Southern Confederacy planned

Inside the Alabama State Capitol Dome

• In Montgomery, the delegates debate in convention and decide to draft a provisional and permanent Constitution and plan to elect a provisional President and Vice President for a Southern Confederacy. Christopher Memminger of South Carolina says plans are proceeding for “a Confederacy of the States which have seceded from the Federal Union.”/1861 

• In Washington, lame duck President Buchanan with less than a month left in office, dismisses any notion that the United States will give up jurisdiction over Fort Sumter. If Federal forces will leave, then South Carolina will have to drive them out. Meanwhile in another part of town, the Peace Convention attempts to arrange some settlement of the differences between the seceding states and those who desire to uphold the Union. Former US President John Tyler, speaking the delegates, says, “the eyes of the whole country are turned to this assembly, in expectation and hope.”/1861