South Carolina, the first Southern state to secede (20 Dec 1860), was soon followed out of the Union by six more states – Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. On 4 Feb 1861, delegates from these states (except the Texans, who were delayed) met at Montgomery, Alabama, to organize a provisional government of the Confederacy. On 8 Feb 1861 the Congress voted the Constitution for the Provisional Government thus laying foundations of the Confederate States of America. The Congress passed over the radical secessionists R. B. Rhett and William L. Yancey and elected (9 Feb 1861) Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens president and vice president respectively. The Congress drafted a constitution (adopted on 11 Mar 1861) and functioned as a provisional legislature pending regular elections. The provisional congress held two sessions in Montgomery and three in Richmond, Virginia. It finally adjourned on 17 Feb 1862, on the eve of inauguration of permanent Congress.