The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-12-02
THE REBEL CONGRESS-.
Resolutions Defining the Position o.
the Confederate States.


the Confederate States.
RICHMOND, Nov. 1s.
In the Senate, to-day, Mr.. Henry, of
Tenn, introduced the following, which
were read and ordered to be printed:
Joint resolutions defining the position of the
Confederate States, and declaring the determi-
nation of the Congress and the people thereof
to prosecute the war till their independence is
acknowledged:
Resoloed, By the Congress of the COnfeder.
ate States of America, That the people of the
Confederate States are endowed by their Crea-
tor with the inalienable rights of life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure
these high rights governments were instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, and whenever
any government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
abolish it and to institute new government
laying its foundation on such principles and or
ganizing its powers in such form as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness; that on these principles, embodied
in the declaration of American Independence,
the United Colonies, in 1916, dissolved the
connection that bound them to the government
OF Great Britain, and on them the Confederate
States have severed the bonds of that political
union which connected them with the people
and the government of the United States of
America, rather than submit to the repeated
injuries inflicted upon them by that people, to
the usurpations of that government all of
which had the direct object to deprive them of
their rights; rob them OF property secured to
them by constitutional guarantees, and to es-
tablish an absolute tyranny over these states.
ResOlued, That the Confederate States appeal
ell to arms in defence of these rights and to
establish these principles only after they had
in vain cOnjured the people and the govern
ment of the United States by all the ties of
common kindred, to discountenance and dis.
continue these injuries and usurpations, and
after they had petitiOned for redress in the
most appropriate terms, and received in an
swer only a repetition of insults and injuries,
which foreshadowed usurpations still more
dangerous to liberty,
Resolced, That after four years of cruel
desOlating and unnatural war; in which the
people OF the Confederate States have unques-
tionably established their capacity for self-gov-
ernment, and their ability to resist the attempts
of the enemy to subjugate them, this congress
does not hesitate to aver its sincere desire for
peace, and to that end prOclaims to the world
the readiness of the government of the Con-
federate States to open negotiations to establish
apermanent and honorable peace between the
Confederate States and the United States upon
the basis of the separate independence of the
former.
Rssoloed, That the time has come when the
Confederate Congress, in the name of the peO-
pie of the Confederate States, deem it proper
again TO proclaim to the world their unalter-
able determination to be free, and that they do
not abate one jot of their high resolve to die
freemen rather than live slaves; and further
If the people of the United States by re elect
ing Abraham Lincoln, mean to tender to them
four years more of war, or reunion with them
on any terms, deeply deprecating the dire ne
cessity 80 wantOnly thrust upon them, and re.
lying upon the justice of their cause and the
gallantry of their soldiers, they accept the gage
cf battle, and leave the result to the righteous
arbitrament of heaven.
Resolved That in view OF the determination
of the enemy to prosecute this horrid war still
further. against which the Confederate States
have at all times protested, and which the enc
my have waged with extraordinary vigOr, and
winch has been marked by acts of extraordinary
atrOcity, in violation of the usages of civilized
warfare. the Congress of the Confederate States
WILL from this hour, dedicate themselves anew
to the great canse of self defence against the
combined tyranny of the enemy. That it shall
no longer be the mOmentOus occupation of the
Congress and the people of the Confederate
States. but the business of their lives, to gather
together the entire strength of the country in
men and material of war, and put it forth, as
with the will of one man, and with an uncon.
querable determination to defend their affairs
and their tresides till the last votary of freedom
falls around them.