on the first Wednesday in November. Election campaigning for the First Congress went quietly, with newspapers announcing the election and gently observing that the tickets offered good and true men. Despite some few purely local contests, the outcome of these first Confederate congressional elections depended chiefly on the connections of friendships formed during earlier politics. Secessionists and unionists, Democrats and Whigs, had all previously had networks, and even without partisan labels, they all were practical men who used their previous contacts to get out the vote. While newspapers observed prior party affiliations, there were no issues, no visible organization, no interstate affiliations and nothing other than unswerving devotion to Southern principles and Confederate independence reported. While the “straight-out” secessionists tried to make early support of disunion a test of loyalty, most men continued to vote for about the same candidates who they used to do. The Permanent Constitution required that the state legislatures elect senators to the Confederate Congress, and there was virtually no political campaigning. The usual state practice while sending senators to the U.S. Congress was to divide the senate seats between two major geographical divisions in each state, and the practice continued. In states where the Democratic and Whig votes had been closely matched in the 1860 elections, the state legislatures also filled the seats with a former Democrat and a former Whig. Usually legislatures sent their best men to the Confederate Senate, for instance Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia left his post as Confederate Secretary of State, and William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama left his post at Confederate Commissioner to England to be senators. The first general election held in the Confederacy went quietly. In mostly Union-controlled Missouri and Kentucky, where the secessionist governments were in flight out of state, secessionist governors appointed senators, and elections for representatives were held by soldier and refugee ballot. The results returned most of the provisional delegates who sought election as congressmen, and those who did not run were replaced by men of similar background. About a third of those elected would become administration opponents in a loyal opposition, but that would develop in Congress only after more assertive administration policies in the conduct of the war. First Session of the First Congress The first session of the First Congress sat from February 18 to April 21, 1862, a total of 63 days. During this time, the states of