CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMER ICA, THE, the name adopted by the Southern States when they seceded from the Union and formed a government at Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 4, 1861. Dele gates from the States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, adopted a Constitution and elected Jefferson Davis, of Mis sissippi, President, and Alexander E. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Ten nessee, and Virginia afterward joined the Confederacy. Missouri and Ken tucky were always in dispute and had representatives in both the United States Congress and the Confederate States Congress. The States which en tered into the formation of the Confed eracy had all passed ordinances of seces sion, withdrawing from the Union in full confidence that they not only had the legal right to do so, but were fully jus tified in their action by circumstances and the interests of their people. His torical precedent certainly seemed to give them the right of withdrawal.
After the first gun had been fired by John Brown at Harper's Ferry and when Major Anderson marched out of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, both sec tions were wild with excitement and there seemed nothing left but to fight it out to the bitter end. The odds in numbers and resources were overwhelmingly in favor of the North. The States which adhered to the Federal government (not count ing Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, which furnished more troops to the Fed eral than to the Confederate armies) had a population of 20,000,000, while the white population of the Confederate States numbered only 5,000,000. The offi cial reports of the Adjutant-General, United States army, show that there were actually mustered into the Federal ar mies during the war 2,778,304 men, while the Confederate Adjutant-General, Sam uel Cooper, has shown that the Confed crates mustered into service only 600,000 men in all.
The South had to depend upon scant resources and material, and had no cause to be ashamed of its leaders, but could proudly point to its soldier-President, Jefferson Davis, and its generals, such as Robert Edward Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard, "Stonewall" Jackson, Bed ford Forrest, J. E. B. Stuart, Stephen D. Lee, Richard Taylor, Fitzhugh Lee, Wade Hampton, Kirby Smith, W. J. Hardee, John B. Gordon, Jubal A. Early, and others.
The Constitution of the Confederate States was modeled after that of the Federal Constitution, and in some im portant differences has won the approval of even Northern statesmen. It recog nized Almighty God and invoked His favor and guidance. It guarded care fully the doctrine of the "sovereignty of each State." It expressly forbade the slave trade, or the importation of slaves from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States and Territories of the United States. It forbade "bounties" or "trusts" of any kind, and provided a "tariff for revenue." It gave Cabinet officers the privileges of the floors of its Congress, allowed the President to veto any part of a bill and approve the remainder, giving his reasons for such action, and fixed the term of office of the President at six years and made him ineligible for a second term.
The "Confederate States of America" passed away, but its survivors, their children and their children's children may proudly claim that in four short years the Confederacy made a name and a history which "the world will not will ingly let die." See CIVIL WAR, AMERI CAN.