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The Confederate States of America (also referred to as the Confederacy, Confederate States, and CSA) was the nation formed by eleven southern states of the USA between 1861 and 1865. These eleven states declared their secession from the United States. The United States of America ("The Union") held that secession was illegal, and refused to recognize the Confederacy. The American Civil War broke out when Confederate batteries fired on the United States Army's Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1861. No European powers officially recognized the CSA, but British commercial interests sold it warships and operated blockade runners to help supply it. All but two major battles took place in Confederate territory, as the CSA military was slowly overwhelmed by the much larger Union forces and choked by a naval blockade. When Robert E. Lee and the other Confederate generals surrendered their armies in the spring of 1865, the CSA collapsed. A difficult decade-long process of Reconstruction gave civil rights and the vote to the freedmen, and readmitted the states to Congress. History Secession process Dec 1860-May 1861 Seven states seceded by March 1861: Pro-Secession Factions in two states formed Confederate governments and seceded, though these states were also claimed by Union governments: Following Abraham Lincoln's election as President in 1860 on a platform that among other things sought to raise import taxes to benefit northern manufacturers and opposed the extension of slavery, seven slave southern states chose to secede from the United States and declared that the Confederate States of America was formed on February 4, 1861. Jefferson Davis was selected as its first President on February 9 and inaugurated on February 18. In what later came to be known as the Cornerstone Speech C.S. Vice President Alexander Stephens, declared that the “cornerstone” of the new government "rested upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."* By contrast, Confederate President Jefferson Davis made no explicit reference to slavery at all in his inaugural address*. However, in addition to the legal ordinances of secession adopted by each of the seceding states, the Deep South states of South Carolina*, Mississippi*, Georgia*, and Texas* all issued declarations of causes, each of which identified the threat to slavery and slaveholders’ rights as a major cause of secession. Texas joined the Confederate States of America on March 2 and then replaced its governor, Sam Houston, when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. These seven states seceded1 from the United States and took control of military/naval installations, ports, and custom houses within their boundaries, triggering the American Civil War. A month after the Confederate States of America was formed, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution had made the United States a more perfect union than under the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union-- and likewise that "the Union is much older than the Constitution," being, he claimed, 1) formed by the Articles of Association in 1774, 2) made a nation via the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and 3) "declared to be perpetual" under the Articles of Confederation in 1778 (which were actually ratified by the states in 1781). As such, he claimed that the Constitution was a binding contract supremely bestowing national authority to the Union over the states, and that therefore "no state by its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union," calling the secession "legally void". The legal issue of whether or not the Constitution was a binding contract which authorized federal force against any state, has-- surprisingly, for such a controversial issue and incident-- rarely been addressed by government, law professionals, media or academics, leading by many to the conclusion from that it was a "suppressed concept" in American politics during the Reconstruction era and afterwards; and thus to this day, it remains a hotly debated concept. Lincoln stated that he had no intent to invade Southern states-- except that which was "necessary" to maintain possession of federal property and collection of various federal taxes, duties and imposts. His speech closed with a plea for acceptance of the bonds of union. On April 12, Confederate troops, following orders from the Secretary of War, fired upon the federal troops occupying Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, forcing their surrender. Following the Battle of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for all remaining states in the Union to send troops to recapture Sumter and other forts, defend the capital (Washington, D.C.), and preserve the Union. Most Northerners believed that a quick victory for the Union would crush the rebellion, and so Lincoln only called for volunteers for 90 days of duty. Lincoln's call for troops resulted in four more states voting to secede. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy for a total of 11. Once Virginia joined the Confederate States, the Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. Kentucky was a border state during the American Civil War and, for a time, had two state governments, one supporting the Confederacy and one supporting the Union. The original government of Kentucky remained in the Union after a short-lived attempt at neutrality, but a rival faction from that state was accepted as a member of the Confederate States of America. A more complex situation surrounds the Missouri Secession, but, in any event, Missouri was also considered a member of the Confederate States of America. With Kentucky and Missouri, the number of Confederate states is thus sometimes considered to be 13. The five tribal governments of the Indian Territory—which became Oklahoma in 1907—also mainly supported the Confederacy, provided troops and one General officer. Citizens at Mesilla and Tucson in the southern part of New Mexico Territory formed a secession convention and voted to join the Confederacy, on March 16, 1861, and appointed Lewis Owings as the new territorial Governor. In July, Mesilla appealed to Confederate troops in El Paso, Texas under Lt. Col. John Baylor for help in removing the Union army under Maj. Isaac Lynde that was stationed nearby. The Confederates under Baylor defeated Lynde at the Battle of Mesilla on July 27th. After the battle Baylor established a territorial government for the Confederate Arizona Territory and named himself Governor. In 1862, a New Mexico Campaign was launched