If Lincoln had not died

[Liz Rosenthal]

(01-10-2013 01:47 PM)william l. richter Wrote:  Where in the US Constitution are the individual rights? Then read the CSA Constitution Article VI, Sections V and VI. The Confeds copied almost everything in the US Constit and the 12 Amendments verbatim but placed it in the body of the document often under different headings. But what do I know?

You're right - the Confederate Bill of Rights was basically copied from the U.S. Constitution. I was actually thinking of the Preamble, which would be very important in construing the meaning of the rest of the Constitution, and I'm sorry I wasn't more clear. The Confederate Preamble speaks of the Confederacy being brought together by the states rather than by the people. Here is the Confederate Preamble
(I'm bolding the notable difference from the U.S. Constitution):

We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity — invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God — do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.