Meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from the seven seceded Deep South slave states – South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas – officially form the Confederate States of America. With this act, the likelihood of open warfare between the South and the North is effectively sealed.
The seceding states draft a provisional constitution modeled closely to that of the United States. Differences between the two documents include the Confederate constitution’s invocation of God’s favor (references to God being absent in the U. S. Constitution) and articles concerning slavery.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Baptist governor, Joseph E. Brown, takes action against the North by authorizing military authorities in Savannah to seize five New York-bound ships loaded with goods. The seizure is retaliation for New York police confiscating two hundred Georgia-bound guns purchased by a Macon firm, and failing to respond to Brown’s request to release the firearms.
Source: The Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States of America
