HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
CHAPTER IX.
The Six Seceding States and date of their Separation—Organization of the Southern Congress—Names of Members—Election of President and Vice President, and Sketch of their Lives—The New Constitution—The City of Montgomery, &c., &c.
On Saturday, February 9, 1861, six seceding States of the old Union organized an independent government, adopted a constitution, and elected a President and Vice President. These States passed their respective ordinances of dissolution as follows:—
| STATE. | DATE. | YEAS. | NAYS. | |||
| South Carolina | Dec. 20, 1860 | 169 | — | |||
| Mississippi | Jan. 9, 1861 | 84 | 15 | |||
| Alabama | Jan. 11, 1861 | 61 | 39 | |||
| Florida | Jan. 11, 1861 | 62 | 7 | |||
| Georgia | Jan. 19, 1861 | 228 | 89 | |||
| Louisiana | Jan. 25, 1861 | 113 | 17 |
Only two of the seceding States—South Carolina and Georgia—were original members of the confederacy. The others came in in the following order:—
| Louisiana | April 8, 1812 | |
| Mississippi | Dec 10, 1817 | |
| Alabama | Dec 14, 1819 | |
| Florida | March 3, 1845 | |
| Texas | Dec 29, 1845 |
The Convention which consummated this event assembled on the 4th of February, at Montgomery, Alabama. Hon. R. M. Barnwell, of South Carolina, being appointed temporary chairman, the Divine blessing was invoked by Rev. Dr. Basil Manly.
We give this first impressive prayer in the Congress of the new Confederacy below, and further add, as an illustration of the religious earnestness by which the delegates were one and all animated, that the ministers of Montgomery were invited to open the deliberations each day with invocations to the Throne of Grace:—