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 George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
II U L E S 
 
 CONDUCTING BUSliNESS 
 
 r H E s E isr A. T E 
 
 OoNFEDKRATK StATES OK AmERIGA 
 
 ^ 11 I C n &f K D : 
 
 R . M . 6 31 T T U , PUBLIC P U I N T E H 
 1864. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 Dul<e University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/rulesforconductiOOconf 
 

 UULES 
 
 THE SEIST ATE. 
 
 T. The president having taken the Chair, and a quorum 
 being present, the Journal of the preceding day shall be 
 read, and anj^ mistakes in the entries shall, «pou motion, 
 then be corrected. 
 
 II. No Senator shall speak to another, or otherwise 
 interrupt the business of the Senate while the Journals or 
 public papers are being read, or when any Senator is 
 Kpeaking in debate. 
 
 III. Every Senator, when he speaks, shall address the 
 (,'hair, standing in his place, and when he has finished 
 shall sit down. 
 
 IV. No Senator shall speak more than twice in any one 
 debate, on the same question and on the same day, with- 
 out leave of a majority of the Senators present. 
 
 V. When two or more Senators rise at the same time, 
 the President shall name the one to speak, but in all cases 
 the Senator who shall first rise and address the Chair shall 
 speak first. 
 
 VI. The President shall preserve order and decorum ; 
 may speak to points of order in preference to any Senator 
 rising from his seat for that purpose; and shall decide 
 questions of order, subject to an appeal, by any Senator, 
 
to the decision of the Senate ; he may also take the sense 
 of the Senate on any question of order at his own instance; 
 and may call any Senator to the Chair, to preside tem- 
 porarily, not to extend beyond ihat day's session. 
 
 VII. The duties and powers of the President 'pro tern- 
 iporey when occupying the Chair, shall be the same as 
 those of the President, in these rules specified. 
 
 VIII. When any Senator is called to order by the 
 President or any Senator, he shall sit down, and shall not 
 proceed without leave of the Senate ; and every question 
 of order shall be decided by the President without debate, 
 subject to an appeal to the body. 
 
 IX. If any Senator be called to order by another Sena 
 tor, for words spoken, the exceptionable words spoken 
 shall immediately be taken down in writing, that the Pres- 
 ident may be better able to judge the matter. 
 
 X. No Senator shall, in debate, use any language reflect 
 ing injuriously upon the character, motives, honor or 
 integrity of any other Senator. 
 
 XI. No motion shall be debated until the same shali 
 receive a second, and when a motion shall be made and 
 seconded, it shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the 
 President or any Senator, delivered in at the table, and 
 read, before the same shall be debated. 
 
 XII. Any motion or proposition may be withdrawn by 
 the mover at any time before a decision, amendment or 
 other action of the Senate upon it, except a motion to 
 reconsider, which shall not be withdrawn without leave of 
 the body. 
 
 XIII. When a question has been once made and carried 
 in the affirmative or negative, a motion to reconsider shall 
 J)e entertained at the instance of any Senator, if made 
 X)n the same day on which the vote was taken, or within 
 
the next two days of actual session. When a motion to 
 reconsider shall be made, its consideration shall take pre. 
 cedence of the regular order of business, unless a majority 
 of the Senators present shall otherwise determine. 
 
 XIV. When a question is under debate, no motion 
 (except one to reconsider some other question passed upon) 
 shall be received, but to adjourn; to lie on the table; to 
 postpone indefinitely; to postpone to a day certain; to 
 commit or amend ; which several motions shall have pre- 
 cedence in the order they stand arranged, and the motion 
 to adjourn shall alwaj^s be in order and decided without 
 debate; but a motion to reconsider shall be received and 
 entered, if made after a motion to adjourn and before it 
 is decided. 
 
 XV. If the question for decision contains several parts, 
 jtny Senator may have the same divided ; but on a motion 
 to strike out and insert, it shall not be in order to move 
 for a division of the question ; and the rejection of a 
 motion to strike out and insert one proposition shall not 
 prevent a motion to strike out and insert a different propo- 
 sition, nor prevent a subsequent motion simply to strike 
 out, nor shall the rejection of a motion simply to strikeout 
 prevent a subsequent motion to strike out and insert. 
 
 XVI. In filling up blanks, the largest sum and the 
 longest time shall be first put. 
 
 XVII. The unfinished business in which the Senate 
 may be engaged, on adjournment, shall be the first busi- 
 ness in order on the next day's sitting. 
 
