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Judah Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin (August 6, 1811–May 6, 1884) was a British-American politician and lawyer, who served as a representative in the Louisiana State Legislature, as U.S. Senator for Louisiana, in three successive cabinet posts in the government of the Confederate States of America, and as a distinguished barrister and Queen's Counsel in England. He was the second Jew (after David Levy Yulee of Florida) to serve as a U.S. Senator and the first in the cabinet of a North American government, and had the opportunity to be the first Jewish nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, though he declined the position.
Family and Early Life
Benjamin was born a British subject in Christiansted, Saint Croix, in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands), to Sephardic Jewish parents, Phillip Benjamin and Rebecca de Mendes. He emigrated with his parents to the U.S. several years later and grew up in North and South Carolina. In 1824, his father was one of the founders of the "Reformed Society of Israelites for Promoting True Principles of Judaism According to Its Purity and Spirit" in Charleston, the first Reform congregation in the United States. He attended Fayetteville Academy in North Carolina, and at the age of fourteen he entered Yale Law School, though he left without a degree. In 1832 he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he continued his study of law, was admitted into the bar that same year, and entered private practice as a commercial lawyer.
In 1833 Benjamin made a strategic marriage to Natalie St. Martin, of a prominent New Orleans Creole family; the marriage does not seem to have been a happy one. He became a slave owner and established a sugar plantation in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, and both the plantation and his legal practice prospered. In 1842, his only child, Ninette, was born, and Natalie took the girl and moved to Paris, where she would remain for most of the remainder of her life. The same year, he was elected to the lower house of the Louisiana State Legislature as a Whig, and in 1845 he served as a member of the state Constitutional Convention. In 1850 he sold his plantation and its 150 slaves; he never again owned any slaves.
Senator
By 1852, Benjamin's reputation as an eloquent speaker and subtle legal mind was sufficient to win him selection by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate. Also, the outgoing President, Millard Fillmore of the Whig Party (United States), offered to nominate Benjamin to fill a Supreme Court vacancy after the Senate Democrats had defeated Fillmore's other nominees for that post, and the New York Times reported (on February 15, 1853) that "if the President nominates Benjamin, the Democrats are determined to confirm him." But, Benjamin declined to be nominated. He took office as a Senator on March 4, 1853. During his first year as a Senator, he challenged another young Senator, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, to a duel over a perceived insult on the Senate floor; Davis apologized, and the two began a close friendship.
He quickly gained a reputation as one of the great orators of the Senate, and in 1854 Franklin Pierce offered him nomination to a seat on the Supreme Court, which he declined. He was a noted advocate of the interests of the South, and his most famous exchange on the Senate floor was related to both his religion and the issue of slavery: Benjamin Wade of Ohio accused him of being an "Israelite in Egyptian clothing," and he replied that, "It is true that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings of Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain."
He was again selected to serve as Senator for the term beginning in 1859, but this time as a Democrat. During the 34th through 36th Congresses he was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims. Benjamin resigned his seat on February 4, 1861, due to the secession of Louisiana from the Union.
Confederate
Davis appointed Benjamin to be the first Attorney General of the Confederacy on February 25, 1861, remarking later that he chose him for the position because he "had a very high reputation as a lawyer, and my acquaintance with him in the Senate had impressed me with the lucidity of his intellect, his systematic habits, and capacity for labor."
In September of the same year, he became the acting Secretary of War, and in November he was confirmed in the post. He became a lightning rod for popular discontent with the Confederacy's military situation, and came to quarrel particularly with the Confederate Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson. The criticism came to a head over the loss of Roanoke Island to the Union without a fight in February 1862. Rather than publicly reveal the pressing shortage of military manpower that had led to the decision not to defend Roanoke, he accepted Congressional censure for the action without protest and resigned his position. As a reward for his loyalty, Davis appointed him Secretary of State in March 1862.
Benjamin's foremost goal as Secretary of State was to draw the United Kingdom into the war on the side of the Confederacy. In 1864, as the South's military position became increasingly desperate, he came to publicly advocate a plan where any slave who was willing to bear arms for the Confederacy would be emancipated and inducted into the military; this would have the dual effect of removing the greatest obstacle in British public opinion to an alliance with the Confederacy, popular aversion to slavery, and easing the shortage of soldiers that crippled the South's military efforts. Robert E. Lee came to be a proponent of the scheme as well, but it faced stiff opposition from traditionalists, and was not passed until the late spring of 1865. By this point, the Southern cause could not have been salvaged by any means.
