May we borrow your Constitution?

In 1861, the Confederate States of America drafted their own Constitution, or did they?

The Confederate Constitution and the U.S. Constitution are remarkably similar. In a lot cases, entire sections are lifted. It's strange considering that men on both sides were fighting and dying for two documents that outlined ways of life that were almost the same.

The differences:
In the CSA, the President had a line item veto. The U.S. instituted the same in the 1990's, but it was quickly struck down as unconstitutional.

The President of the CSA would serve for one, six year term. At the time, U.S. Presidents were allowed to run for as many 4 year terms as they liked although all only ran for two out of respect for George Washington.

And the biggie, slavery. Slavery was expressly allowed in the CSA Constitution. Foreign slave trade was outlawed but there was no doubt that slavery would continue in the CSA and in any other states they added.

I decided to share this story after reading this post on Kenneth Davis's Don't Know Much About blog, which is great and everyone should read. I don't agree with everything in the post, but there are some very interesting points presented.