issue.
"I don't go by and salute it. I don't agree with everything that's been done. ... I think it needs to stay where it is because of history," Billings said.

"It is history, but it's an ugly history," Larvadain said. "That history involved enslaving people who looked like me, Mr. Overton, Mr. Perry, Mr. Fountaine."

He was referring to the three black members of the nine-member Police Jury - Ollie Overton, Scott Perry and Theodore Fountaine.
 
The Confederate memorial was erected in 1914 by the Thomas Overton Moore chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, according to information on the base of the statue.

Most jurors did not seem that familiar with the Senate bill and noted the statue-removal request was new. The Senate bill, if it becomes law, might make it harder to remove a statue or memorial.

"Except as otherwise provided in this section, no memorial regarding a historic conflict, historic entity, historic event, historic figure or historic organization that is, or is located on, public property, may be removed, renamed, relocated, altered, rededicated, or otherwise disturbed or altered," the bill reads.
 
 It does note that a public entity may petition the commission for a waiver if it seeks to remove a memorial.

Fountaine, Overton and Perry each had a different take on the memorial.

"The statue should never have been put up, and it should come down," Fountaine said.
Perry said Larvadain's request caught him by surprise, and he noted he never paid much attention to the memorial.

"I'm going to wait and see what the Legislature does," Perry said.

Jury President Craig Smith also said the jury wants to see the outcome of the Senate bill.

"If we have to, we'll address it again," Smith said of the request to have the memorial removed.

Overton said the memorial is "distasteful" to him and others, and he would like to see it removed. He noted there would be cost in removing it, and he indicated he'd like to wait to see what happens with the Senate bill. 

We at Dixie Heritage remain vigilant in our efforts to promote and defend our Southern Heritage. Your weekly gifts help us to stay active in the fight.

Everyone who gives a gift of $5 or more to Dixie Heritage this week will receive a copy of Volume 1 of President Jefferson Davis' magnum opus, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

CONTRACTORS' EXPRESS RESERVATIONS ON MONUMENT REMOVAL  

Contractors considering a bid to remove Confederate monuments for the city of New Orleans questioned (March 14) whether the statues could be moved without damaging them.
Speaking at an informational meeting held for firms interested in bidding on the removal job, they also raised concerns about diving into such a controversial job.

Two of the contractors seemed as worried about the safety of the statues since the winning bidder will bear the liability for any damage to the monuments.

One asked whether the city had schematic drawings showing how the statues are attached to their bases. Without them, it would be hard, if not impossible, to remove the statues in such a way as to be absolutely sure they would not break, he said, adding that the risk of damage was particularly high with regard to the Beauregard monument. "It was constructed to be placed, not to be removed," he said. "You guys are going to have some damage."

The contractors at the meeting did not give their names during the discussion, and one, pulled aside after it adjourned, declined to give his name to a reporter. The city did not distribute a sign-in sheet at the meeting. But the contractors will not be able to remain anonymous indefinitely, though. In accordance with state law, the bids will be opened publicly at an April 22 meeting. 
 
 

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VISIT OUR WEBSITE:

YES, we are still giving a FREE eBook (PDF) copy of the book The Truth About the Confederate Flag  to everyone who visits the website - so tell your friends - and your enemies!  
   
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Until next week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed

March 11, 1861: Confederate Constitution Adopted

It has always been intriguing to me, that as microscopically studied as the WBTS has been over the years, that more attention has not been paid to the Confederate Constitution. It is a fascinating document. 

Crafted by men who had lived their entire lives under the United States Constitution and who had served in the Federal government, its similarities and differences illuminate what these men thought was good with the old Constitution and what needed improvement. 

This Constitution took the place of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederacy, a document that by its own terms was meant to be temporary and had a hurried, improvised feel to it. The permanent Confederate Constitution was the product of more mature reflection and the additional time that the drafters had to think about this new government and nation they were helping to midwife.  Here are some observations on this document:

• The Preamble of the Constitution invokes God. Maybe 1861 was a more religious time than 1787? Or maybe The Faith was just more important to our Southern Fathers than to their Northern counterparts?