Exile
In the immediate aftermath of the end of the war, an unfounded rumor, tinged with anti-Semitism, that Benjamin had masterminded the assassination of Abraham Lincoln through his intelligence apparatus became popular. Fearing that he could never receive a fair trial in the atmosphere of the time, he burnt his papers and fled to England under a false name.
In June 1866, he was called to the bar in England, the beginning of a successful and lucrative second career as a barrister. In 1868, he published Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property, which came to be regarded as one of the classics of its field. In 1872 he became Queen's Counsel. He died in Paris on May 6, 1884, and was interred at Père Lachaise cemetery under the name of Philippe Benjamin.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
Benjamin, Judah P.
1811
1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).
Events
- February 5 - George, Prince of Wales becomes Regent because of the perceived insanity of his father, King George III of the United Kingdom.He is known as the Prince Regent. This is the beginning of the period known as the English Regency.
- March 1 - Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali kills the last Mamluk leaders in the Citadel Massacre
- March 13 - Battle of Lissa (1811) - British fleet defeats the French one
- March 25 - The Great Comet of 1811 is discovered by Honoré Flaugergues.
- April 5- April 6 - Revolutionary riots in Buenos Aires.
- May 14 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
- May 16 - Battle of Albuhera
- July 5 - Venezuela declares its independence from Spain.
- July 11 - Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro publishes his memoire about molecular content of gases
- September - First annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz (pilgrimage) of Breslov Hasidim to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, Ukraine, led by Nathan of Nemirov.
- October 11 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
- November - Luddite uprisings begin in northern England and Midlands
- November 16 - Earthquake in Mississippi Valley near New Madrid reverses the course of the river for a while
- London and Westminster Chartered Gas Society founded in London
- Bolivia declares indepencence
- Uruguay revolts against Spain
- Battle of Tippecanoe
Ongoing events
- Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)-Peninsular War
Births
- January 9 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (d. 1856)
- January 17 - Joshua Abraham Norton, self-declared Emperor Norton I of the United States (d. 1880)
- February 3 - Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)
- February 6 - Henry George Liddell, English clergyman (d. 1898)
- March 20 - Napoleon II of France (d. 1832)
- March 30 - Robert Bunsen, German chemist and inventor (d. 1899)
- July 18 - William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist (d. 1863)
- August 31 - Theophile Gautier, French writer (d. 1872)
- September 19 - Orson Pratt, American religious leader (d. 1881)
- October 22 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer and pianist (d. 1886)
- October 27 - Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
- November 21 - Zeng Guofan, Chinese official and military leader (d. 1872)
- November 24 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1890)
- December 21 - Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
Deaths
- January 10 - Marie-Joseph Chénier, French poet (b. 1764)
- May 28 - Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, British minister (b. 1742)
- September 8 - Peter Simon Pallas, German zoologist (b. 1741)
- October 11 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (b. 1724)
- November 21 - Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (suicide) (b. 1777)
- November 27 - Andrew Meikle, English engineer (b. 1719)
Category:1811
ko:1811년
ms:1811
May 6
May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). There are 239 days remaining.
Events
- 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
- 1536 - King Henry VIII orders Bibles be placed in every church.
- 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
- 1757 - Battle of Prague - A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
- 1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.
- 1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
- 1877 - Realizing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
- 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
- 1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
- 1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
- 1937 - Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
- 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
- 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- 1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
- 1945 - World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
- 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
- 1960 - Princess Margaret's wedding day.
- 1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
- 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
- 1988 - An airplane going from Namsos to Brønnøysund in Norway crashes into the side of the Torghatten mountain, killing all 36 passengers and crew.
- 1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurate the opening of the Channel Tunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age.
- 1998 - The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
- 1999 - In New York, a parole board votes to release Amy Fisher, in prison for the last 7 years for shooting her lover's wife.
- 2002 - Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf.
- 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation announces that they have changed their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.
- 2004 - The last episode of the popular television sitcom Friends airs.