under General Sibley to take the northern half of New Mexico. Confederates briefly occupied the territorial capital of Santa Fe but, defeated at Glorietta Pass in March, the Confederates retreated and never returned. The northernmost slave states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) were contested territory but the Union won control by 1862. In 1861, martial law was declared in Maryland (the state which borders the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., on three sides) to block attempts at secession. Delaware, also a slave state, never considered secession, nor did the capital of the U.S., Washington, D.C.. In 1861, during the war, a unionist legislature in Wheeling, Virginia seceded from Virginia, claiming 48 counties, and joined the United States, in 1863, as the state of West Virginia, with a constitution that gradually abolished slavery. Attempts to secede from the Confederate States of America by some counties in eastern Tennessee were held in check by Confederate declarations of martial law**. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by General Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 is generally taken as the end of the Confederate States. President Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on May 10 and the remaining Confederate armies surrendered by June 1865. The last Confederate flag was hauled down, on CSS ''Shenandoah'' on November 6, 1865. Constitution The Confederate States Constitution provides much insight into the motivations for secession from the Union. While much of it was a word-for-word duplicate of the United States Constitution, it reflected a stronger philosophy of states' rights, curtailing the power of the central authority, and also contained explicit protection of the institution of slavery, though international slave trading was prohibited. The Confederate government was prohibited from instituting protective tariffs. The Confederate government was also prohibited from using revenues collected in one state for funding internal improvements in another state. The Confederates asked God's blessing ("invoking the favor of Almighty God.") At the drafting of the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, a few radical proposals such as allowing only slave states to join and the reinstatement of the Atlantic slave trade were turned down. The Constitution did not specifically include a provision allowing states to secede, although the Preamble spoke of each state "acting in its sovereign and independent character". The Southern leaders met in Montgomery, Alabama to write their constitution. The President of the Confederate States of America was to be elected to a six-year term and could not be reelected. The only president was Jefferson Davis; the Confederate States of America was defeated by the federal government before he completed his term. One unique power granted to the Confederate president was the ability to subject a bill to a line item veto, a power held by some state governors. The Confederate Congress could overturn either the general or the line item vetoes with the same two thirds majorities that are required in the US Congress. Printed currency in the forms of bills and stamps was authorized and put into circulation, although by the individual states in the Confederacy's name. The government considered issuing Confederate coinage. Plans, dies and 4 "proofs" were created, but a lack of bullion prevented any public coinage. Although the preamble refers to "each State acting in its sovereign and independent character", it also refers to the formation of a "permanent federal government". Also, although slavery was protected in the constitution, it also prohibited the importation of new slaves from outside the Confederate States of America (except from slaveholding states or territories of the United States). Civil liberties The Confederacy actively used the military to arrest people suspected of loyalty to the United States. They arrested at about the same rate as the U.S.A. did. Neely found 2,700 names of men arrested and estimated the full list was much longer. Neely concludes, "The Confederate citizen was not any freer than the Union citizen--and perhaps no less likely to be arrested by military authorities. In fact, the Confederate citizen may have been in some ways less free than his Northern counterpart. For example, freedom to travel within the Confederate states was severely limited by a domestic passport system." Neely 11, 16 Capital The capital of the Confederate States of America was Montgomery, Alabama from February 4 1861 until May 29 1861. Richmond, Virginia was named the new capital on May 6 1861. Shortly before the end of the war, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, planning to relocate further south. Little came of these plans before Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Danville, Virginia served as the last capital of the Confederate States of America, from April 3 to April 10 1865. International diplomacy Once the war with the United States began, the best hope for the survival of the Confederacy was military intervention by Britain and France. The U.S. realized that too, and made it clear that recognition of the Confederacy meant war with the United States--and the cutoff of food shipments into Britain. The Confederates who had believed that "cotton is king" -- that is, Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton, were proven wrong. Britain, in fact, had ample stores of cotton in 1861 and depended much more on grain from the Union states. During its existence, the Confederate government sent repeated delegations to Europe; historians do not give them high marks for diplomatic skills. James M. Mason was sent to London as Confederate minister to Queen Victoria, and John Slidell to Paris as minister to Napoleon III. Both were able to obtain meaningless private meetings with high British and French officials, but they failed entirely to secure official recognition for the Confederacy. Britain and the United States were briefly at loggerheads during the Trent Affair in late 1861. Mason and Slidell had been illegally seized from a British ship by an American warship. Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert helped calm the situation and Lincoln released Mason and Slidell, so the episode was no help to the Confederacy. Throughout the early years of the war, both British foreign secretary Lord Russell and Napoleon III, and, to a lesser extent, the British prime minister Lord Palmerston, were interested in the idea of recognition of the Confederacy, or at least of offering a mediation. Other figures in both governments, and particularly a strong anti-slavery faction in Palmerston's ministry, were much less sympathetic to the idea. Recognition was considered following the Second Battle of Manassas when the British government were preparing to mediate in the conflict, but the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, combined with internal opposition, caused the governments to back away. In November 1863, Confederate diplomat A. Dudley Mann met Pope Pius IX and received a letter addressed "to the Illustrious and Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.” Mann, in his dispatch to Richmond, interpreted the letter as "a positive recognition of our Government" and some have viewed it as a de facto recognition of the C.S.A. Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, however, interpreted it as "a mere inferential recognition, unconnected with political action or the regular establishment of diplomatic relations" and thus did not assign it the weight of formal recognition.* For the remainder of the war, confederate diplomats continued meeting with Cardinal Antonelli, the Vatican Secretary of State. In 1864, Catholic Bishop Patrick N. Lynch of Charleston travelled to the Vatican with an authorization from Jefferson Davis to represent the Confederacy before the Holy See. Throughout the war, most European powers adopted a policy of neutrality, meeting informally with Confederate diplomats but withholding diplomatic recognition. In its place, they applied international law principles that recognized the Union and Confederate sides as belligerents. Canada allowed both Confederate and Union agents to work openly within its borders and some state governments in northern Mexico negotiated regional agreements to cover trade on the Texas border. Relations with U.S.A. For the four years of its existence, the Confederate States of America asserted its independence and appointed dozens of diplomatic agents abroad. The United States government, by contrast, asserted that the southern states were provinces in rebellion and refused any formal recognition of their status. Thus, the U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued formal instructions to Charles Francis Adams, the new minister to Great Britain: You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even impatience concerning the seceding States, their agents, or their people. But you will, on the contrary, all the while remember that those States are now, as they always heretofore have been, and, notwithstanding their temporary self-delusion, they must always continue to be, equal and honored members of this Federal Union, and that their citizens throughout all political misunderstandings and alienations, still are and always must be our kindred and countrymen." However, if the British seem inclined to recognize the Confederacy, or even waver in that regard, they were to be sharply warned --with a strong hint of war: if Britain is tolerating the application of the so-called seceding States, or wavering about it, you will not leave them to suppose for a moment that they can grant that application and remain friends with the United States. You may even assure them promptly, in that case, that if they determine to recognize, they may at the same time prepare to enter into alliance with the enemies of this republic." The Confederate Congress responded to the hostilities by formally declaring war on the United States in May 1861--calling it "The War between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America." The Union government never declared war but conducted its war efforts under a proclamation of blockade and rebellion by President Lincoln. Mid-war negotiations between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the laws of war governed military relationships. Four years after the war, in 1869, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White that secession was unconstitutional and legally null. The court's opinion was authored by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, the former Treasury Secretary under Lincoln, and attacked by ex-Confederates. Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy, and Alexander Stephens, its former vice-president, both penned arguments in favor of secession's legality, most notably Davis' The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Confederate flags Image:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|1st National "Stars and Bars" Image:Confederate National Flag since Mai 1 1863 to Mar 4 1865.svg|2nd National "Stainless Banner" Image:Conf Navy Jack (light blue).svg|Naval Jack Image:Battle flag of the US Confederacy.svg|Battle Flag "Southern Cross" The official flag of the Confederate States of America, and the one actually called the "Stars and Bars", has seven stars, for the seven states that initially formed the Confederacy. This flag was sometimes hard to distinguish from the Union flag under battle conditions, so the Confederate battle flag, the "Southern Cross", became the one more commonly used in military operations. The Southern Cross has 13 stars, adding the four states that joined the Confederacy after Fort Sumter, and the two divided states of Kentucky and Missouri. As a result of its depiction in 20th century popular media, the "Southern Cross" is a flag commonly associated with the Confederacy today. The actual "Southern Cross" is a square-shaped flag, but the more commonly seen rectangular flag is actually the flag of the First Tennessee Army, also known as the Naval Jack because it was first used by the Confederate Navy. Executive Legislative The legislative branch of the Confederate States of America was the Confederate Congress. Like the United States Congress, the Confederate Congress consisted of two houses: the Confederate Senate, whose membership included two senators from each state (and chosen by the state legislature), and the Confederate House of Representatives, with members popularly elected by residents of the individual states. Speakers of the Provisional Congress Presidents pro tempore Tribal Representatives to Confederate Congress Sessions of the Confederate Congress Judicial A Judicial branch of the government was outlined in the C.S. Constitution but the would-be "Supreme Court of the Confederate States" was never created or seated because of the ongoing war.* Some Confederate district courts were, however, established within some of the individual states of the Confederate States of America; namely, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia (and possibly others). At the end of the war, U.S. district courts resumed jurisdiction.