The Montgomery Convention marked the formal beginning of the Confederate States of America

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. Convened in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

 the Convention organized a provisional government for the Confederacy and created the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.

It opened in the chambers of the Alabama Senate

Alabama Senate

The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state, with each district containing at least 127,140 citizens...

 on February 4, 1861. On February 8, the Convention adopted the Provisional Confederate States Constitution

Provisional Confederate States Constitution

The Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States of America was an interim constitution adopted by the Confederacy and in force from February 8, 1861 to March 11, 1861. On March 11 it was superseded by the more permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America...

, and so became the first session of the Provisional Confederate Congress

Provisional Confederate Congress

The Provisional Confederate Congress, for a time the legislative branch of the Confederate States of America, was the body which drafted the Confederate Constitution, elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy, and designed the first Confederate flag...

.