680 



TENNESSEE. 



ment, and military league with the Confederate States, 

 for the purpose of meeting pressing exigencies affect- 

 ing the common rights, interests, and safety of said 

 States, and said Confederacy. 



1st. Until the said State shall become a member of 

 said Confederacy, according to the constitutions of 

 both powers, the whole military force and military 

 operations, offensive and defensive, of said State, in the 

 impending conflict with the United States, shall be 

 under the chief control and direction of the President 

 of the Confederate States, upon the same basis, prin- 

 ciples and footing, as if said State were now and during 

 the interval a member of the said Confederacy said 

 forces, together with those of the Confederate States, 

 to be employed for the common defence. 



2d. The State of Tennessee will, upon becoming a 

 member of said Confederacy, under the permanent 

 Constitution of said Confederate States, if the same 

 shall occur, turn over to said Confederate States all the 

 public property, naval stores and munitions of war, 

 of which she may then be in possession, acquired from 

 the United States, on the same terms and in the same 

 manner as the other States of said Confederacy have 

 done in like cases. 



3d. Whatever expenditures of money, if any, the 

 said State of Tennessee shall make before she becomes 

 a member of said Confederacy, shall be met and pro- 

 vided for by the Confederate States. 



The vote in the Senate, on the adoption of 

 this treaty, was 14 to 6 absent or not voting, 

 4 ; in the House, 42 to 15 absent or not vot- 

 ing, 18. 



Meanwhile, the Legislature had not been 

 idle. On the 6th of May it passed an ordinance 

 entitled, " An Act to submit to a vote of the 

 people a Declaration of Independence, and for 

 other purposes." The first section provided 

 that the Governor should, by proclamation, re- 

 quire the respective officers in each county to 

 hold the polls open in their several precincts 

 on the 8th day of June ensuing. The second 

 section provided that the following declaration 

 should be submitted to a vote of the qualified 

 voters for their ratification or rejection : 



Declaration of Independence and Ordinance dissolving 



the Federal relations between the State of Tennessee 



and the United States of America. 



1st. We, the people of the State of Tennessee, waiv- 

 ing an expression of opinion as to the abstract doctrine 

 of secession, but asserting the right as a free and in- 

 dependent people to alter, reform, or abolish our form 

 of Government in such manner as we think proper, do 

 ordain and declare that all the laws and ordinances by 

 which the State of Tennessee became a member of the 

 Federal Union of the United States of America, are 

 hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all obliga- 

 tions on our part be withdrawn therefrom ; and we 

 do hereby resume all the rights, functions, and powers 

 which by any of said laws and ordinances were con- 

 veyed to the Government of the United States, and ab- 

 solve ourselves from all the obligations, restraints, 

 and duties incurred thereto ; and do hereby henceforth 

 become a free, sovereign, and independent State. 



2d. We furthermore declare and ordain, that Article 

 10, Sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the State of 

 Tennessee, which requires members of the General 

 Assembly, and all officers, civil and military, to take 

 an oath to support the Constitution of the United 

 States, be and the same are hereby abrogated and an- 

 nulled, and all parts of the Constitution of the State of 

 Tennessee, making citizenship of the United States a 

 qualification for office, and recognizing the Constitution 

 of the United States as the supreme law of this State, 

 are in like manner abrogated and annulled. 



3d. We furthermore ordain and declare that all rights 



acquired and vested under the Constitution of the 

 United States, or under any act of Congress passed in 

 pursuance thereof, or under any laws of this State, 

 and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain 

 in force and have the same effect as if this ordinance 

 had not been passed. 



The third section provided that the election 

 should be by ballot, and that those voting for 

 the declaration and ordinance should have on 

 their ballots the word " Separation," and those 

 voting against it should have on their ballots 

 the words " No separation ; " the returns should 

 be made to the Secretary of State by the 24th 

 of June, and if a majority of votes were given 

 for separation, the Governor was required im- 

 mediately to issue his proclamation declaring 

 " all connection by the State of Tennessee with 

 Federal Union dissolved, and that Tennessee is 

 a free, independent Government, free from all 

 obligations to, or connection with the Federal 

 Government." 



The fourth section authorized all volunteers 

 to vote, wherever they may be in active ser- 

 vice. 



By the fifth section it was provided that, un- 

 der the rules and regulations prescribed for the 

 election above ordered, the following ordinance 

 should be submitted to the popular vote : 

 An Ordinance for the adoption of ike Constitution of 



the Provisional Government of the Confederate States 



of America. 



W T e, the people of Tennessee, solemnly impressed by 

 the perils which surround us, do hereby adopt and 

 ratify the Constitution of the Provisional Government 

 of the Confederate States of America, ordained and 

 established at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 8th of 

 February, 1861, to be in force during the existence 

 thereof, or until such time as we may supersede it, by 

 the adoption of a permanent Constitution. 



The sixth section provided that all voters in 

 favor of adopting the Provisional Constitution, 

 and thereby securing to Tennessee equal repre- 

 sentation in the deliberations and councils of 

 the Confederate States, should have written or 

 printed on their ballots the word " Represent- 

 ation ; " opposed, the words " No Representa- 

 tion." 



The seventh section provides for an election 

 of delegates to the Confederate Congress in case 

 the Provisional Constitution was adopted. The 

 vote on the Declaration of Independence in the 

 Senate was yeas 20, nays 4; in the House, 

 yeas 46, nays 21. 



By this act, provision was made to submit to 

 the vote of the people of the State, the adoption 

 or rejection of a "Declaration of Independ- 

 ence," whereby they were to separate them- 

 selves from the Union, and adopt the Confed- 

 erate States Constitution, and abrogate that 

 part of their own Constitution which required 

 every person chosen or appointed to any office 

 of trust or profit under it, or any law made in 

 pursuance of it, before entering on the duties 

 thereof, to take an oath to support the Consti- 

 tution of the State and of the United States ; 

 and requiring each member of the Senate and 

 House of Representatives, before proceeding to 

 business, to take an oath to support the Con- 