Births
- 1397 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1450)
- 1501 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)
- 1574 - Pope Innocent X (d. 1655)
- 1638 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1696)
- 1713 - Charles Batteux, French philosopher (d. 1780)
- 1758 - André Masséna, French marshal (d. 1817)
- 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary (d. 1794)
- 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
- 1797 - Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
- 1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1939)
- 1856 - Robert Peary, American explorer (d. 1920)
- 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author (d. 1941)
- 1861 - Motilal Nehru, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
- 1868 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (d. 1927)
- 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1871 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1871 - Christian Morgenstern, German author (d. 1914)
- 1879 - Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
- 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter (d. 1938)
- 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany (d. 1951)
- 1895 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
- 1902 - Harry Golden, American journalist (d. 1981)
- 1902 - Max Ophüls, German-born director (d. 1957)
- 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born founder of the Feldenkrais method (d. 1984)
- 1904 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1906 - Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican writer (d. 2005)
- 1915 - Orson Welles, American director (d. 1985)
- 1915 - Theodore H. White, American writer (d. 1986)
- 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Erich Fried, German author (d. 1988)
- 1929 - Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1931 - Willie Mays, baseball player
- 1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, American boxer
- 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American musician
- 1945 - Bob Seger, American singer
- 1947 - Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher
- 1948 - Mary MacGregor, American singer
- 1952 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
- 1953 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1955 - Tom Bergeron, American game show host
- 1960 - John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
- 1961 - George Clooney, American actor
- 1964 - Dana Hill, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1972 - Martin Brodeur, Canadian hockey player
Deaths
- 680 - Muawiyah I, caliph (b. 602)
- 1502 - James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (executed)
- 1555 - Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)
- 1596 - Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)
- 1620 - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)
- 1631 - Robert Bruce Cotton, English poltician
- 1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
- 1708 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
- 1757 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (b. 1683)
- 1757 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
- 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)
- 1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (b. 1804)
- 1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)
- 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
- 1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)
- 1939 - Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)
- 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
- 1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1987 - William Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. [[1913]])
- [[1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
- 1995 - Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Braganca (b. 1907)
- 2002 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher
Holidays and observances
- Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (2005)
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Evodius test change (d. 69)
- Saint Justus (d. 168)
- Maurelius (d. 542)
- Bonizella Piccolomini Cacciaconti
- Saint Prudence (d. 1492)
- Edward Jones and Anthony Middleton, martyrs of England and Wales.
- No Pants Day in 2005
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050506.html The New York Times: On This Day]
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May 5 – May 7 – April 6 – June 6 – listing of all days
ko:5월 6일
ms:6 Mei
ja:5月6日
simple:May 6
th:6 พฤษภาคม
18841884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar).
Events
- January 4 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
- January 18 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- February 1 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- March 13 - The siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins (ends on January 26, 1885).
- April 22 - Colchester earthquake, England; the UK's most destructive.
- May 1 - the first proclamation of eight-hour workday by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1st, called May Day or Labour Day, is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
- July 5 - Germany takes possession of Cameroon.
- August 5 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
- August 10 - A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland.
- October - International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
- October 6 - United States Naval War College established in Newport, Rhode Island.
- October 18 - University of Wales, Bangor (UK) founded.
- October 22 - The first woman recieves a degree from an Irish university. The degree is granted by the Royal University of Ireland.
- November 1 - The Irish Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Thurles, Ireland.
- November 2 - Timisoara is the first town of Europe with streets illuminated by electric light.
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election: Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
- November 15 - The Berlin Conference which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa begins (ends February 26, 1885).
- November 25 - British surgeon John Dooglee makes the first successful removal of a brain tumor.
- December 1 - American Old West - Near Frisco, New Mexico (now Reserve, New Mexico), deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarthy (the cowboys were terrorizing the area's Hispanos and Baca was working against them).
- December 6 - Washington Monument was completed.
- December 16 - World Cotton Centennial World's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Bechuanaland becomes British protectorate.
- Stefan-Boltzmann law reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann.
- British Police officers go on armed patrol in London.
- Mark Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Environmental change
- The Water Hyacinth is introduced in the US and quickly becomes an invasive species
Births
January-March
- January 2 - Oscar Micheaux, American filmmaker and author (d. 1951)
- January 12 - Texas Guinan, American vaudeville performer (d. 1933)
- January 13 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born singer and comedienne (d. 1966)
- January 21 - Roger Baldwin, American social activist (d. 1981)
- January 23 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (d. 1956)
- January 28 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist, balloonist, and inventor (d. 1962)
- January 31 - Theodor Heuss, German politician and publicist (d. 1963)
- February 12 - Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1950)
- February 12 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
- February 13 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete and inventor (d. 1961)
- February 14 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
- February 16 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (d. 1951)
- February 18 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (d. 1970)
- February 22 - Abe Attell, American boxer (d. 1970)
- March 1 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820)
- March 13 - Sir Hugh Walpole, English novelist (d. 1941)
- March 17 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz musician (d. 1934)
- March 24 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- March 25 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950)
- March 26 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
April-December
- April 4 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
- April 6 - Walter Huston, actor (d. 1950)
- April 12 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, Germn-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951)
- May 1 - Henry Norwest, Canadian World War I sniper (d. 1918)
- May 8 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
- May 10 - Olga Petrova English-born actress (d. 1977)
- May 14 - Claudius Dornier, German aircraft designer (d. 1969)
- May 27 - Max Brod, Austrian author (d. 1968)
- May 28 - Edvard Beneš, Austrian politician (d. 1948)
- July 12 - Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1920)
- July 23 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (d. 1950)
- August 23 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (d. 1949)
- August 30 - Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- September 17 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)
- October 11 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
- October 11 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
- November 19 - José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (d. 1942)
- November 20 - Norman Thomas, American social reformer (d. 1968)
- December 30 - Tojo Hideki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
Exact month/day unknown
- M. Louise Gross, American politician and lobbyist (d. 1951)
- Claudius Dornier, German aeroplane builder
Deaths
- January 6 - Gregor Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)
- January 25 - Johann Gottfried Piefke, German conductor and composer (b. 1815)
- March 21 - Ezra Abbot, American Bible scholar (b. 1819)
- April 4 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist (b. 1858)
- May 12 - Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
- May 13 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809)
- June 25 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (b. 1858)
- July 1 - Allan Pinkerton, American detective (b. 1819)
- July 10 - Paul Morphy, American chess player (b. 1837)
- November 25 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818)
Category:1884
ko:1884년
ms:1884
simple:1884
th:พ.ศ. 2427
Louisiana
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Louisiana State Quarter (reverse)
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Louisiana (pronounced or ) (French: Louisiane, pronounced Image:ltspkr.png) is a Southern state of the United States of America.
