It was a sandy
foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the storm came
and the wind blew. Our new government is founded upon exactly the
opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon
the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that
slavery--subordination to the white race--is his natural and normal
condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the
world based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

The Louisiana convention voted to secede January 26, and Texas February
1. The seven seceded States sent delegates to a convention which met at
Montgomery, February 4. They quickly organized the Confederate States of
America, with a Constitution closely resembling that of the United
States. One article forbade the foreign slave trade, except that with
"the United States of America," which was left subject to Congress.
Davis was elected President, by general agreement. He was clearly marked
for the place by ability, by civil and military experience, by
unblemished character, and by his record as a firm but not extreme
champion of the Secessionist cause. He disclaimed any desire for the
office, preferring the position which Mississippi had given him as
commander of her forces, but when the summons came to him at his
plantation home he promptly accepted. Stephens was chosen
Vice-President, in spite of his late and half-hearted adherence, to
conciliate Georgia and the old Whigs. In the Cabinet the leading figures
were Toombs of Georgia and Benjamin of Louisiana.

With this purposeful, swift, and effective action, Secession seemed to
have reached its limit. The other Southern States held back. Among the
plain folk, not over-heated about politics, there was wide
disinclination to any such extreme measure as disunion. It was well
represented by Robert E. Lee, in whom the best blood and worthiest
tradition of Virginia found fit exemplar. He wrote to his son, January
23: "Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our
Constitution never expended so much labor, wisdom and forbearance, in
its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if
it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at
will."

North Carolina voted against a convention by 1,000 majority. Tennessee
voted against it by 92,000 to 25,000. Arkansas postponed action till
August. Missouri held a convention which voted not to seced