General State Records

In accordance with an act of the Mississippi Legislature, approved November 29, 1860, entitled "An Act to provide for a Convention of the people of Mississippi," the secession convention opened on Monday, January, 7, 1861, in the hall of the House of Representatives in the building now called the Old Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. After two days of debate, delegates voted 84-15 for Mississippi to be the second state to leave the Union. All but two delegates - John Wood of Attala County and John Jones Thornton of Rankin County - signed the Ordinance of Secession on January 15, 1861.

The series contains Mississippi’s constitutions of 1817, 1832, 1868, and 1890. The handwritten paper documents, not accessible to researchers for preservation purposes, were digitized by MDAH in 2011.