The vice president of the Confederate States of America was formally the second highest position within the government of the Confederate States, below that of the office of the president of the Confederate States.
According to the C.S. Constitution, the Vice President's office was essentially identical to that of the Vice President of the United States. This included presiding over the Confederate Senate and breaking tied votes. The Confederate VP was also the first person in the line of succession. If the president died, resigned or was removed from office, the vice president would become the new president for the remainder of his term.
The major difference between the vice presidencies of the USA and the CSA was that the term in office was six years long. The CS president was explicitly forbidden to run for a second term, but the vice president was not.
Alexander Stephens was the only vice president of the CSA. He was chosen as the provisional vice president in February 1861, serving under provisional president Jefferson Davis. In November 1861, Davis and Stephens ran for "election" unopposed, and began their theoretical six-year terms in February or March 1862. (The Constitution named March 4 as the start of term, but the inaugurations were held prematurely on February 22.) The office of vice president ceased to exist, along with the CSA itself, in May 1865, after the end of the main theater of the American Civil War.
Confederate Whig Freedom |
---|
The Guns of the South[]
№ |
Vice President | Term | Party | President | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Stephens | ![]() |
1861-1868* | None | Jefferson Davis |
2 | Albert Gallatin Brown | ![]() |
March 4, 1868 (murdered minutes after taking office) |
Confederate | Robert E. Lee |
* Provisional term February 1861 to February 1862, full six-year term to 1868.
VP Albert G. Brown was murdered by mercenaries from America Will Break in the Richmond Massacre, mere minutes after beginning his term. There was no mechanism for replacing the VP, so the office remained vacant later in that year, with no expectation of being filled.
Southern Victory[]
№ |
Vice President | Term | Party | President | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Stephens | ![]() |
1861-1868* | None | Jefferson Davis |
2-3 | All Unknown | 1868-1880 | None | Unnamed | |
4 | Lucius Q.C. Lamar | ![]() |
1880-1886 | None | James Longstreet |
5-8 | All Unknown | 1886-1910 | Whig | Unnamed | |
9 | Gabriel Semmes | ![]() |
1910-1916 | Whig | Woodrow Wilson |
10 | Unknown | 1916-1922 | Whig | Gabriel Semmes | |
11 | Burton Mitchel | ![]() |
1922 (ascended to presidency) |
Whig | Wade Hampton V |
Vacancy | 1922-1928 | Burton Mitchel | |||
12 | Unknown | 1928-1934 | Whig | Burton Mitchel | |
13 | Willy Knight | ![]() |
1934-1938 (removed from office) |
Freedom | Jake Featherston |
Vacancy | 1938-1940 | Jake Featherston | |||
14 | Don Partridge | ![]() |
1940-1944 (ascended to presidency) |
Freedom | Jake Featherston |
* Provisional term February 1861 to February 1862, full six-year term to 1868.
In June 1922, VP Mitchel succeeded to the presidency on President Hampton's death. There was no mechanism for replacing the VP, so the office remained vacant until March 4, 1928.
VP Willy Knight resigned from office after his conviction for treason in December 1938. There was no mechanism for replacing the VP, so the office remained vacant until March 4, 1940.
On July 7, 1944, VP Partridge succeeded to the presidency on President Featherson's death, leaving a vacant vice presidency. On July 14, with the Confederate Instrument of Surrender, the office of vice president ceased to exist along with the Confederate States as a nation.
See Also[]
|
|