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Description and Holding Information
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1861, Rebel Legislature, Sen. Jrnl. & Session Laws
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Missouri; Journal of Senate [& session laws]; Extra session, Rebel Legislature; Held at Neosho, Newton County, Missouri, 21st October, 1861;
[Including the “Act of Secession,” that ratifying the Constitution of the Confederate States; etc., etc.]: n.a., 45p,; facsimile reprint, Wash., Statute Law
Book Co., 1916. (Lacks TOC & index. The original title page carried the following: “Journal of the Senate, extra session of the Rebel Legislature,
called together by a proclamation of C.F. Jackson; Begun and held at the town of… {Neosho, Newton Cnty., MO, 21 Oct. 1861}: Jefferson City, Emory S.
Foster, Public Printer, 1865-6.” In the fall of 1861, Clairborne Fox Jackson, the lawfully elected Governor of the State of Missouri, who shortly after
election became a secessionist, set up a provisional government, capital, and legislature. The latter convened in the town of Neosho, 30 miles from
Arkansas in the far southwest corner of the territory. On October 28, the legislature took up a bill for Missouri’s secession from the Union, citing
various "outrages" committed against the state and the overthrow of its government by Union forces. The bill, passed on Oct. 30/31, was signed by Governor
Jackson on Nov. 1, 1861. {see p.35, last line}. The Neosho Secession Ordinance has long been a source of mystery for historians due to the unusual
circumstances surrounding its passage. Ironically, the authority to secede had originally been given by the legitimate state legislature to a State
Constitutional Convention based on a belief that a constitutional rewrite might be required for an ordinance of secession to be effective; it being unclear
whether the legislature had the authority to secede under State, if not Federal law, without the direction of a convention. At the same time, however,
it is questionable as to whether that State Constitutional convention had the legal power to expel, as it did, both the entire executive and
legislature from office and appoint new state officers; especially considering that, at that point in time, no ordinance of secession had been passed, and it
was legally nebulous whether any of the previous officers had committed treason or other impeachable offenses. Questions remain unresolved to this day
as to whether Jackson’s secessionist government had a serious claim to be the legitimate government of Missouri. Jackson supporters pointed to their
status as the sole popularly elected government to bolster their legitimacy. However, the Provisional Government installed by the State Convention had
control of the old state capitol and had been installed by a body elected by the state’s citizens to determine Missouri’s place in the Union. As
events played out the question was determined by the lottery of military force. A remaining mystery concerning the Neosho Legislature is whether or not it
had a quorum sufficient to permit it to convene. Surviving letters from earlier in the fall of 1861 indicate that the vote was delayed until the end
of October precisely to obtain that quorum.)
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Title:
Journal of the Senate, extra session of the rebel Legislature, called together by a proclamation of C.F. Jackson / begun and held at the town of Neosho, Newton County, Missouri, on the twenty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
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OCLC Number:
733087754
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Available Volumes
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| Name | Fiche Count | Online | Paper Backup |
| Volume 1 | | Yes | No |
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