CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMER ICA. The name adopted by the Southern States which seceded from the Union and formed a government at Montgomery, Ala., 9 Feh 1861, comprising South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice President. Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia aftenvard joined, and Missouri and Kentucky becanie disputed terri tory, the Federal Congress and the Confederate each receiving and welcoming delegations claim ing to represent those States.
The act of secession was passed by each State in full confidence that the legal right peaceably to secede was assured by the Con stitution. And if the interpretation of any ambiguous provisions or expressions in any contract is to be governed by the joint intent of the parties at the time of maldng it, this right to secede must be conceded by all impar tial historians.
Goldwin Smith, the English historian, has written: '
Nowhere, however, until 1860, was the issue actually made. Had it been made in the earlier days, it would doubtless have been accomplished peacefully. But in all human affairs, political, social, moral or commercial, there are silently but forever at work forces which malce for the survival of the fittest, and the passing away of the unfit; and these forces, when at last a crisis has been reached, declare themselves, and operate with a volcanic power, against which the barriers of no constitution can prevail.
Within the lifetime of a generation the moral sense of a majority of the civilized world had grown to condemn the institution of slav ery; and the invention of steam-power, rail roads and telegraphs had begun to knit com munities into nations, to their great cosnmercial advantage. The prejudices against slavery
gave rise to issues between the sections of the country, which became inflamed by events — such as the raid of John Brown—until certain States were wrought up to the point of seced ing.
But now—born, not legitimately of the Constitution, nor of consent between the States (which could never have generated anything more cohesive than a rope of sand), but of in escorable laws of nature—there stood a giant in the path. Perhaps, indeed, it was of origin unsanctioned by legal form. But it was born of proximity and geographical dependency, and it was nourished by the prosperous tide of commerce already beginning to transform the entire world. It already felt itself the natural heir to the vast and rich territory within its grasp. There it stood in the way of peaceable secession — a young nation, which denied the right of secession and stigmatized it as rebel lion.
In vain did President Davis plead his con stitutional rights, in a message to his Congress: "We protest solemnly, in the face of mankind, that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor. In independence, we seek no con quest, no aggrandizement, no concessions of any kind, from the States with which we have lately been confederated. All we ask is to be let alone; that those who never held power over us shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms." It needed now but a first blow to precipitate a war to the death. Concerning first blows, Richard Cobden once said: "From the moment the first shot is fired, or the first blow is struck, in a dispute, then farewell to all reason and argument: you might as well attempt to reason with mad dogs as with men when they have begun to spill each other's blood in mortal com bat." The first blow came speedily, but by delib erate intent of neither party. In Charleston a status quo had been agreed upon by both sides, to permit negotiations. On 25 Dec. 1860, Maj. Robert Anderson seized Fort Sumter. He did so by night, without orders, and contrary to his instructions, abandoning Fort Moultrie and dis abling its guns. President Buchanan was about to order him to return to Fort Moultrie; but before the order could be issued the act was approved so enthusiastically by Northern poli ticians that he did not dare to reverse it. Hold ing Fort Sumter, he was then constrained to dispatch an armed force to provision and sup ply it. Thus the Civil War was begun, the Confederates not waiting for the arrival of the armed force, but making their attack.