It uses the U.S. postal abbreviation LA. The state is bordered to the west by the state of Texas, to the north by Arkansas, to the east by the state of Mississippi, and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico. Among the states, Louisiana has a unique culture, owing to its French colonial heritage. While the state has no declared "official language," its law recognizes both English and French. Today, English is by far the main language of everyday life, but French is spoken by nearly 5% of the population and its influence can be seen in local dialects and in many place names.
History
Louisiana was long inhabited by Native American tribes before the arrival of Europeans. The lasting mark of the Native Americans can be seen even today in the names used in Louisiana, such as Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles Parish).
What follows is a partial list, using current parish boundaries as rough approximations of locations.
- The Atakapa were found in southwestern Louisiana in the parishes of Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu.
- The Chitimachas occupied the southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St Mary, Lower St. Martin, Terrebone, LaFourche, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Bo St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.
- The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, were found in points directly north of the Chitimachas, in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany.
- The Houma tribe, was found in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee parishes; Ironically about 100 miles north of current location of the town named after them.
- Portions of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River were home to the Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation.
- The northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, and East and West Carroll were occupied by the Tunica tribe.
- The remainder of current day central and north Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation.
The first European explorers to visit what is now Louisiana were a 1528 Spanish expedition (led by Panfilo de Narváez) that located the mouth of the Mississippi River. Some 13 years later Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed through the region. Thereafter the region was long neglected by the Spanish authorities, and the next explorers were French. Louisiana was named by the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle in honor of Louis XIV in 1682. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi, was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699.
The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed a great region of land on both sides of the Mississippi River and north to Canada.The settlement of Natchitoches (located along the Red River in present day North West Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, making it the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory. The French settlement had two purposes; to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas, and at the same time, to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. Also the northern terminus of theOld San Antonio Road (sometimes called El Camino Real, or Kings Highway)was at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Natchitoches soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river. Planters built magnificent plantations down river and built fine homes in town for social events. Most of the other settlements concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, with trading outposts and mission settlements in the Illinois Country, as far north as Peoria, Illinois and a number of settlements in the area around near present-day Saint Louis, Missouri. See also: French colonization of the Americas
Initially Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi functioned as the capital of the colony; from 1722 on New Orleans fulfilled that role.
Most of the territory to the east of the Mississippi was lost to Great Britain in the French and Indian War, except for the area around New Orleans and the parishes around Lake Pontchartrain. The rest of Louisiana became a colony of Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau of 1762.
During the period of Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia made their way to Louisiana following British expulsion; settling largely in the southwestern bayous, they became known as the Cajuns.
In 1800, France's Napoleon Bonaparte re-acquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, although this was kept secret for some two years.
In 1803, the United States purchased the French province of Louisiana (see Louisiana Purchase) and divided it into two territories: the Orleans Territory (which became the state of Louisiana in 1812) and the District of Louisiana (which consisted of all the land not included in Orleans Territory). The Florida Parishes were annexed from Spanish West Florida by proclamation of President James Madison in 1810. The western boundary of Louisiana with Spanish Texas remained in dispute until the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, with the Sabine Free State serving as a neutral buffer zone as well as a haven for criminals.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France, including: the use of a civil law legal system, based on the Louisiana Civil Code, which is similar to (and often confused with) the Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a common law legal system derived from England), the term "parishes" being used to describe the state's sub-divisions as opposed to "counties", etc.