• Article I dealing with Congress is quite similar to that Article in the US Constitution with some significant changes:  State legislatures were given the power to impeach their members of Congress on a two/thirds vote.  Each House of the Confederate Congress could allocate seats to the heads of Executive Departments, in order to allow them to discuss the activities of their Departments, which seems to be an attempt to adopt the practice of the British Parliament.  The President of the Confederacy was granted a line item veto, but any bill on which he exercised such a veto would be resubmitted to Congress with such a veto being overridden by a two-thirds vote.  Congress was forbidden to allocate funds for internal improvements not set forth explicitly in the Constitution, such improvements being limited to waterways and coastal navigation improvements.  The Bill of Rights of the US Constitution was set forth in Article I, except for the ninth and tenth amendments which were set forth in Article VI.  All appropriations had to pass by a two-thirds vote, except as otherwise enumerated in the Confederate Constitution.  All bills appropriating money had to list the exact amount being appropriated and the purpose for which the funds were to be appropriate.  All bills had to have a single subject which was to be set out in the title to the bill.

• Under Article II Presidents were to be limited to a single six year term.  The only two  term President during the adult lives of the men involved in drafting the Confederate Constitution would have been Andrew Jackson, and even his most ardent partisans would have admitted that his second term had been rocky.  The frustrated desires of many Presidents following Jackson for a second term might have been regarded as a source of friction best avoided altogether under the new government.  Confederate Presidents had to have resided within the bounds of the Confederacy for 14 years. 

• Article III dictated that no State could be sued in the Confederate court system by a citizen or a subject of any foreign State.

• Article IV made a two-thirds vote necessary for a State to be admitted to the Confederacy.

• Article V required only a two-thirds vote of the States to amend the Confederate Constitution.

• The most significant differences with the Federal Constitution were on the various issues arising on the question of slavery.  The Confederate document used the terms slaves and slavery.  The international slave trade is banned and Congress is given the power to ban the importation of slaves from any North American jurisdiction not a member of the Confederacy. These provisions began the ticking of the clock of what would have been the eventual elimination of slavery. 

 
Here is the text of the Confederate Constitution:
 
Preamble

We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.

Article I

Section I. All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested in a Congress of the Confederate States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Sec. 2. (I) The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall be citizens of the Confederate States, and have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature; but no person of foreign birth, not a citizen of the Confederate States, shall be allowed to vote for any officer, civil or political, State or Federal.

(2) No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a citizen of the Confederate States, and who shall not when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

(3) Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States, which may be included within this Confederacy, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all slaves. ,The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the Confederate States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every fifty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of South Carolina shall be entitled to choose six; the State of Georgia ten; the State of Alabama nine; the State of Florida two; the State of Mississippi seven; the State of Louisiana six; and the State of Texas six.

(4) When vacancies happen in the representation from any State the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

(5) The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment; except that any judicial or other Federal officer, resident and acting solely within the limits of any State, may be impeached by a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the Legislature thereof.

Sec. 3. (I) The Senate of the Confederate States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen for six years by the Legislature thereof, at the regular session next immediately preceding the commencement of the term of service; and each Senator shall have one vote.

(2) Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year; and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year; so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or other wise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

(3) No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and be a citizen of the Confederate States; and who shall not, then elected, be an inhabitant of the State for which he shall be chosen.

(4) The Vice President of the Confederate States shall be president of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.

(5) The Senate shall choose their other officers; and also a president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the Confederate states.

(6) The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Confederate States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

(7) Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Confederate States; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law.

Sec. 4. (I) The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, subject to the provisions of this Constitution; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the times and places of choosing Senators.

(2) The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year; and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall, by law, appoint a different day.

Sec. 5. (I) Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

(2) Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number, expel a member.

(3) Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

(4) Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Sec. 6. (I) The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the Confederate States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 'o Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the Confederate States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the Confederate States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office. But Congress may, by law, grant to the principal officer in each of the Executive Departments a seat upon the floor of either House, with the privilege of discussing any measures appertaining to his department.

Sec. 7. (I) All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

(2) Every bill which shall have passed both Houses, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the Confederate States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respective}y. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. The President may approve any appropriation and disapprove any other appropriation in the same bill. In such case he shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations, with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have originated; and the same proceedings shall then be had as in case of other bills disapproved by the President.

(3) Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of both Houses may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the Confederate States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.

Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power-

(I) To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States.

(2) To borrow money on the credit of the Confederate States.

(3) To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; but neither this, nor any other clause contained in the Constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river navigation; in all which cases such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof.

(4) To establish uniform laws of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the Confederate States; but no law of Congress shall discharge any debt contracted before the passage of the same.

(5) To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.

(6) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the Confederate States.