 XVIII. After the Journal is read, and the unfinished 
 business, if any, of the previous day's sitting is disposed 
 of, the regular order of business shall be as follows : 
 
 1st. The call of the States alphabetically for memorial^?, 
 or any matter, measure, resolution, bill, or proposition 
 
6 
 
 wliicli any Senator may desire to bring before the Sen- 
 ate. 
 
 2. The call of Committees for reports — the call of 
 Connuittees to be uiade in the order of their appointment 
 — «,uch reports of Committees as may not be otherwise 
 ui?p('sed of when made, as well as all bills and resolutions 
 introduced by individual Senators, not si?nilarly disposed 
 of, shall be numbered in the order in which they are pre- 
 sented, and be placed in that order on the Calendar of the 
 re^^ular orders of the dyy. The call of Committees or 
 States each day to be resumed where it may be left off 
 the day preceding. 
 
 3d. The Calendar of the regular orders of the day shall 
 then be taken up, and every resolution, proposition, bill or 
 measure shall bo disposed of in the order in which it 
 there stands. No special order shall be made against this 
 rale except by a vote of a majority of Senators present, 
 and such majority may at any time change the order of 
 business. 
 
 XIX. Executive messages, communications from the 
 heads of Departments, as well as messages and bills from 
 the House of Ilepresentatives, shall be disposed of in 
 the order in which they may be respectively received, at 
 such time as a majority of the Senators present may 
 direct. 
 
 XX. Every resolution, bill or mc:k>ure requiring tlie 
 conrurrent action of both Houses of (Jongress shall receive 
 three readings previous to its being put upon its passage. 
 The President .^hall give notice at each reading whether 
 it be the first, second or third reading. No such resolu- 
 tion, bill or measure shall be committed or amended until 
 it shall have been twice read, after which it may be sub- 
 ject to a motion to amend or to reier to a Ccmmittee. And 
 
all such matters, on second readinp;, shall first be consiJ-" 
 ered by the Senate in the same manner as if the Senate 
 were in Committee of the Whole. The final question on 
 the second reading of any matter not referred to Coramif- 
 tee shall be ^* whether it shall be engrossed and read a 
 third time ? " and no amendment shall be received aftci- 
 the engrossment for a third reading has been orderci. 
 But it shall at \11 times be in order, before the final pass- 
 age or action on any matter, to move its commitment, and 
 should such commitment take place, and any amendment 
 he reported by the Committee, the whole shall again be 
 read a second time, and considered as in Committee of 
 the Whole, and then the aforesaid question shall again be 
 put. 
 
 XXI. After any matter is ordered to be engrossed, und 
 it has been road a third time, the question shall be, ^* Shall 
 the resolution (or the matter, whatever it may be,) n'nv 
 pass?'^ 
 
 XXII. A majority of the Senate may dispense wilK 
 the actual engrossment of the bill befjre it is put on it.s 
 f>assage. 
 
 XXIII. All bills and joint resolutions on the first and 
 second reading may be read by the title, unless the read- 
 ing of the whole shall be desired by a majority of Jbe 
 Senators present, and the third reading of the engrOc>so'i 
 bill shall be by the title. 
 
 XXIV. The titles of resolutions, bills, and other mat- 
 ters {submitted, and such parts thereof only as may bo 
 affected by proposed amendments, shall be interred on ibo 
 Jousnals. 
 
 XXV. No motion for the previous question sht^li Ic 
 entertained but upon the call of any Senator for the qut's- 
 tion, if seconded by a majority of the Senator.s present, 
 
8 
 
 the vote ehall immediately be taken on the pending ques- 
 tion, whatever it may be, without further debate. 
 
 XXVI. A motioL to lay any amendment on the table 
 prevailing, shall carry with it only the amendment, and 
 not the original proposition or matter. 
 
 XXVII. No Senator shall absent himself from the ser- 
 vice of the Senate without leave of the Senate first 
 obtained, and a majority of the Senators present at any 
 time, are hereby authorized to send the Sergeant-at-Arms, 
 or any other person or persons by them named, for any or 
 all absent Senators, at the expense of such absent Senator 
 or Senators, unless such excuse for non-attendance shall be 
 made as the Senate may judge sufficient, and in that case 
 the expense shall be paid out of the contingent fund. 
 This rule to apply as well to the first convention of the 
 Senate, at the legal time of meeting, as to each day of the 
 session after the hour has arrived to which the Senate may 
 Bt'ind adjourned, 
 
 XXVIII. When the yeas and nays shall be called for 
 by one-fifth of the Senators present, each Senator called 
 upon shall declare openly and without debate his assent or 
 dissent to the question, unless for special reason he be 
 excused by the Senate. In taking the yeas and nays, and 
 upon a call of the Senate, the names of the Senators shall 
 be taken alphabetically. 
 