In 1849 the capital moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Shreveport have also briefly served as the seat of governments of Louisiana.
Louisiana was a slave state. It did, however, have one of the largest free black populations in the United States. Many of the freed slaves in Louisiana in turn purchased their own slaves, which led to the state having one of the largest numbers of slave owning blacks in America, if not the largest.
In the American Civil War, Louisiana seceded from the Union on January 26, 1861. New Orleans was captured by Federal troops on April 25, 1862. As significant portions of the population had Union sympathies, the Federal government took the unusual step of recognizing the areas of Louisiana under Federal control as a state within the Union with elected representatives who were sent to the congress in Washington, D.C. throughout the rest of the war.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated a vast area of the state. Southeastern Louisiana was one of the hardest hit areas, and New Orleans was hit particularly hard, and didn't begin to reopen until October. Estimates are that more than two million people were displaced by the hurricane and thousands are feared dead. Widespread looting and violence was reported, especially in New Orleans. The next month, the Southwestern corner of the state was hit by Hurricane Rita. These dual disasters will cost the state tens of billions of dollars immediately, and the long term economic repercussions can only be guessed.
Law and government
The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge. Its governor is Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (Democrat) and its two U.S. senators are Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven Members of Congress, five Republicans and two Democrats.
Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is based on Roman, Spanish, and French civil law as opposed to English common law. Technically, it is known as "Civil Law," or the "Civilian System." It is often incorrectly referred to as the "Code Napoléon" or The Napoleonic Code. It is important to note that the Louisiana Civil Code and the French Civil Code, often referred to as the Napoleonic Code, came into existence at roughly the same time. Louisiana was never governed by the Napoleonic Code.
Great differences still exist between Louisiana Civil Law and the Common Law found in her 49 sister states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of the Common Law in the United States,[http://www.kinsellalaw.com/publications/kinsella_civil-common-law-dictionary.pdf] it is important to note that the "Civilian" tradition is still deeply rooted in all aspects of Louisiana law. Property, contractual, and family law are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking and have little in common with English law.
Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in its method for state, local, and congressional elections. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in an open primary on Election Day. If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This runoff does not take into account party identification; therefore, it is not uncommon for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. All other states use the First Past the Post electoral system to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials.
In 2001, Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 1% of the population of Louisiana imprisoned (1013 inmates per 100,000 people).
Geography
First Past the Post electoral system
Topography
The surface of the state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands, and the alluvial and coast and swamp regions. The alluvial regions, including the low swamps and coast lands, cover an area of about 20,000 square miles; they lie principally along the Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 miles and ultimately emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, the Red River, the Ouachita River and its branches, and other minor streams. The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles, and along the other streams it averages about 10 miles. The Mississippi flows upon a ridge formed by its own deposits, from which the lands incline toward the low swamps beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile. The lands along other streams present very similar features. These alluvial lands are never inundated save when breaks occur in the levees by which they are protected against the floods of the Mississippi and its tributaries. These floods, however, do not occur annually, and they may be said to be exceptional. With the maintenance of strong levees these alluvial lands would enjoy perpetual immunity from inundation. The uplands and contiguous hill lands have an area of more than 25,000 square miles, and they consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea-level range from 10 feet at the coast and swamp lands to 50 and 60 feet at the prairie and alluvial lands. In the uplands and hills the elevations rise to Driskill Mountain the highest point in the state at only 535 feet (163 m) above sea level, located in northwest Louisiana.
Besides the navigable rivers already named (some of which are called bayous), there are the Sabine, forming the western boundary, and the Pearl, the eastern boundary, the Calcasieu, the Mermentau, the Vermilion, the Teche, the Atchafalaya, the Boeuf, the Lafourche, the Courtableau, the D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas, the Amite, the Tchefuncte, the Tickfaw, the Natalbany, and a number of other streams of lesser note, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles in length, which is unequalled in the United States and probably in the world. The state also has 1,060 square miles of land-locked bays, 1,700 square miles of inland lakes, and a river surface of over 500 square miles.
Geology
The underlying strata of the state are of Cretaceous age and are covered by alluvial deposits of Tertiary and post-Tertiary origin. A large part of Louisiana is the creation and product of the Mississippi River. It was originally covered by an arm of the sea, and has been built up by the silt carried down the valley by the great river.
Near the coast, there are many salt domes, where salt is mined and oil is often found.
Owing to the extensive flood control measures along the Mississippi river and to natural subsidence, Louisiana is now suffering the loss of coastal land area. State and Federal government efforts to halt or reverse this phenomenon are under way; others are being sought.