(7) To establish post offices and post routes; but the expenses of the Post Office Department, after the Ist day of March in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be paid out of its own revenues.

(8) To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.

(9) To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.

(10) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations.

(11) To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.

(12) To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.

(13) To provide and maintain a navy.

(14) To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

(15) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Confederate States, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

(16) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the Confederate States; reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

(17) To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of one or more States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Government of the Confederate States; and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the . erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings; and

(18) To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the Confederate States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Sec. 9. (I) The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.

(2) Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.

(3) The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

(4) No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.

(5) No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.

(6) No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.

(7) No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another.

(8) No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.

(9) Congress shall appropriate no money from the Treasury except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, taken by yeas and nays, unless it be asked and estimated for by some one of the heads of departments and submitted to Congress by the President; or for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies; or for the payment of claims against the Confederate States, the justice of which shall have been judicially declared by a tribunal for the investigation of claims against the Government, which it is hereby made the duty of Congress to establish.

(10) All bills appropriating money shall specify in Federal currency the exact amount of each appropriation and the purposes for which it is made; and Congress shall grant no extra compensation to any public contractor, officer, agent, or servant, after such contract shall have been made or such service rendered.

(11) No title of nobility shall be granted by the Confederate States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

(12) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

(13) A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

(14) No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

(15) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

(16) No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

(17) In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

(18) In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact so tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the Confederacy, than according to the rules of common law.

(19) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

(20) Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.

Sec. 10. (I) No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

(2) No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports, or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the Confederate States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress.

(3) No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, except on seagoing vessels, for the improvement of its rivers and harbors navigated by the said vessels; but such duties shall not conflict with any treaties of the Confederate States with foreign nations; and any surplus revenue thus derived shall, after making such improvement, be paid into the common treasury. Nor shall any State keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. But when any river divides or flows through two or more States they may enter into compacts with each other to improve the navigation thereof.

ARTICLE II

Section I. (I) The executive power shall be vested in a President of the Confederate States of America. He and the Vice President shall hold their offices for the term of six years; but the President shall not be reeligible. The President and Vice President shall be elected as follows:

(2) Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the Confederate States shall be appointed an elector.

(3) The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the Government of. the Confederate States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall,in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 4th day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in case of the death, or other constitutional disability of the President.

(4) The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

(5) But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the Confederate States.

(6) The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the Confederate States.

(7) No person except a natural-born citizen of the Confederate; States, or a citizen thereof at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, or a citizen thereof born in the United States prior to the 20th of December, 1860, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the limits of the Confederate States, as they may exist at the time of his election.

(8) 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.

(9) The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the Confederate States, or any of them.

(10) Before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

Sec. 2. (I) The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the Confederate States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the Confederate States, except in cases of impeachment.

(2) He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties; provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the Confederate States whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

(3) The principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, and all persons connected with the diplomatic service, may be removed from office at the pleasure of the President. All other civil officers of the Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President, or other appointing power, when their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty, incapacity. inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty; and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate, together with the reasons therefor.

(4) The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session; but no person rejected by the Senate shall be reappointed to the same office during their ensuing recess.

Sec. 3. (I) The President shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Confederacy, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the Confederate States.

Sec. 4. (I) The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the Confederate States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE III

Section I. (I) The judicial power of the Confederate States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Sec. 2. (I) The judicial power shall extend to all cases arising under this Constitution, the laws of the Confederate States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Confederate States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State, where the State is plaintiff; between citizens claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects; but no State shall be sued by a citizen or subject of any foreign state.

(2) In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

(3) The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Sec. 3. (I) Treason against the Confederate States shall consist only in levying war against.them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

(2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ARTICLE IV

Section I. (I) Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State; and the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Sec. 2. (I) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired.

(2) A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime against the laws of such State, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.

(3) No slave or other person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs,. or to whom such service or labor may be due.

Sec. 3. (I) Other States may be admitted into this Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate voting by States; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.

(2) The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make allneedful rules and regulations concerning the property of the Confederate States, including the lands thereof.

(3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Confederate States, lying without the limits of the several Sates; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be admitted into the Confederacy. In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected be Congress and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States.

(4) The Confederate States shall guarantee to every State that now is, or hereafter may become, a member of this Confederacy, a republican form of government; and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature or of the Executive when the Legislature is not in session) against domestic violence.

