1st Confederate States Congress

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"First Confederate Congress" redirects here. For Provisional Congress, see Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.

1st Confederate States Congress
Senate President
Meeting place
Second Capitol of the Confederate States (1861-1865)
Virginia State Capitol
Richmond, Virginia
Confederate States of America
Constitution
Constitution of the Confederate States

The 1st Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, convened between February 18, 1862, and February 17, 1864. This assembly took place during the first two years of Jefferson Davis's presidency, convening at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia.[1]

Sessions

The following sessions were held during the period February 18, 1862, and February 17, 1864, at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia.

  • 1st Session – February 18, 1862 to April 21, 1862
  • 2nd Session – August 18, 1862 to October 13, 1862
  • 3rd Session – January 12, 1863 to May 1, 1863
  • 4th Session – December 7, 1863 to February 17, 1864

Leadership

Senate

Senate President
Alexander H. Stephens
Alexander H. Stephens
President pro tempore
R. M. T. Hunter
R. M. T. Hunter

House

House Speaker
Thomas S. Bocock
Thomas S. Bocock

Officers

Senate

  • Secretary: James H. Nash, South Carolina
  • Assistant Secretary: Edward H. Stephens, Virginia
  • Journal Clerk: C. T. Bruen, Virginia
  • Recording Clerk: Henry H. Hubbard, Mossy Creek, Tennessee[2]
  • Sergeant-at-Arms: Lafayette H. Fitzhugh, Kentucky
  • Doorkeeper
    : James Page, North Carolina
  • Assistant Doorkeeper
    : John Wadsworth, Georgia

House

  • Clerk: Robert Emmett Dixon Sr., Georgia (died April 24, 1863)
    • Albert Reese Lamar, Georgia — sessions 3 and 4
  • Assistant Clerk: James McDonald, Virginia
  • Assistant Clerk: David Louis Dalton, Alabama — sessions 3 and 4
  • Doorkeeper: Robert Harrison Wynne, Alabama

Members

Senate

Confederate States senators were elected by the state legislatures, or appointed by state governors to fill casual vacancies until the legislature elected a new senator. It was intended that one-third of the Senate would commence fresh six-year terms with each subsequent Congress following the inaugural one.

Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their terms. In this Congress, all senators were newly elected. Senators of Class 1 served a two-year term, expiring at the end of this Congress, requiring a new election for the six-year term,1864–1870. Class 2 senators served what was intended to be a four-year term, due to end on the expiry of the next Congress in 1866. Class 3 senators were meant to serve a six-year term, due to expire at the end of the Third Confederate Congress in 1868. As the Confederate Congress lasted less than four full years, the distinction between classes 2 and 3 was ultimately academic.

The members of the classes were selected by drawing of lots, which was done during the meeting of the Senate on February 21, 1862.[3]

The class is indicated before the name.

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

  • 3. Benjamin Harvey Hill
  • 1.
    Robert Augustus Toombs
    (elected but refused to serve)
    • John Wood Lewis Sr. (took his seat on April 7, 1862 - Appointed to serve until the place could be filled)
    • Herschel Vespasian Johnson
      (took his seat on January 19, 1863 - Elected to fill vacancy)

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

Missouri

  • 1.
    John Bullock Clark Sr.
  • 2. Robert Ludwell Yates Peyton (died on September 3, 1863)
    • Waldo Porter Johnson
      (took his seat on December 24, 1863 - Appointed to fill vacancy)

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

House of Representatives

X: Originally member of the

Provisional Confederate Congress

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

Missouri

According to the Confederate law, the people of Missouri were entitled to elect thirteen representatives. The state never implemented the re-apportionment, and continued to use its existing seven districts. Pending an election, the appointed members of the delegation to the Provisional Congress were assigned to serve in the First Congress. Since No election was held, the appointed members served throughout the Congress.[5]

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

Delegates

Non voting members of the House of Representatives.

Arizona Territory

Cherokee Nation

Choctaw Nation

Senate committees

Accounts[9]

Claims

Commerce

Engrossment and Enrollment

Finance

Foreign Affairs

Indian Affairs

Judiciary

Military Affairs

Naval Affairs

Patents

Pay and Mileage (Session 1)

Post Offices and Post Roads

Printing

Public Lands

Rules (Session 1)

Territories

House committees

Accounts[9]

Claims

Commerce

Currency (Session 4)

Elections

Enrolled Bills

Foreign Affairs

Indian Affairs

Judiciary

Medical Department (Sessions 2 - 4)

Military Affairs

Naval Affairs

Ordnance and Ordnance Stores (Sessions 2 - 4)

Patents

Pay and Mileage (Sessions 1 - 2)

Post Offices and Post Roads

Printing

Public Buildings

Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments and Military Transportation (Sessions 2 - 4)

Rules and Officers of the House (Sessions 1 - 3)

Territories and Public Lands

War Tax (Session 2)

Ways and Means

  • Duncan Farrar Kenner
    , 3rd Louisiana, Chairman — sessions 1, 2, and 3
  • Francis Strother Lyon
    , 5th Alabama
  • Willis Benson Machen
    , 1st Kentucky
  • John Jones McRae
    , 7th Mississippi
  • George Washington Jones, 7th Tennessee
  • Malcolm D. Graham, 5th Texas
  • John Brown Baldwin, 11th Virginia
  • Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett
    , 1st Virginia — session 1
  • Milledge Luke Bonham, 4th South Carolina (resigned on October 13, 1862) — session 1 and 2
  • Hines Holt, 3rd Georgia (resigned March 1, 1863) — sessions 1, 2, and 3
  • William Waters Boyce
    , 6th South Carolina — sessions 3 and 4
  • Julian Hartridge, 1st Georgia — session 4
  • John Perkins Jr., 6th Louisiana — session 4

Joint committees

Buildings (Session 1)[9]

Engrossment and Enrollment (Session 1)

Flag and Seal (Sessions 1 - 3)

Inauguration (Session 1)

Printing

Rules (Session 1)

Notes

  1. ^ Historical Atlas ..., pp. 131-134
  2. ^ Casper Branner and his Descendants, John C. Branner, 1913, p. 218
  3. ^ Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and Confederate Senate Journal
  4. ^ a b Historical Atlas ..., p. 132
  5. ^ Historical Atlas ... pp. 20 and 62-63
  6. ^ Historical Atlas ..., p. 133
  7. ^ Historical Atlas ..., p. 134 and note p. 139
  8. ^ Historical Atlas ..., p. 134
  9. ^ a b c "First Confederate Congress (18 February 1862 - 17 February 1864)". Archived from the original on February 8, 2007.

References

  • The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America: 1861-1865, by Kenneth C. Martis (Simon and Schuster 1994)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1st_Confederate_States_Congress&oldid=1216356614"