Highways
Interstate highways:
- Interstate 10
- Interstate 12
- Interstate 20
- Interstate 49
- Interstate 55
- Interstate 59
There are proposed plans to extend Interstate 69 to the Texas/Mexico border, which will go through north-eastern Louisiana. Also, Interstate 49 is slated to be expanded north into Arkansas and east along Interstate 10 to New Orleans, replacing part of U.S. Highway 90.
United States highways:
Economy
The total gross state product in 2003 for Louisiana was $140 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income was $26,312, forty-third in the nation. The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood (It is the biggest producer of crawfish/crayfish in the world), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, food processing, transportation equipment, paper products, and tourism.
Demographics
As of 2003, the state's population was 4,496,334, including approximately 215,000 native French-speakers.
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 62.5% White
- 32.5% Black
- 2.4% Hispanic
- 1.2% Asian
- 0.6% Native American
- 1.1% Mixed race
- 99.9% Homosexuals
The five largest ancestries in the state are: African American (32.5%), French/French Canadian (16.2%), American (10.1%), German (7.1%), Irish (7%).
Blacks, who long made up the majority of the state's population in slavery days, dominate much of the southeast, central, and northern parts of the state, particularly those parishes along the Mississippi river valley. But, in recent years, the percentage of whites has experienced a growth due to all of the predominantly white senior citizens that have begun to relocate there because of the friendly atmosphere, mild winters, and beautiful scenery. Creoles of French and Spanish ancestry and Cajuns of French-Canadian ancestry are dominant in much of the southern part of the state. Whites of Southern U.S. background predominate in the hillier areas of northern Louisiana.
As of 2000, 91.2% of Louisiana residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 4.8% speak French. Spanish is the third most spoken language at 2.5%, followed by Vietnamese at 0.6% and German at 0.2%.
Religion
Like the other Southern states, Louisiana is mostly Protestant; however there is also a large native Catholic population in the state, particularly in the southern part of the state, which makes Louisiana unique among Southern states. The current religious affiliations of the people of Louisiana are shown in the table below:
- Christian — 90%
- Protestant — 60%
- Baptist — 38%
- Methodist — 4%
- Pentecostal — 2%
- Other Protestant – 16%
- Roman Catholic — 30%
- Other Christian — 1%
- Other Religions — <1%
- Non-Religious — 10%
The New Orleans area has a small but significant Jewish community.
Cities and towns
Cities with a population of over 10,000:
Ten richest places in Louisiana
Ranked by per capita income
#Mound: $92,200 (population 12, as of the 2000 census)
#Oak Hills Place: $34,944
#Elmwood: $34,329
#Eden Isle: $31,798
#Gilliam: $30,264
#Shenandoah: $29,722
#Westminster: $28,087
#River Ridge: $27,088
#Prien: $26,537
#Mandeville: $26,420
Education
Colleges and universities
Bossier Parish Community College
Professional sports teams
As of 2005 Louisiana is nominally the least populous state with more than one major professional sports league franchise. However, the effects of Hurricane Katrina have forced the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Hornets to play their games in Oklahoma City for the 2005-06 season. The National Football League's New Orleans Saints are playing most of their 2005 regular season games in Baton Rouge, however the long-term future of that franchise is also uncertain.
Football
- New Orleans Saints
- New Orleans VooDoo
NWFL
- New Orleans Spice
NIFL
- Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers (Lake Charles) - NIFL
AF2
- Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings - AF2
SAFL
- Baton Rouge Riverboat Bandits - SAFL
- Lake Charles RiverKats - SAFL
- Minden RoughRiders - SAFL
- Lafayette Bayou Bulls - SAFL
- Ruston Rage - SAFL
- Shreveport Steamers - SAFL
- Greater New Orleans Gladiators - SAFL
- Hammond Headhunters - SAFL
- Louisiana (Houma) Blazing Bulldogs - SAFL
- Central Louisiana Warriors - SAFL
- Slidell Steelsharks - SAFL
Defunct teams
- Shreveport Bombers - IPFL
- Louisiana Bayou Beast - IPFL
Baseball
- Minor League baseball teams
- New Orleans Zephyrs
- Shreveport Sports
- Alexandria Aces
- Baton Rouge River Bats
- Houma Hawks
- New Orleans Pelicans (1887-1959)
- New Orleans Creoles (Negro League) (dates?)
Basketball
- National Basketball Association:
- New Orleans Jazz (1974) team moved to Salt Lake City and became the Utah Jazz in 1979
- The Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 to become the New Orleans Hornets - Now known as The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (at least for 2005-06).
