The Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1861 was held for the purpose of constructing a constitution to respond to the newly formed Confederate States of America.

The convention enshrined the concept that the state should be sovereign in many matters. It met sporadically from January 16 to March 23, 1861 in Milledgeville

Milledgeville, Georgia

Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively rapid current of the Oconee here made this an...

. It voted to secede from the Union. It created the first new constitution since 1798. Secession helped precipitate the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

thus significantly altering the history of the state.