 XXIX. When the yeas and nays shall be taken upon 
 any question in pursuance of the above rule, no Senator 
 shall be permitted, except by the unanimous consent of 
 the Senate, to vote after the decision is announced from 
 the Chair. 
 
 XXX. Vv'hen the Senators arc equally divided on any 
 question, the Secretary shall take the decision of the Pres- 
 ident. 
 
XXXI. The following standiDg committees shall be 
 appointed at the beginning of each Congress, with leave 
 to report by bill or otherwise. 
 
 A Committee on Foreign Relations, to consist of five 
 members. 
 
 A Committee on Finance, to consist of five members. 
 
 A Committee on Commerce, to consist of five members. 
 
 A Committee on Military Afiairs and Militia, to consist 
 of five members. 
 
 A Committe on Naval Affairs, to consist of five mem- 
 bers. 
 
 A Committee on the Judiciary, to consist of five mem- 
 bers. 
 
 A Committee on Indian Affairs, to consist of five mem- 
 bers. 
 
 A Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, to consist 
 of five members. 
 
 A Committee on Public Lands, to consist of three mem- 
 bers. 
 
 A Committee on Patents and Patent Office, to consist of 
 three members. 
 
 A Committe3 on Claims, to consist of three members. 
 
 A Committee on Territories, to consist of three mem- 
 bers. 
 
 A Committee on Accounts, to consist of three members, 
 to whom shall be referred all resolutions directing the 
 payment of money out of the contingent fund of the 
 Senate, or creating a charge on the same. 
 
 A Committee on Printing, to consist of three members^ 
 
 A Committee on Engrossment and Enrollment, to con.- 
 sist of three members. 
 
 XXXII. In the apppointment of the standing com= 
 mitteea, the Senate shall proceed by ballot severally to» 
 
10 
 
 appoint tlie enairmrtn of each committee, and iLen hy one 
 ■ballot the oilier members necessary to complete ti>e same, 
 and a majority of all the votes given shall be necessary to 
 ■a' choice of a chairman of a standing committee. 
 
 XXXITI. When motions are made for reference of tho, 
 «ame subject to a select committee and to a standing com- 
 twittee, the question on reference to the standing committee 
 shall be first put. 
 
 XXX£V. All confidential communications made by the 
 President of the Confederate States to the Senate shall 
 be by the Senators kept secret, and all treaties which may 
 be laid before the Senate shall also be kept secret until 
 the Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the injunc- 
 tion of secrecy. 
 
 XXXV. All the information or remarks in the Senate, 
 touching or concerning the character or qualifications of 
 any person nominated by the President to ojfice, shall be 
 kept a secretj except to the person involved, or, in his 
 sbseuce, to his agent or friend, but in no event shall the 
 name of a Senator, making charges or remarks be disclosed, 
 under penalty of expulsion. 
 
 XXXVI. When acting on confidential or executive 
 Ijusincss, the Senate shall be cleared of all persons except 
 the Secretary and his assistants, the Sergeant-at-Arms, 
 the Dojr- Keeper and the Assistant Door- Keeper; all of 
 •p?h?ch officers shall take an oath, to be administered by 
 the President of the Senate, not to divah;e or disclose any 
 matter or thing coming to their knowledge within the 
 Fecret session of the Senate. 
 
 XX XVII. The legislative proceedings, the executive 
 proceedings, and ih.e confidential legislative proceedings 
 f.haU be kept in separate and divtinct books. 
 
 XXXVIII. The President of the Confederate States 
 
11 
 
 shall, from time to time, he furnished with an autheRti 
 catcd transcript of the executive records of the Senate, 
 and all nominations approved or definitely acted on by the 
 Senate, shall be returned bj the Secretary from day to 
 day, as such proceedings may occur, but no further extract 
 from the executive journal shall be furnished except by 
 special order, and no paper except original treaties trans 
 milted to the Senate by the President of the Confederate- 
 States, or any executive officer, shall be returned or deliv- 
 ered from the office of the Secretary, without an order of 
 the Senate for that purpose. , 
 
 XXXIX. Messages shall be sent to the House of Rep- 
 resentatives by the Secretary or his assistant. 
 
 XL. Messages shall be received in any state of busi- 
 ness, except where a question is being put, while the yeas 
 and nays are being called, or while the bullois are being 
 counted. 
 
