Texas had previously adopted an ordinance of secession which went into effect when it was certified by the popular vote and that state soon afterwards became also one of the Confederate States.
A permanent constitution was adopted for the Confederate States to go into effect on the 22d of February, 1862, modelled after that of the United States, but containing some changes in the details and the powers delegated, with more ample recognition of states rights and a prohibition of the introduction of slaves from any other than the slave-holding states and territories of the United States.
The secession of these states had been without violence, except to take possession of some forts and arsenals of the United States within the limits of the seceding states, which had been accomplished without bloodshed. Commissioners were appointed to the United States government, to effect a peaceful settlement of all questions between the two governments in regard to the public debt, territory, etc.
This change in the relations of the seceding states to the United States resulted in no change whatever in the domestic affairs of those states, but they continued to be regulated as before under the laws and constitutions of the several states.
[CHAPTER V]
Action of the Border Slave States—Convention of Virginia
The "Border Slave States," as they were called, including North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, which immediately joined the "Cotton States" on the south, though equally appreciating the outrages upon their rights and the dangers to be apprehended in the future, were not at first disposed to secede, as they had cherished such an habitual attachment to the Union that they were exceedingly loth to give it up, being governed by that sentiment described in the Declaration of Independence in the assertion "that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
The majority of the people of those states were actuated by hope that the party which was about to obtain possession of the government would not long hold together, and they trusted that the sober second thought of the people of the North would keep the dominant party within bounds until it could be ejected from power, and that in the meantime guaranties might be obtained for the rights of the states, so as to bring the government back to a conformity with its original designs, and effect a restoration of the Union. This was especially the case with the State of Virginia, which had made so many sacrifices to establish and perpetuate the Union, which in great part had been the work of her own hands. The legislature of Virginia was in session when the secession of the "Cotton States" began, and the crisis was of such a threatening nature that an act was passed, providing for the assemblage of a convention, vested with the sovereign power of the state, but directing at the same time, that a vote should be taken upon the question of any ordinance of secession which might be adopted, and that it should be submitted to the popular vote for ratification before it should be effectual. The legislature also by resolution, invited a convention of commissioners from all of the non-seceding states, North and South, to assemble at Washington for the purpose of consulting upon and devising some plan for adjusting the pending difficulties with a view to a restoration of the Union. This latter convention assembled and was known as the "Peace Convention."