Passports for Senators and Representatives in Congress

Tom Topol Hours

The Daily Dispatch: May 6, 1864

Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, introduced a bill to provide passports for Senators and Representatives in Congress when travelling in the Confederate States, which was passed after long discussion. It provides that the Secretary of State shall furnish, without application, each Senator and Representative with a certificate of his official character, which shall entitle him to travel throughout the Confederacy, but not to visit an army or vessel of war against the orders of the commander thereof.

 

Passports for Senators and Representatives in Congress
Confederate Passport dated 26 May 1864, found in folder 10 of the J. G. Ramsay Papers #1568, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Confederate passport issued to James G. Ramsey and signed by Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State for the Confederate States of America (1862-1865).  James Graham Ramsay (1823-1903) attended Davidson College and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.  He practiced medicine in Iredell and Rowan counties, N.C. Ramsay was a Whig state senator, 1856-1864, and served in the Confederate Congress. After the war, he was active in the state Republican Party and served again in the legislature in 1883.

Such Confederate passports are extremely rare to find, hence a passport collector should never hesitate to grab it, if available at the collectors market.

Passports for Senators and Representatives in Congress