ARTICLE V

Section I. (I) Upon the demand of any three States, legally assembled in their several conventions, the Congress shall summon a convention of all the States, to take into consideration such amendments to the Constitution as the said States shall concur in suggesting at the time when the said demand is made; and should any of the proposed amendments to the Constitution be agreed on by the said convention, voting by States, and the same be ratified by the Legislatures of two- thirds of the several States, or by conventions in two-thirds thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the general convention, they shall thenceforward form a part of this Constitution. But no State shall, without its consent, be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI

I. The Government established by this Constitution is the successor of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, and all the laws passed by the latter shall continue in force until the same shall be repealed or modified; and all the officers appointed by the same shall remain in office until their successors are appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished.

2. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the Confederate States under this Constitution, as under the Provisional Government.

3. This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

4. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the Confederate States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the Confederate States.

5. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people of the several States.

6. The powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people thereof.

ARTICLE VII

I. The ratification of the conventions of five States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.

2. When five States shall have ratified this Constitution, in the manner before specified, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall prescribe the time for holding the election of President and Vice President; and for the meeting of the Electoral College; and for counting the votes, and inaugurating the President. They shall, also, prescribe the time for holding the first election of members of Congress under this Constitution, and the time for assembling the same. Until the assembling of such Congress, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall continue to exercise the legislative powers granted them; not extending beyond the time limited by the Constitution of the Provisional Government.
Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, sitting in convention at the capitol, the city of Montgomery, Ala., on the eleventh day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and Sixty-one.

HOWELL COBB, President of the Congress.

South Carolina: R. Barnwell Rhett, C. G. Memminger, Wm. Porcher Miles, James Chesnut, Jr., R. W. Barnwell, William W. Boyce, Lawrence M. Keitt, T. J. Withers.

Georgia: Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Benjamin H. Hill, Thos. R. R. Cobb.

Florida: Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, Jas. B. Owens.

Alabama: Richard W. Walker, Robt. H. Smith, Colin J. McRae, William P. Chilton, Stephen F. Hale, David P. Lewis, Tho. Fearn, Jno. Gill Shorter, J. L. M. Curry.

Mississippi: Alex. M. Clayton, James T. Harrison, William S. Barry, W. S. Wilson, Walker Brooke, W. P. Harris, J. A. P. Campbell.

Louisiana: Alex. de Clouet, C. M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, Henry Marshall.

Texas: John Hemphill, Thomas N. Waul, John H. Reagan, Williamson S. Oldham, Louis T. Wigfall, John Gregg, William Beck Ochiltree.
 

We have compiled 106 pages of Jefferson Davis' own writings on the Confederate Constitution. This is not a book where some "scholar" tells you what he  thinks Davis thought - this is an actual book composed of 106 pages of Davis's own writings and comments on the Constitution of the Confederacy. I'm going to send a copy to everyone who makes a contribution of $5 or more to Dixie Heritage this week:

Of what value are paper constitutions and oaths binding officers to their preservation, if there is not intelligence enough in the people to discern the violations and virtue enough to resist the violators. 
 
-Jefferson Davis
 

 
One thing that was important to our Southern Fathers, just as it had been the United States' Founding Fathers, was that the president of the country be a natural born citizen who had lived on the land for at least the last 14 years. In other words, they did not want foreigners holding the highest office in the land, leading the armies, wielding the power of the executive, etc. And they did not even dare allow someone who had recently lived abroad to hold the office for fear that their loyalties may not be entirely toward their own country.

If you've been reading for the last few months you know that I have already made issue with the fact that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Now it would seem that someone more influential than myself, someone, who based upon the office he holds, we can be certain knows what he is talking about:

Governor Questions Ted Cruz Eligibility

Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday that he doesn't believe Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is eligible to become president.
 
From the Huffington Post:
 
LePage told radio host Howie Carr that his two daughters were born in Canada, and they had to be naturalized as U.S. citizens even though he was born in America.
 
"So I have a question there," LePage said.
 
Cruz was also born in Canada, but he maintains that he fits the constitutional requirement that a president be a "natural born citizen" because his mother was born in America.
 
LePage said he didn't think Cruz could be president because he believed his daughters were also ineligible.
 
"They can't. I know they can't. I've already looked into it," he said.
  




Syndicated Columnist and founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, Roger Stone, submits the following:

Who Is The Real Ted Cruz?
Roger Stone
 
Vladimir Lenin said, "There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel."
 
