Secession Constitution, 1861.

ArchivalResource

Alabama. Secession Convention (1861). Secession Constitution, 1861.

Secession Constitution, 1861.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122507644

The Secession Constitution, dated 1861 Jan. 7, is written on eleven pages of parchment, each page glued to the one below it. The Constitution of 1861 is divided into the Preamble, six articles, and two explanatory provisions. The Preamble states "We, the people of the State of Alabama, having separated ourselves from the government known as the United States of America..." The Articles are divided into descriptions of the Declaration of Rights; Distribution of Powers; Legislative Dept.; Executive Dept. and Militia; Judicial Dept. and Impeachment; General Provisions; Education; Banking; and Slavery. The first explanatory provision describes the change from the territorial to the state form of government. The second explanatory provision describes the secession of the State of Alabama from the government of the U.S. and the mode of amending and revising the Constitution. The document is twenty feet and eight inches in length. When rolled, it is one foot and eleven and three-quarters inches in length and approximately two and three quarters inches in diameter. The document has been placed in an acid-free roll storage box. An eighth of an inch of polyethylene has been rolled around the Constitution to add some cushion and support to the document within the container. It was filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

1 item (one oversized roll storage box).

Alabama Department of Archives and History