Congress of the Confederate States the Confederate government. The permanent Confederate Constitution served for the duration of the government with only one Amendment on May 21, 1861, when Congress was given the right to draw multiple federal judicial districts in the large states. The reservations of the South Carolina secession convention ratification were never taken up by any other state legislatures. Sitting as the Provisional Congress, the gathering elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States of America on February 9, the day after the Provisional Constitution had been adopted and five days after initially convening in Montgomery. On February 21, a week before it
President of the Confederate States of America was used by President Davis throughout the existence of his presidency. Later it became a repository for documents, relics, and pictures, and in 1896 it was redesignated the Confederate Museum. Late on the evening of April 2, 1865, President Davis, his aides, and members of the Presidential Cabinet, except C.S. Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge, departed from the burning capital city of Richmond going southwest on the Richmond and Danville Railroad shortly before Union troops occupied it. The Confederate President Davis and his Cabinet stayed at Danville, southwest of Richmond, until April 10, when, hearing of General Lee's surrender