I can't think of a better description of Ted Cruz's relationship with the DC-Wall Street Establishment - Cruz being the scoundrel of course. Cruz's claim of not being a tool of the political elite is like Bill Clinton telling the world, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
 
Webster's definition of a scoundrel is a dishonest or unscrupulous person, and Cruz has become quite adroit at saying one thing while his history shows him doing the other. Rather than the outsider he claims to be, Ted Cruz is the ultimate insider, former top Bush 41 policy aide and globalist, Ivy Leaguer, and establishment insider.
 
Not many conservatives coming out of Princeton and Harvard. "I'm just sayin,'" as Ted said in the debate.
 
There is no better example of this than Calgary Ted's actions surrounding the big Wall Street banks and their secret funding of his political ascension. Cruz has been gorging at the table of the ultimate insider of all insiders - Goldman Sachs and Citibank .
 
You may recall in a recent Fox Business Network debate that Cruz, in Mr. Haney from Green Acres voice, declared to one of the moderators, "The opening question [moderator Jerry Seib] asked - would you bailout the big banks again - nobody gave you an answer to that. I will give you an answer - absolutely not."
 
What else would you expect a scoundrel to say who had secretly secured big sweetheart loans from Goldman and Citibank - by leveraging his retirement accounts -- to fund his 2012 U.S. Senate campaign. Loans which the Calgary Ted conveniently forgot to disclose to the Federal Election Commission. These are the very retirement accounts that he said he and his wife said he cashed in to fund his senate race. In other words, Ted lied.
 
At the same time Ted's bulging 2016 campaign accounts and supporting Super-PACs are stuffed with big oil and gas money. He knows how to play the game.
 
And perhaps the ultimate hypocrisy of the native born Canadian is that his spouse, Heidi, by all accounts a lovely wife and mother, has been employed by Goldman Sachs since 2005. She is on leave as managing director and regional head of private wealth management. Heidi is a proud member of the lefty Council on Foreign Relations, advocates of one world government and the New World Order.
 
Heidi is not a bit player in the Cruz campaign with those credentials but rather an integral part of the campaign's fundraising efforts. As reported by CNN last year, "She works the phones the way she worked them when she was at Goldman," said Chad Sweet, the Cruz campaign's chairman, who recruited Heidi to work at the giant investment bank."
 
Yet we are to believe that the big Wall Street banks have no leverage over Ted Cruz? Why didn't Heidi Cruz resign from Goldman Sachs instead of taking a leave of absence? That's like saying Bill Ayers and Saul Alinsky have had no influence on Barack Obama.
 
The other inside connection that hits one like a baseball bat is the Bush connection.
 
Ted was George W.'s brain when he ran for President. A top policy adviser. Ted maneuvered for Solicitor General in Bush World but settled for a plum at the Federal Trade Commission. Ted's a Bushman with deep ties to the political and financial establishment.
 
Ted and Heidi brag about being the first "Bush marriage" - they met as Bush staffers which ultimately led to marriage. Cruz was an adviser on legal affairs while Heidi was an adviser on economic policy and eventually director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice and helped give us the phony war in Iraq.
 
Also conveniently missing from Heidi's Wikipedia bio is her service as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative to USTR head Robert Zoellick. At USTR Heidi worked on U.S.-China trade policy- the one Donald Trump talks about so much.
 
And Chad Sweet, Ted Cruz's campaign chairman, is a former CIA officer. Michael Chertoff, George W. Bush's former Secretary of Homeland Security, hired Sweet from Goldman Sachs to restructure and optimize the flow of information between the CIA, FBI and other members of the national security community and DHS. Chertoff and Sweet co-founded the Chertoff Group upon leaving the administration.
 
A known tactic of the intelligence community is the use of strategic communications as a "soft power" weapon against it adversaries - the creation of false narratives by the effective use of all media - social, digital, newspaper, print, etc. Combined with denial and deception, it can be a potent force. Glenn Beck and Mark Levin are abetting this.
 
Despite his ability to lie with a straight face (sadly Nixonian) on his support for amnesty and TPP, he got nailed by Senator Marco Rubio on the debate. Acting like a prick in the U.S. Senate was the core of Ted's disciplined effort to bury his old school ties and reinvent himself as a modern-day Jesse Helms and supposed Conservative outsider. It's a ruse.
 
Cruz and his establishment puppet masters are engaged in an aggressive strategy against Trump. The false narrative of course being that Cruz is the outsider while Trump is the insider. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
 
In its most simplistic terms - the power elite have no leverage over Trump - nothing.
 
