The Provisional and Permanent Constitutions of the Confederacy-- Part 1 Rescued From Chester, S.C.

From the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries.

The Congress of delegates from the seceding states convened in Montgomery, Alabama,  on February 4, 1861.  They quickly  adopted a provisional Constitution, and, in less than a month, devised and approved a permanent Constitution, which was adopted March 11, 1861.

The original signed manuscript consists of five vellum  sheets pasted together in a roll 148 1/2 inches long.  The manuscript was part of a wagon load of boxes  rescued from the railroad station in Chester, S.C.,  in April 1865 by Felix G. DeFontaine, a newspaper correspondent during the war.

--Old Secesh