Preserving State's Rights to Enslave
Official letters sent by the Confederate government
"Will the South give up the institution of slavery, and consent that her citizens be stripped of their property, her civilization destroyed, the whole land laid waste by fire and sword? It is impossible; she can not, she will not.
His Excellency B. Magoffin, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Gentlemen of the Congress: It is my pleasing duty to announce to you that the Constitution framed for the establishment of a permanent Government for the Confederate States has been ratified by conventions in each of those States to which it was re-ferred.