Cruz, on the other hand, is the establishments quisling, spawned by the Bushes and controlled by Wall Street, who became a strident "outsider" only four years ago.
 
The U.S. Constitution does not define "native born" citizen, nor have the courts. That Ted was eligible  to run for office as a citizen only 15 months ago is weird. Trump's right the Democrats would have a field day with Calgary Ted, the Manchurian, Canadian Candidate.
 
Don't get me wrong. Ted Cruz is a smart, canny, talented guy who has run a great "long race" campaign. He aspires to be Reagan but trust me he's Nixon. Right down the incredible discipline and smarts playing the political game. Ted Cruz is not who he appears to be. As the bible says, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." In this case we must beware a Canadian bearing gifts.

Confederate History Month is only one month away
 
Please join the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee as an honorary ambassador of good will to get the good word out about Confederate History Month in April.
 
April 1 through the 30th is Confederate History and Heritage Month. Please join the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Confederate History and Heritage Month committee, Calvin Johnson, Billy Bearden and James King, in asking your Governors, County Commissioners and City Mayors in proclaiming April as Confederate History and Heritage month.



MISSISSIPPI TO CELEBRATE HERITAGE IN SECRET?

As we reported previously, April has been declared Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi. But you would never know Governor Phil Bryant signed the official proclamation, because, unlike other proclamations, it's not posted on the State's website.

We admit that Confederate heritage is a hot-button issue across the South. And the Governor's office released a statement about Confederate Heritage Month saying, like his predecessors-both Republican and Democrat-who issued similar proclamations, Gov. Bryant believes Mississippi's history deserves study and reflection, no matter how unpleasant or complicated parts of it may be. Does this mean he does not support the proclamation? If not, why did he sign it?

Regardless, he did sign it.So why wouldn't he make his proclamation known? 

Will Mississippi be celebrating Confederate Heritage Month in secret?
 
 
 
Researchers say they've likely found Confederate shipwreck

An area off the North Carolina coast known for its WBTS shipwrecks may be adding another to the collection after the discovery of what is believed to be a Confederate blockade runner near Oak Island.
Archaeologists using sonar imaging discovered the 226-foot-long remains of a shipwreck on Feb. 27 in an area where historical documents indicate three runners used during the blockade of the port of Wilmington are located, said Billy Ray Morris, North Carolina's deputy state archaeologist who manages underwater operations. Morris and a team of divers will return Wednesday to the site, about 30 miles downstream near Fort Caswell to confirm their finding.

"Nobody's found a new Civil War wreck in decades," Morris said Monday. "With a high-energy maritime environment like you have off the coast of North Carolina, ships are broken apart. This one is relatively intact. You can see that it looks like a ship."

Three blockade runners are known to have been lost in the area: the Agnes E. Fry, Spunkie and Georgianna McCaw. "By the time I've crawled across it with a team of archaeologists and a couple of graduate students ... I'm confident I'll know which wreck it is," Morris said. He said he hopes to tackle the project on Wednesday. He added that he is not 100 percent certain that the shipwreck is one of the blockade runners.

Wrecks of 27 blockade runners, Confederate ironclads and Union ships used in the blockade have been found in the area that includes the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean around islands such as Oak Island, according to Morris. "It's the single best assemblage of Civil War shipwrecks anywhere in the world," he said.

Blockade runners were the cigarette boats of their era, moving fast with an unarmed captain and crew using their talents to avoid the Union ships and get their goods to land.

Military supplies would be put on trains to Weldon in northern North Carolina, and then on to Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The civilian supplies were sold dockside. They were items that the Confederacy couldn't make and which appealed to the wealthy, Morris said, such as wine and liquor, fancy fabric, books and shoes.

The Union blockade of the port of Wilmington began in 1861 and ended in January 1865, when the Union troops closed the port and overtook Fort Fisher.

The Underwater Branch of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology and the Institute of International Maritime Research discovered the shipwreck with the help of a multiyear grant called the American Battlefield Protection Program, Morris said. The grant, funded through the National Park Service, is ending this year, he said.
 

Since we've devoted so much of this week's newsletter to the American Presidency:

A Virginia drone operator captured this incredible video of 43 presidential statues crumbling in a field in Croker on February 18. The sculptures were originally built for Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia, which opened in 2004 but closed six years later. Howard Hankins saved the statues from the crusher and moved them to his farm.