* The state and local courts generally continued to operate as they had been, simply recognizing the CSA, rather than the USA, as the national government.* Supreme Court - not established District Court Geography The Confederate States of America had a total of 2,919 miles (4,698 kilometers) of coastline. A large portion of its territory lay on the sea coast, and with level and sandy ground. The interior portions were hilly and mountainous and the far western territories were deserts. The lower reaches of the Mississippi River bisected the country, with the western half often referred to as the Trans-Mississippi. The highest point (excluding Arizona and New Mexico) was Guadalupe Peak in Texas at 8,750 feet (2,667 meters). Subtropical climate Much of the area of the Confederate States of America had a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. The climate varied to semiarid steppe and arid desert west of longitude 96 degrees west. The subtropical climate made winters mild but allowed infectious diseases to flourish. They killed more soldiers than did combat. River system In peacetime, the vast system of navigable rivers allowed for cheap and easy transportation of farm products. The railroad system was built as a supplement, tying plantation areas to the nearest river or seaport. The vast geography made for difficult Union logistics and large numbers of Union soldiers were used to garrison captured areas and protect rail lines. But the Union navy seized most of the navigable rivers by 1862, making its own logistics easy and Confederate movements very difficult. After the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863, it became impossible for units to cross the Mississippi as Union gunboats constantly patrolled. The South thus lost use of its western regions. Rail network The rail network was built for short hauls, not the long-distance movement of soldiers or goods, which was to be its role in the war. Some idea of the severe internal logistics problems the Confederacy faced can be seen by tracing Jefferson Davis's journey from Mississippi to neighboring Alabama when he was chosen president in early 1861. From his plantation on the river, he took a steamboat down the Mississippi to Vicksburg, boarded a train to Jackson, where he took another train north to Grand Junction, Tennessee, then a third train east to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a fourth train south to Atlanta, Georgia. Yet another train took Davis south to the Alabama border, where a final train took him west to Montgomery, his temporary national capital. As the war proceeded, the Federals seized the Mississippi, burned trestles and railroad bridges, and tore up track; the frail Confederate railroad system faltered and virtually collapsed for want of repairs and replacement parts. In May 1861, the Confederate government abandoned Montgomery before the sickly season began, and relocated in Richmond, Virginia. Rural nation The Confederate States of America was overwhelmingly rural. Small towns of more than 1,000 were few--the typical county seat had a population of less than 500 people. Cities were rare. Only New Orleans was in the list of top 10 largest U.S. cities in the 1860 census, and it was captured by the Union in 1862. Only 13 Confederate cities ranked among the top 100 US cities in 1860, most of them ports whose economic activities were shut down by the Union blockade. The population of Richmond swelled after it became the national capital, reaching an estimated 128,000 in 1864 (Dabney 1990:182). Other large southern cities (Baltimore, St. Louis, Louisville, and Washington, as well as Wheeling, West Virginia and Alexandria, Virginia) were never under the control of the Confederate States. (See also Atlanta in the Civil War, Charleston, SC in the Civil War, Nashville in the Civil War, New Orleans in the Civil War, and Richmond in the Civil War). Economy The Confederacy had an agrarian-based economy that relied heavily on slave-run plantations with exports to a world market of cotton, and to a lesser extent tobacco and sugar cane. Local food production included grains, hogs, cattle, and gardens. The 11 states produced only $155 million in manufactured goods in 1860, chiefly from local grist mills, together with lumber, processed tobacco, cotton goods and naval stores such as turpentine. The CSA adopted a low tariff of 15%, but imposed them on all imports from the United States.* The tariff mattered little; the Confederacy's ports were shut to all commercial traffic by the Union blockade, and very few people paid taxes on goods smuggled from the U.S. The government collected only about $3.5 million in tariff revenue from the start to late 1864. The lack of adequate financial resources led the Confederacy to finance the war through printing money, which in turn led to high inflation. Armed forces The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised the following three branches: The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the United States Army and U.S. Navy who had resigned their Federal commissions and had been appointed to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. Many had served in the Mexican-American War (such as Jefferson Davis), but others had little or no military experience (such as Leonidas Polk, who had attended West Point, but did not graduate.) The Confederate officer corps was composed in part of young men from slave-owning families, but many came from non-owners. The Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, many colleges of the south (such as the The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute) maintained cadet corps that were seen as a training ground for Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established in 1863, but no midshipmen had graduated by the time the Confederacy collapsed. The rank and file of the Confederate armed forces consisted of white males with an average age between 16 and 28. The Confederacy adopted conscription in 1862, but opposition was widespread. Depleted by casualties and desertions, the military suffered chronic manpower shortages. Towards the end of the Civil War, boys as young as 12 were fighting in combat roles and the Confederacy began an all-black regiment with measures underway to offer freedom to slaves who voluntarily served in the Confederate military. Military leaders of the Confederacy Military leaders of the Confederacy (with their state of birth and highest rank) included: Significant dates See also Notes | |||||||
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