Editing Confederate States of America (section)

====Executive====
{{Main|President of the Confederate States of America}}

The Montgomery Convention to establish the Confederacy and its executive met on February 4, 1861. Each state as a sovereignty had one vote, with the same delegation size as it held in the U.S. Congress, and generally 41 to 50 members attended.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 22. The Texas delegation had four in the U.S. Congress, seven in the Montgomery Convention.</ref> Offices were "provisional", limited to a term not to exceed one year. One name was placed in nomination for president, one for vice president. Both were elected unanimously, 6–0.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 23. While the Texas delegation was seated, and is counted in the "original seven" states of the Confederacy, its referendum to ratify secession had not taken place, so its delegates did not yet vote on instructions from their state legislature.</ref>

[[File:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|[[Jefferson Davis]], President of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865]]

Jefferson Davis was elected provisional president. His U.S. Senate resignation speech greatly impressed with its clear rationale<!-- source? sounds biased, but could use further explanation. did someone say it was clear? --> for secession and his pleading for a peaceful departure from the Union to independence. Although he had made it known that he wanted to be commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, when elected, he assumed the office of Provisional President. Three candidates for provisional Vice President were under consideration the night before the February 9 election. All were from Georgia, and the various delegations meeting in different places determined two would not do, so Alexander H. Stephens was elected unanimously provisional Vice President, though with some privately held reservations. Stephens was inaugurated February 11, Davis February 18.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 23–26.</ref>

Davis and Stephens were elected president and vice president, unopposed [[Confederate States presidential election, 1861|on November 6, 1861]]. They were inaugurated on February 22, 1862.

Coulter stated, "No president of the U.S. ever had a more difficult task." Washington was inaugurated in peacetime. Lincoln inherited an established government of long standing. The creation of the Confederacy was accomplished by men who saw themselves as fundamentally conservative. Although they referred to their "Revolution", it was in their eyes more a counter-revolution against changes away from their understanding of U.S. founding documents. In Davis' inauguration speech, he explained the Confederacy was not a French-like revolution, but a transfer of rule. The Montgomery Convention had assumed all the laws of the United States until superseded by the Confederate Congress.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 25, 27</ref>

The Permanent Constitution provided for a President of the Confederate States of America, elected to serve a six-year term but without the possibility of re-election. Unlike the United States Constitution, the Confederate Constitution gave the president the ability to subject a bill to a [[line item veto]], a power also held by some state governors.

The Confederate Congress could overturn either the general or the line item vetoes with the same two-thirds votes required in the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]]. In addition, appropriations not specifically requested by the executive branch required passage by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress. The only person to serve as president was [[Jefferson Davis]], as the Confederacy was defeated before the completion of his term.
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=====Administration and cabinet=====
{{Main|Cabinet of the Confederate States of America}}
{{Infobox cabinet members

|office1=[[President of the Confederate States of America|President]]
|name1a=[[Jefferson Davis]]
|term1a=1861–65

|office2=[[Vice President of the Confederate States of America|Vice President]]
|name2a=[[Alexander H. Stephens]]
|term2a=1861–65

|office3=[[Confederate States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]

|name3a=[[Robert Toombs]]
|term3a=1861

|name3b=[[Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter|Robert M.T. Hunter]]
|term3b=1861–62

|name3c=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term3c=1862–65

|office4=[[Confederate States of America Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]]

|name4a=[[Christopher Memminger]]
|term4a=1861–64

|name4b=[[George Trenholm]]
|term4b=1864–65

|name4c=[[John H. Reagan]]
|term4c=1865

|office5=[[Confederate States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]]

|name5a=[[Leroy Pope Walker]]
|term5a=1861

|name5b=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term5b=1861–62

|name5c=[[George W. Randolph]]
|term5c=1862

|name5d=[[James Seddon]]
|term5d=1862–65

|name5e=[[John C. Breckinridge]]
|term5e=1865

|office6=[[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]]
|name6a=[[Stephen Mallory]]
|term6a=1861–65

|office7=[[Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States#Confederate Post Office|Postmaster General]]
|name7a=[[John H. Reagan]]
|term7a=1861–65

|office8=[[Confederate States Attorney General|Attorney General]]

|name8a=[[Judah P. Benjamin]]
|term8a=1861

|name8b=[[Thomas Bragg]]
|term8b=1861–62

|name8c=[[Thomas H. Watts]]
|term8c=1862–63

|name8d=[[George Davis (Confederate States politician)|George Davis]]
|term8d=1864–65
}}
[[File:Confederate Cabinet.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Davis's cabinet in 1861, Montgomery, Alabama<br />Front row, left to right: [[Judah P. Benjamin]], [[Stephen Mallory]], [[Alexander H. Stephens]], [[Jefferson Davis]], [[John Henninger Reagan]], and [[Robert Toombs]]<br />Back row, standing left to right: [[Christopher Memminger]] and [[LeRoy Pope Walker]]<br />Illustration printed in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'']]
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