' This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States, made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
- The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the Confederate States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Con- stitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a quah- fication to any office or public trust under the Confederate States. ' The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people of the several States.
- The powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people thereof.
ARTICLE VIII.
1 The ratification of the conventions of five States shall be suf- ficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. ' When five States shall have ratified this Constitution, in the manner above specified, the Congress under the Provisional Con- stitution shall prescribe the time for holding the election of Presi- dent and Vice President ; and, for the meeting of the Electoral College ; and, for counting the votes, and inaugurating the Presi- dent. They shall, also, prescribe the time for holding the first election of members of Congress under this Constitution, and the time for assembling the same. Until the assembling of such Congress, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall continue to exercise the legislative powers granted them ; not ex- tending beyond the time limited by the Constitution of the Pro- visional Government.
ACT CREATING ELECTORAL COMISSION, 1877
AN ACT to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and Vice President, and the decision of questions aris- ing thereon, for the term commencing March fourth, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Sen- ate and House of Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House of Representatives, at the hour of one o'clock post merid- ian, on the first Thursday in February, anno Domini eighteen hun- dred and seventy-seven ;
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That the Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House Of Representatives, at the hour of one o'clock past meridian, on the first Thursday in February, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven; the Presdident and the Senate shall be
