Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America (CSA) was the government formed by the
southern states that seceded from the United States during the period of the
American Civil War. The CSA was formed on February 8, 1861 and Jefferson
Davis was selected as its first president the next day.

Its constitution was very similar to that of the United States (or the
"Union"), although it reflected a stronger philosophy of states' rights, and
it also contained an explicit protection of the institution of slavery.

Unlike the US president, the president of the Confederacy was to be elected
to a six-year term and could not be reelected. The only president was
Jefferson Davis; the Confederacy was defeated by Union forces before he
could finish out his term. 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," thus seeming to deny to the
Southern states the very right to secession that they claimed for themselves
when they left the United States. Also, although slavery was enshrined in
the constitution, it also prohibited the importation of new slaves from
outside the Confederacy.

Although negotiations took place between the Confederacy and several
European powers (including France and England), it was never granted formal
recognition by any foreign state.

The capital of the Confederacy was Montgomery, Alabama, from February 4 1861
until May 29 1861, when it was moved to Richmond, Virginia (Richmond was
named the new capital on May 6). Shortly before the end of the war the
Confederate government evacuated Richmond with plans to relocate further
south, but little came of this before Lee's surrender.

The official flag of the Confederacy, and the one actually called the "Stars
and Bars," 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 and, therefore, the one most people
associate with the Confederacy today. (It is often called the "Stars and
Bars," too, but should not be.) The Stars and Bars had seven stars, for the
seven states that had seceded from the Union by the time it was adopted; the
Southern Cross had thirteen stars, for the eleven states that did secede and
for the two that were admitted to the Confederacy but that had either
declared neutrality or been prevented from seceding by Union occupation, so
they had representatives in both governments: Kentucky and Missouri.

Timeline

   * December 20, 1860 - South Carolina secedes from the Union.
   * February, 1861 - A constitutional convention prepares a provisional
     constitution and chooses members of a provisional government.
   * March 11, 1861 - A permanent constitution is ratified.
   * February 18, 1862 - A permanent legislature is established.
   * January 5, 1863 - Jefferson Davis reacts to Emancipation Proclamation
     with speech calling for free blacks to be reenslaved
   * March 13, 1865 - Faced with severe manpower shortages the CSA
     reluctantly agreed to use African American troops.
   * March 18, 1865 - The Congress of the CSA adjourned for the last time.
   * April 2, 1865 - Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the
     Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
   * April 3, 1865 - Union forces capture the capital Richmond, Virginia.
   * April 9, 1865 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union
     General Ulysses S. Grant, thereby effectively putting an end to the
     Confederacy.

States that seceded

   * South Carolina (December 20, 1860)
   * Mississippi (January 9, 1861)
   * Florida (January 10,1861)
   * Alabama (January 11, 1861)
   * Georgia (January 19, 1861)
   * Louisiana (January 26, 1861)
   * Texas (February 1, 1861)
   * Virginia (April 17, 1861)
   * Arkansas (May 6, 1861)
   * Tennessee (May 7, 1861)
   * North Carolina (May 21, 1861)

Important persons

   * Jefferson Davis (Mississippi) - President
   * Robert E. Lee (Virginia) - General
   * Alexander Hamilton Stephens (Georgia) - Vice-President
   * Robert Toombs (Georgia) - (1st) Secretary of State
   * Leroy Pope Walker - (1st) Secretary of War
   * John C. Breckinridge - (2nd) Secretary of War and former V.P. of the
     U.S. under James Buchanan
   * Judah P. Benjamin - Attorney General & (later) Secretary of War &
     (later) Secretary of State)
   * Stephen R. Mallory - Secretary of the Navy
   * Christopher G. Memminger - Secretary of the Treasury
   * John H. Reagen (of Texas) - Postmaster General
   * Howell Cobb - President of Congress
   * William L. Yancey - Senator & Commissioner
   * Albert Sidney Johnston (Mississippi) - General
   * Joseph E. Johnston (Virginia) - General
   * Braxton Bragg (North Carolina) - General
   * P.G.T. Beauregard (Louisiana) - General
   * James Longstreet - Lieut. General
   * Nathan Bedford Forrest (Mississippi) - Lieut. General
   * Jeb Stuart (Virginia) - Maj. General
   * Edward Porter Alexander (Georgia) - Brig. General

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