Hockey
- Minor League Hockey
- Louisiana IceGators (1995 - 2005) - ECHL
- Baton Rouge Kingfish (1996 - 2003) - ECHL
- New Orleans Brass (1997 - 2003) - ECHL
- Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - CHL
Miscellaneous information
- State dog : Catahoula Leopard Dog
- State bird : Eastern Brown Pelican
- State flower : Magnolia
- State fossil : Petrified palmwood
- State tree : Bald Cypress
- State mammal : Louisiana Black Bear
- State wildflower : Louisiana Iris
- State reptile : American Alligator
- State insect: Honeybee
- State crustacean : Crawfish
- State amphibian: Green Tree Frog
- State food: Gumbo
- State songs: "You Are My Sunshine," "Every Man a King," and "Give Me Louisiana"
- [http://www.csbr.org/latartan1.htm State Tartan]
- State drink: Milk
- State instrument: Diatonic Accordian
- State freshwater fish: Sac-au-Lait
- State Gemstone: Agate
- State Soil: Ruston
- State Colors: Blue, White, Gold
- State Pledge: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the state of Louisiana and to the motto for which it stands: A state, under God, united in purpose and ideals, confident that justice shall prevail for all of those abiding here.
The ancestors of Creoles generally came to Louisiana directly from France, Spain, or from the French colonies in the Caribbean and settled in New Orleans or in South Eastern Louisiana.
The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-descended people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forced all of the citizens to take a pledge of allegiance. Most Acadians declined and emigrated from Canada, most of them fleeing to the southwestern portion of Louisiana, centered in the region around Lafayette.
There is also a distinct Spanish-descended group in Louisiana. The Islenos are direct descendants of Canary Islanders forced to migrate by the Spanish King beginning in the mid-1770s. There were intended to help guard the eastern approaches to New Orleans from invasion by the British. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, in the river passes east of the city, along an old mouth of the Mississippi River which they named Terre aux Boeufs (literally "Land of Cattle" for the cattle living there). Many of their descendants remained insulated from the city, and continued to speak an archaic version of Spanish well into the 20th Century. They still maintain contacts with the Canary Islands, and have an annual "Caldo" festival named for a native dish.
For almost 20 years there was only one small amusement park in Louisiana, called Hamel's Amusement Park in Shreveport, which is now mostly closed. There is now a Six Flags in New Orleans East.
Since Louisiana is under constant threat from hurricanes, the Louisiana State Police are sponsoring a contraflow lane reversal program in order to evacuate the New Orleans metropolitan area as quickly as possible.
Louisiana's license plates include the motto "Sportsman's Paradise," which emphasizes the state's opportunities for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. The motto is often used in state tourism campaigns.
References
#Sturdevent, William C. (1967): [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/early_indian_east.jpg Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks], Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States).
- Yiannopoulos, A.N., The Civil Codes of Louisiana (reprinted from Civil Law System: Louisiana and Comparative law, A Coursebook: Texts, Cases and Materials, 3d Edition; similar to version in preface to Louisiana Civil Code, ed. by Yiannopoulos)
- Rodolfo Batiza, The Louisiana Civil Code of 1808: Its Actual Sources and
Present Relevance, 46 TUL. L. REV. 4 (1971); Rodolfo Batiza, Sources of the Civil Code of
1808, Facts and Speculation: A Rejoinder, 46 TUL. L. REV. 628 (1972); Robert A. Pascal, Sources of the Digest of 1808: A Reply to Professor Batiza, 46 TUL. L. REV. 603 (1972);
Joseph M. Sweeney, Tournament of Scholars Over the Sources of the Civil Code of 1808,46
TUL. L. REV. 585 (1972).
- Kinsella, N. Stephan, [http://www.kinsellalaw.com/publications/kinsella_civil-common-law-dictionary.pdf A Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary], 54 Louisiana Law Review 1265 (1994)
See also
- Louisiana Superdome
- Avery Island
External links
- [http://www.state.la.us Official State of Louisiana website]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Louisiana/home.html History of Louisiana]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/south-east/louisiana Photos of Louisiana - Terra Galleria]
- [http://www.lavoted.com Louisiana Politics & News]
-
Category:States of the United States
ko:루이지애나 주
ja:ルイジアナ州
simple:Louisiana
Confederate States of America:For other meanings of confederate and confederacy, see confederacy (disambiguation)
The Confederate States of America—also referred to as the Confederate States, CSA, the Confederacy and Dixie (colloquially)—was a splinter nation off the United States of America that existed between 1861 and 1865. It was located in North America, occupying the south-eastern portions of the current United States. As its existence was contested by the United States for the whole of its short-lived history, there was never a definitive delineation of Confederate States' northern boundary. Its southern land boundary was with Mexico. It was otherwise bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
For most of its life the Confederacy was engaged in the Civil War against the Union forces, mostly in defense. However, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, also made limited incursions into Union territory.
