The Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1861 was held for the purpose of constructing a
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
to respond to the newly formed
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
. It prohibited the legislature from making any law that would free slaves (Article II, Section VII).
The convention enshrined the concept that the state should be sovereign in many matters. It met sporadically from January 16 to March 23, 1861, in
Milledgeville. It voted to secede from the Union. It created the first new constitution since 1798. Secession helped precipitate the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
thus significantly altering the history of the state. Constitutional conventions in Georgia were held after the Civil War in 1865 and 1867–1868.
Notes
External links
Constitution of 1861
Government of Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War
American constitutional conventions
Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state)
Provisional governments
Legal history of Georgia (U.S. state)
1861 in Georgia (U.S. state)
1861 conferences
Secession crisis of 1860–61
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