 XLI. No motion shall be deemed in order, to admit 
 any person or person'^ whatsoever, within the doors of the 
 Senate Chamber to present any petition, memorial o.r 
 address, or to hear any such read. 
 
 XLII. Stenographers and reporters for the press, wish- 
 ing to take down the proceedings of the Senate, may be 
 admitted by the President, who shall assign to them such 
 places on the floor to effect their object as shall not inter- 
 fere with the convenience of the Senators. 
 
 XIjIII. On motion made by any Senator, seconded by 
 another, to close the doors on ihe presentation or discus- 
 sion of any matter which may, in the opinion of such 
 Senator, require secrecy, the President shall direct the 
 do(,rs to be closed, and, upon the doors being closed, a 
 voie shall be taken as to whether the matter in hand shall 
 be d.;i)atod and determined in secret session or not, and a 
 
12 
 
 majority shall decide the question, and, during the dis- 
 cussion of such question in secret session, no one shall be 
 permitted to remain within the Senate Chamber but the 
 President, the Senators, and the officers of the body, as in 
 case of executive session. 
 
 XLIV. Any officer or Senator, convicted of disclosing 
 any matter directed by the body to be held in confidence, 
 shall be liable, if an officer, to dismissal from service, and 
 in case of a Senator, to suffer expulsion from the body. 
 
 XLV. All motions to print extra copies of any bill, 
 report, or other document, shall be referred to the Com- 
 mittee on Printing. 
 
 XL VI. During the existence of war, all propositions 
 affecting our foreign relations, or relating to the public 
 defence, shall be submitted and acted on in secret session, 
 unless otherwise ordered by a majority of the Senate. 
 
 XLVII. All cases that may arise in the proceedings of 
 the Senate, not provided for in the foregoing rules, shall 
 be governed by the general principles of parliamentary 
 law, as laid down in Jefferson's Manual. 
 
 XLVIII. The rules may be amended by a majority of 
 Senators, on one day's notice being given. 
 
 XLTX. The President pro tempore of the Senate shall 
 retain his right as a member to vote upon all questions. 
 
 L. The Senator who may be chosen President pro 
 tempore of the Senate shall hold and exercise the right 
 and duties of that office until the beginning of a new 
 Congress and election of his successor. 
 
 J 
 
JOINT RULES AND ORDERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TWO HOUSES . 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DOIFEDERATE COIGRESS 
 
 I. In every case of an amendment of a bill agreed to 
 in one House and dissented to in the other, if either 
 House shall request a conference, and appoint a committee 
 for that purpose, and the other House shall also appoint a 
 committee to confer, such committees shall, at a convenient 
 hour, to be agreed upon by their chairman, meet in the 
 Conference Chamber, and state to each other, verbally or 
 in writing, as either shall choose, the reasons of their 
 respective Houses for and against the amendment, and 
 confer freely thereon. 
 
 II. When a message shall be sent from the Senate to 
 the House of Representatives, it shall be announced at 
 the door of the House by the Door-Keeper, and shall be 
 respectfully communicated to the Chair by the person by 
 whom it may be sent. 
 
 III. The same ceremony shall be observed when a mes- 
 senger shall be sent from the House of Representatives to 
 the Senate. 
 
 IV. Messages shall be sent by the Secretary or Clerk of 
 either House, or their assistants, or by a member. 
 
14 
 
 V. While bills are on their passap;e between the two 
 Houses, they shall be on paper, and under the signature 
 of the Secretary or Clerk of each House, respectively. 
 
 VI. After a bill shall have passed both Houses, it shall 
 be duly enrolled on parchment or paper, by the Clerk of 
 the House of Representatives, or the Secretary of the 
 Senate, as the bill may have originated in the one or the 
 other House, before it shall be presented to the President 
 of the Confederate States. 
 
 VII. When bills are enrolled, they shall be examined 
 by a Joint Committee of three from the Senate and three 
 from the House of llcpresentatives, appointed as a Stand- 
 ing Committee for that purpose, who shall carefully com- 
 pare the enrolment with the engrossed bills, as passed in 
 the two Houses, and correcting any errors that may be 
 discovered in the enrolled bills, and make their report 
 forthwith to their respective Houses. 
 
 VIIT. After examination and report, each bill shall be 
 aigned in the respective Houses, first by the Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, then by the President of 
 the Senate. 
 