According to Smithsonian.com, the sculptures may be moved from Hankins' field soon, but while they're there, they make for an impressive landscape.

VISIT THE DIXIE HERITAGE BOOKSTORE

VISIT OUR WEBSITE:

YES, we are still giving a FREE eBook (PDF) copy of the book The Truth About the Confederate Flag  to everyone who visits the website - so tell your friends - and your enemies!  
   
www.dixieheritage.weebly.com

Until next week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed

A lawsuit has reignited debate over the presence of Confederate symbols in a Southern state, but in Mississippi, Southerners are mounting a legal defense of their Dixie flag.

A federal complaint filed Monday says the Confederate cross on the Mississippi flag is hate speech that endangers African Americans, according to Carlos Moore, a black attorney from Grenada, Miss., who cited the killing last summer of black church-goers in South Carolina.

The government of Mississippi is preparing to defend their flag, however. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said voters should decide whether their flag should be redesigned, not a "frivolous attempt to use the federal court system." The state's attorney general, Democrat Jim Hood, said his personal belief is that the flag hurts the state and it should change, but that will not prevent him from fulfilling his oath to defend his state's laws.

Although several Southern flags reference elements of the Confederate "Stars and Bars," Mississippi is the last state to keep the secessionist symbol in its entirety. While some Mississippians say flag the reflects poorly on the state's image, many see it as a symbol of loyalty to their often misunderstood, even maligned, state history.

"It is frustrating that the United States as a whole lumps us all as a bunch of ignorant racists who are uneducated and don't have shoes and go around having stereotypes about everybody else," Bess Averett, director of the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation in Vicksburg, Miss., told The Christian Science Monitor in 2006. "Hey, we have cars and trains like everyone else, so we could leave if we wanted."

In Mississippi, people are digging in their heels in support of both their "Rebel Flag" and self-determination.
 
A previous state referendum - in 2001 - showed voters supported keeping the Confederate symbol by nearly a 2 to 1 margin, with a fairly equal voting split coming even from black neighborhoods.

Where Mr. Moore sees "state-sanctioned hate speech," as he wrote in his lawsuit, Southerns see a symbol of their family's heritage, said Jeremy Gouge, a 44-year-old roofer, who has family ties to the South.

"I know there's things that happened. I can't control what other people have done," Mr. Gouge told the Associated Press. "What's the next flag that someone is going to say, 'We don't like that flag, let's take that one down?'"

Confederate Flag Dispute Ends In Felony Charge 
 
A Louisiana man was arrested after a dispute over the sale of Confederate flags erupted on his property.
Virgil Rayford, 52, of Washington Parish, was charged Friday with a felony charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, his attorney, Buddy Spell, said.

According to Spell, Rayford was notified Friday afternoon that someone was trespassing on a vacant two-acre plot of land he owns. The individual was, according to Spell, not only trespassing on land owned by his client, who is African-American, but was also selling Confederate flags.

Rayford immediately drove to his property and discovered the vendor, a white male identified by New Orleans' WWL-TV as 37-year-old Matthew Barrentine, had erected a tent on his property. Spell said Rayford approached Barrentine and demanded that he "get the hell off my property." Barrentine allegedly challenged Rayford's claim of ownership and refused to leave the property.

Rayford said he was angered by Barrentine's refusal to leave and flipped over a table, spilling Confederate themed headbands and related merchandise. A pushing match ensued, after which Rayford claims Barrentine stormed off toward his vehicle.

So Rayford went to his vehicle and retrieved a .45 caliber handgun. "Once he saw the gun, he started getting more respectful," Rayford said.

"To the best of our understanding, Mr. Rayford struck him on the side of the head with a pistol, which is a felony, and therefore, we wound up arresting Mr. Rayford with aggravated assault with a firearm," Washington Parish Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Mike Haley told New Orleans' WDSU-TV.

Rayford, who was booked into the Washington Parish Jail and later released pursuant to a signature bond, denies assaulting Barrentine with a firearm. While he does acknowledge holding his gun in his hand, he said he did not point it at Barrentine or directly threaten him with it, his attorney said.

The district attorney's office has yet to comment on the case. Barrentine received a misdemeanor summons for criminal trespassing.   

Monday, the Virginia Senate passed HB 587, a bill to remove a loophole in the existing Monuments and Memorials protection law, on a 21 Republicans to 17 Democrats party line vote.  Up to this point, the bill had passed through the House and Senate committee with bipartisan support.  The entire Democratic caucus abandoned the veterans pushing this bill. Two Democrats were not present to vote.
 