History
The Confederate States were formed on February 4, 1861, by six Southern slave states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana) after confirmation of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. Jefferson Davis was selected as its first President the next day.
Texas joined the Confederacy on March 2 and then replaced its governor, Sam Houston, when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. These seven states seceded1 from the United States and took control of military/naval installations, ports, and custom houses within their boundaries, triggering the American Civil War.
A month after the Confederacy was formed, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution was a more perfect union than the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, that it was a binding contract, and called the secession "legally void". He stated he had no intent to invade southern states, but would use force to maintain possession of federal property and collection of various federal taxes, duties and imposts. His speech closed with a plea for restoration of the bonds of union.
On April 12 South Carolina troops fired upon the Federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina until the troops surrendered. Following the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for all remaining states in the Union to send troops to recapture Sumter and other forts, defend the capital, and preserve the Union. Most Northerners believed that a quick victory for the Union would crush the nascent rebellion, and so Lincoln only called for volunteers for 90 days. This resulted in four more states voting to secede: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy for a total of 11. Once Virginia seceded, the Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia
The government of Kentucky remained in the Union after a short-lived attempt at neutrality, but a rival faction from that state was also accepted as members of the Confederacy. A more complex situation surrounds the Missouri Secession, but in any event Missouri was also considered a member of the Confederate States. The number of Confederate states is thus sometimes considered to be 13.
The five tribal governments of the Indian Territory—which became Oklahoma in 1907—also mainly supported the Confederacy. The southern part of New Mexico Territory (including parts of the Gadsden Purchase) joined with the Confederacy as Arizona Territory. These first settlers petitioned the Confederate government for annexation of their lands, prompting an expedition in which territory south of the 34th parallel was governed by the Confederacy. Arizona troops were also officially recognized within the armies of the Confederacy.
Preceding his New Mexico Campaign, General Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico his intentions of taking possession of the territory in the name of the Confederate States. Confederate troops briefly occupied the territorial capital of Santa Fe between March 13 and April 8, 1862.
Not all jurisdictions where slavery was still legal joined the Confederacy. In 1861 martial law was declared in Maryland (the state which borders the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., on three sides) to block attempts at secession. Delaware, also a slave state, never considered secession, nor did the capital of the U.S., Washington, D.C.. In 1861, during the war, a unionist rump legislature in Wheeling, Virginia seceded from Virginia, claiming 48 counties, and joined the United States in 1863 as the state of West Virginia, with a constitution that would have gradually abolished slavery[http://www.ls.net/~newriver/va/vasecesh.htm]. Similar attempts to secede from the Confederacy in parts of other states (notably in eastern Tennessee) were held in check by Confederacy declarations of martial law[http://www.aotc.net/Marxen.htm][http://web.utk.edu/~jharvey2/kville%20before%20siege.htm].
The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by General Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 is generally taken as the end of the Confederate States. President Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on May 10 and the remaining Confederate armies surrendered by June 1865. The last Confederate flag was hauled down on CSS Shenandoah on November 6, 1865.
Government and politics
Constitution
1865
The Confederate States Constitution provides much insight into the motivations for secession from the Union. Based to a certain extent on both the Articles of Confederation and on the United States Constitution, it reflected a stronger philosophy of states' rights, curtailing the power of the central authority, and also contained explicit protection of the institution of slavery, though international slave trading was prohibited. It differed from the US Constitution chiefly by addressing the grievances of the secessionist states against the federal government of the United States. For example, the Confederate government was prohibited from instituting protective tariffs, making southern ports more attractive to international traders. Prior to the declarations of secession, most southerners regarded protective tariffs as a measure that enriched the northern states at the expense of the south. The Confederate government was also prohibited from using revenues collected in one state for funding internal improvements in another state. At the same time, however, much of the Confederate constitution was a word-for-word duplicate of the US one.
At the drafting of the Constitution of the Confederacy, a few radical proposals such as allowing only slave states to join and the reinstatement of the Atlantic slave trade were turned down. The Constitution specifically did not include a provision allowing states to secede, since the southerners considered this to be a right intrinsic to a sovereign state which the United States Constitution had not required them to renounce, and thus including it as such would have weakened their original argument for secession.
The President of the Confederacy was to be elected to a six-year term and could not be reelected. The only president was Jefferson Davis; the Confederacy was defeated by the f | | |