 IX. After a bill shall have been thus signed in each 
 Bouse, it shall be presented, by the Secretary of the 
 Senate, to the President of the Confederate States, for his 
 ^approbation, (it being first endorsed on the back of the 
 roll, certifying in which House the same originated, which 
 endorsement shall be signed by the Secretary or Clerk, as 
 the case may be, of the House in which the same origi- 
 nated,) and shall be entered on the Journal of each House. 
 The said Secretary shall enter upon the Journal the day of 
 presentation to the President. 
 
 X. All orders, resolutions and votes, which are to be 
 presented to the President of the Confederate States for 
 
15 
 
 his approbation, shall also, in the same mai>Rer, be pre- 
 viously enrolled, examined aud signed, and shjill be pre- 
 sented in the same manner as provided in the caee of 
 bills. 
 
 XI. Wiien ci bill or.resolution which shall have passed 
 in one House is rejeeted- in the other, notice thereof shall 
 be given to the Hou^e in which the same shall have 
 passed . ^'^y^ -_- i};<^^t- 
 
 XII. When a'laill oi" resolution which has been passed 
 in one House shall be rejected in the other, it shall not be 
 brought in during the same session, without a notice of 
 two days, and leave of two-thirds of that Plouse in which 
 it shall be renewed. 
 
 XIII. Each House shall transmit to the other all papery 
 on which any bill or resolution shall be founded. 
 
 XIA^. After each House shall have adhered%to their 
 disagreement, a bill or resolution shall be lost. 
 
 XV. No spirituous liquors shall be offered for sale, or 
 exhibited within any of the rooms appropriated for the 
 use of the Confederate Congress. 
 
 XVI. After the comraencement of the second or sub- 
 sequent session of Congress, bills resolutions or reports, 
 which originated in either House, aud at the close of the 
 next preceding session remained undetermined in either 
 House, may be resumed, on motion, and acted on in the 
 same manner as if an adjournment had not taken place. 
 
 XVII. The enacting words of all bills shall be ^^ The 
 Concjrcss of the Coiifcderate States of America do cjiact," 
 and of all joint resolutions — ^^ Resolved hij the Congress 
 of the Confederate States of America." 
 
 XVIII. Members of either House shall be admitted to 
 the floor of the other House when in secret legislative 
 session. 
 
APPENIllX. 
 
 Resolution I. Rrsolrcd h/y the JScnafe and House of 
 Representatives, That the members of the two Houses 
 may confer with each other, confidentially, upon measures 
 which have been, or are, under consideration in secret 
 legislative session in their respective bodies. [Journal 
 March 8, 18G2.] 
 
 Resolution IT. Rf^oliid, That Senators have leave to 
 communicate, confidentially, with the President and heads 
 of Departments, concerning business which may be trans- 
 acted in secret legislative session. [Journal March 10, 
 18G2.] 
 
 Resolution TIL Resolved, That Rule thirty-eight does 
 not require that transcripts of the entire executive record 
 of the Senate shall be furnished the President of the 
 Confederate States, or that the yeas and nays on nomina- 
 tions, or that motions, resolutions, or current proceedings 
 touching nominations should be sent to him; but that the 
 Constitution contemplates unreserved confidence between 
 the President and the Senate respecting all executive 
 matters before the Senate, and that, therefore, a complete 
 record should be furnished him of all motions, resolutions, 
 yeas and nays, or proceedings of record concerning nomi- 
 nations to oflice by the President, as well as treaties ; and 
 that Senators should be at liberty to communicate as freely 
 with the President as with each other about all such nom- 
 inations and treaties, and the action of the Senate thereon. 
 
18 
 
 That Rules thirty-four, thirty-five and forty-four forbid 
 a Senator from communicating to any one how he voted, 
 or how any other Senator voted on any nomination or 
 treaty, or any motion or resolution relating to a nomina- 
 tion or treaty considered in executive session, or commu- 
 nicating to any one his own speech or remarks, or that of 
 any other Senator on any such nomination or treaty, or 
 any such motion or resolution; excepting only Senators, 
 or the President or Vice-President of the Confederate 
 States, in respect to both nominations and treaties, and 
 excepting further, that information or remarks touching 
 the character or qualifications of one nominated by the 
 President to office may be told him, or, in his absence, 
 may be told his agent or friend, without disclosing the 
 name of the Senator making the charges or remarks. And 
 this obligation to keep secret the proceedings in executive 
 session remiins in full force until the injunction of secrecy 
 has been removed by order of the Senate. But any Sen- 
 ator may disclose the confirmation or rejection of a nomi- 
 nation after it has been finally acted on by the Senate, 
 telling only the result, but not the number of votes for or 
 against the nominee, or by whom cast.