Senator Adam P. Ebbin (D-30) of Alexandria determined he would fight this legislative clarification to existing law primarily because he is supporting the City of Alexandria in its attempts to remove the Confederate war memorial in that city.   (For background, the City of Alexandria is currently engaged in a purge of all Confederate street names, school names and memorials.)
 
He was joined on the floor in his objection by Senator John S. Edwards (D-21) of Roanoke who brought up the Danville Confederate flag issue (which is not even impacted by this legislation). Also joining was Senator Donald McEachin (D-9) of Richmond and Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25) of Charlottesville.  Senator McEachin reportedly seized on the Confederate statue imagery to draw analogies to the Danville court case.  Deeds reportedly wanted to make it a local government issue.
 
Republican Whip Bill Stanley (R-20) of Franklin (son of a career naval officer) led the fight to support.  He was joined on the floor by wounded warrior/Vietnam veteran Senator Richard H. Black (R-13) of Leesburg and Army veteran Senator Thomas A. Garrett (R-22) of Buckingham.  Senator Garrett reportedly gave an outstanding speech and Senator Stanley was able to keep it focused. When the question was called the Senate Republicans prevailed 21 to 17.
 
These are the Democrats who voted against--Alexander, Barker, Dance, Deeds, Ebbin, Edwards, Favola, Howell, Locke, Marsden, McEachin, McPike, Miller, Petersen, Saslaw, Surovell, Wexton.
 
The bill now goes to the Governor who has three options. He can sign it into law, ignore it and allow it to become law within 15 days or he can veto it.  If he exercises the veto the bill goes back to the House for override. The House does not have a veto-proof GOP majority so it will need Democrat support for override.
 
There's misinformation floating around news reports and the general assembly.  The press is calling it a 'Confederate monuments' bill rather than a 'war memorials' bill. [5]   They further are stating the current law only protects monuments erected after 1998.  That is not necessarily the case. The current law has never been tested in court so it has never been officially interpreted.  In the Danville case, the judge said the law did not apply but also observed that, in his opinion, it could be read either way and suggested the General Assembly provide clarification.  This legislative clarification was formally requested by a broad section of VFW, American Legion and AMVETS members.  While they've always maintained it as a veterans issue and a veteran's bill, it impacts every 501(c)3 with a vested interest in erecting war memorials (i.e.; Daughters of the American Revolution and War of 1812 members have written in support of this legislation for example.)
 
CALL TO ACTION:
 
If Governor McAuliffe vetoes the bill, an override will be tough.  We need EVERY citizen to contact the Governor's office and ask him to sign HB587 to protect Virginia's Veterans' Memorials.  Keep it short and sweet and we suggest that you DO NOT MENTION ANYTHING CONFEDERATE.  This is a veterans' bill supported by the VFW, AMVETS and American Legion and if it does not become law, ALL of Virginia's War Memorials and monuments may be unprotected.  Please call the Governor's office at (804) 786-2211, AND email him using the link below. 
 
Suggested script:  "I am calling/writing to urge the Governor to honor Virginia's Veterans by signing HB587 into law to protect our Veterans' monuments and memorials."  If you are a veteran, please mention that, as well, and forward this email to as many veterans and concerned citizens as possible.
 
Email the Governor here:  https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/Communicating-with-the-governors-office
 
Mailing address:
Governor Terry McAuliffe
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218
 
Phone:  (804) 786-2211 

The response to this offer was phenominal. So we are extending it. We will send you a copy of the 208-page book Confederate Handbook when you give a gift of $5 to Dixie Heritage.

Confederate Flag Day is only 1 day from now and we hope everyone reading this post will attend. Flag Day commemorations are being held throughout the South and we are honoured to be a part of the Florida event. Weather will be warm and sunny and so feel free to bring seating if you wish. Gates open at 8 AM so come early and enjoy the wonderful day we have planned.
 
Confederate Memorial Park  10418 Easy HWY 92 Tampa  33610
 
Forward the Colours

 
Thank you Carrie for sharing this website:

http://truthville.org


VISIT THE DIXIE HERITAGE BOOKSTORE


VISIT OUR WEBSITE:

YES, we are still giving a FREE eBook (PDF) copy of the book The Truth About the Confederate Flag  to everyone who visits the website - so tell your friends - and your enemies!  
   
www.dixieheritage.weebly.com

Until next week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed