Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce You have new items in your feed. Click to view. Question and answer Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce C. Jefferson Davis was the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce New answers This answer has been added to the Weegy Knowledgebase 3 This answer has been added to the Weegy Knowledgebase Comments Log in or sign up first. Questions asked by the same visitor Weegy: A. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. (More) Question Asked 11/17/2011 12:03:54 PM 0 Answers/Comments Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860.

Added 9/23/2014 7:11:24 PM This answer has been added to the Weegy Knowledgebase Weegy: D. He attended Harvard College (More) Question Asked 11/17/2011 12:09:38 PM 0 Answers/Comments Weegy: The statement B. The North had far better military leadership than the South, was untrue. (More) Question Asked 11/23/2011 10:48:45 AM 0 Answers/Comments The first shots of the Civil War were fired: B. the Battle of Fort Sumter Added 11/23/2011 11:19:36 AM This answer has been added to the Weegy Knowledgebase 3 The first shots of the Civil War were fired at the Battle of Fort Sumter.

Added 11/23/2011 11:22:36 AM Weegy: -54 + 18 = -36 User: Simplify 3(x - 4) + 8(x + 2) User: What is the equation of the line that passes through ... 1/17/2017 1:07:03 PM| 5 Answers Weegy: r(r+3) = 1 User: 5x + 2y = 20, when x = 0.3? User: What is the value of a in the equation 3a + b = 54, when b ... 1/17/2017 9:50:12 AM| 3 Answers Weegy: C. [ July On July 4, 2008, our planet is at the distant end- a point astronomers call "aphelion." This puts ... 1/18/2017 1:59:28 AM| 3 Answers Jefferson Davis - President of the Confederate States of America, by J.F.

Borno Jefferson Davis - President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Finis Davis (1808-1889) Jefferson Davis became the first and only President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War though for most people little else is known about him. This is a brief history of the man who struggled to keep his fledgling nation afloat. Jefferson Davis was born into a military family on June 3, 1808. His father and uncles fought in the Continental Army in the American Revolution . Three of his older brothers (Jefferson was the youngest of ten children) fought in the War of 1812 . Jefferson went to college and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Regiment after his graduation of West Point. At 36 years old, Jefferson Davis was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Only two years later, however, the Mexican-American War broke out and Davis resigned his House seat to form the Mississippi Rifles Volunteer Regiment. Jefferson fought bravely at the Battle of Buena Vista but refused promotion to brigadier general (he was a colonel) on grounds that it was unconstitutional for militia officers to be promoted to Federal military positions.

Jefferson Davis became a Mississippi Senator and was made chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He had various political appointments afterwards but the talk of secession and war was drawing near. While Jefferson Davis wanted the Union to be preserved between the North and the South, he believed the right for a state to secede from the Union must be preserved, and fought for, if necessary. Davis resigned and delivered a farewell address to the United States Senate when Mississippi adopted an ordinance of secession in January of 1861. Jefferson Finis Davis by C.E. Emery, about 1888. This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE! If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory. Days later Jefferson became a Major General of Mississippian troops. Before February was over, he was named provisional President of the Confederate States of America . Jefferson continued to urge his fellow southerners to remain at peace with the United States. He appointed a Peace Commission to offer to pay off their part of the national debt and to pay for Federal forts and government properties that remained on southern land.

Though peace talks would not work out, and only a month later he approved the firing on Fort Sumter. The American Civil War had begun. Virginia decided to join the Confederacy and Jefferson Davis moved his family to the new capitol, the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. Jefferson was elected to a six year term as President and Robert E. Lee was Davis' new appointed General of the Army of Northern Virginia. The beginning of the American Civil War was going well for the Confederates , but Jefferson knew the economical advantage always belonged to the North. After a series of stunning victories, Robert E. Lee was defeated at Gettysburg, and Davis refused General Lee's offer of resignation. As the nature of the war changed and the southerners were being defeated through attrition, Ulysses S. Grant pushed closer to Richmond. On April 3, 1865, Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet fled to Danville Virginia, and then to North Carolina to flee northern capture. On April 9, 1865 General Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee .

The Confederate government officially dissolved in May and Jefferson Davis was captured in Irwinville, Georgia and was held as a prisoner for two years in Virginia. Davis was indicted of treason, but the indictments were dismissed and the case never went to trial. After the two years he was released on bail by prominent northern and southern citizens and he traveled overseas. Davis went on to become president of a life insurance company and was even elected to Senate again, though he was not allowed to serve because of the 14th amendment. Jefferson Davis continued to travel and author books and in 1889, 24 years after the American Civil War ended, died at the age of 81. His funeral was one of the largest ever in the South. Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce You have new items in your feed. Click to view. Question and answer Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce C. Jefferson Davis Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A.

Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce Original conversation User: Who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America? A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Jefferson Davis D. Franklin Pierce Weegy: C. Jefferson Davis Expert answered|mchlklck|Points 2615| User: Where were the first shots of the Civil War fired? A. the Battle of Gettysburg B. the Battle of Fort Sumter C. the Battle of Shiloh D. the Battle of Bull Run Confederate States of America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! Confederate States of America 11.8 /sq mi - slaves2 est. 3,521,110 Currency CSA dollar (only notes issued) 1Area and population values do not include MO & KY. Water area:5.7% For the fictional documentary about alternative history, see C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America .

The Confederate States of America (also referred to as the Confederacy, Confederate States, and CSA) was formed by eleven southern states of the United States of America 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 States Army batteries fired on United States Army troops occupying Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina , in April 1861. No European powers officially recognized the CSA except the Papal States , but British commercial interests sold it warships and operated blockade runners to help supply it. The warships were sold on a cash-and-carry basis and contributed to the rapid exhaustion of the Confederacy's supply of gold bullion. Most battles took place in Confederate territory. When Robert E. Lee and the other Confederate generals surrendered their armies in the spring of 1865, the CSA collapsed, and there was no guerrilla warfare afterwards. A difficult decade-long process of Reconstruction gave civil rights and the vote to the freedmen (for a time), and readmitted the states to Congress .

Contents Kentucky ( November 20 , 1861 ). [16] [17] Both states allowed slavery and both had strong Unionist and Confederate counties, including some Unionist slave-owners. The legalities of the matter remain a matter of dispute down to the present day. For more details, see Border states (Civil War) , Missouri in the Civil War and Kentucky in the Civil War . [ edit ] The reasons for secession Following Abraham Lincoln 's election as President in 1860 on a platform that would end extension of slavery, seven southern cotton states seceded from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America 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 "rest[ed] 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." [1] By contrast, Confederate President Jefferson Davis made no explicit reference to slavery at all in his inaugural address [2] . However, the Deep South states of South Carolina [3] , Mississippi [4] , Georgia [5] , and Texas [6] all issued declarations of causes, each of which identified the threat to slavery and slaveholders’ rights as a major cause of secession. However, there were several other reasons. Texas joined the Confederate States of America on March 2 . These seven states seceded 1 from the United States and took control of military/naval installations, ports, and custom houses within their boundaries, except for Fort Sumter and remote forts in Florida. 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. 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". 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 Davis and his 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 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 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; it did not control any territory. A more complex situation surrounds the Missouri Secession , but, in any event, the Confederacy considered Missouri a member of the Confederate States of America; it did not control any territory.

With Kentucky and Missouri, the number of Confederate states can be counted as 13. The five tribal governments of the Indian Territory —which became Oklahoma in 1907—also mainly supported the Confederacy, providing troops and one General officer . It was not represented in the Confederate Congress. Confederate coin. 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 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. There also was a rump state of Virginia that stayed loyal to the U.S. 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 [7] [8] . 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 . [ edit ] Government and politics Jefferson Davis President 1861-1865 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). [ edit ] 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 Union 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] Virginia State House Served as the Confederate Capitol building 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 . [ edit ] 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. [9] 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. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was the only European country to appoint a diplomatic consul to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The consul was named Ernst Raven , assigned to a position in the State of Texas.

Raven applied to the Confederate Government for a diplomatic exequatur on July 30, 1861 and was accepted. 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. [ edit ] Relations with the 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." [18] 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." [19] 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 .

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. [ edit ] Political leaders of the Confederacy [ edit ] 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.

[10] 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. [11] 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. [12] Supreme Court - not established [ edit ] Geography Map of the states and territories claimed by the Confederate States of America 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).

[ edit ] 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. [ edit ] 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.

[ edit ] 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. [ edit ] 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. # Main article: Economy of the Confederate States of America 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. [13] 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. Navy Jack of the CSA The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised the following three branches: Confederate States Marine Corps 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 (including Lee and 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--a measure of how desperate the Confederacy had become. [ edit ] Military leaders of the Confederacy Military leaders of the Confederacy (with their state of birth and highest rank [20] ) included: General Robert E. Lee, for many, the face of the Confederate army [ edit ] Politics Alexander, Thomas B., and Beringer, Richard E. The Anatomy of the Confederate Congress: A Study of the Influences of Member Characteristics on Legislative Voting Behavior, 1861-1865, 1972. Boritt, Gabor S., et al, Why the Confederacy Lost, 1992. Cooper, William J, Jefferson Davis, American, 2000. Standard biography. Coulter, E. Merton. The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865, 1950. William C. Davis (2003). Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America.

New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86585-8 . Eaton, Clement. A History of the Southern Confederacy, 1954. Eckenrode, H. J., Jefferson Davis: President of the South, 1923. Gallgher, Gary W., The Confederate War, 1999. Neely, Mark E., Jr., Confederate Bastille: Jefferson Davis and Civil Liberties, 1993. Rembert, W. Patrick. Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet, 1944. Rable, George C., The Confederate Republic: A Revolution against Politics, 1994. Roland, Charles P. The Confederacy, 1960. brief Thomas, Emory M. Confederate Nation: 1861-1865, 1979. Standard political-economic-social history Wakelyn, Jon L. Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy Greenwood Press ISBN 0-8371-6124-X Williams, William M. Justice in Grey: A History of the Judicial System of the Confederate States of America, 1941.

Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, 1960. Confederate States of America: A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress [ edit ] Economic Data Sets all data sets are in Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online (2006) available in academic libraries.

Chapter Eh - Confederate States of America Population of the slave states, by state, race, and slave status: 1860-1870 [PDF 52Kb] Series Eh1-7 Farms, farm implements, livestock, and home manufactures in the slave states, by state: 1860-1870 [PDF 53Kb] Series Eh8-23 Selected crop outputs of the slave states, by state: 1860-1870 [PDF 52Kb] Series Eh24-39 Manufacturing in the slave states-establishments, capital invested, product value, and employment, by state: 1860-1870 [PDF 51Kb] Series Eh40-49 Taxable property in the Confederacy, by state: 1861 [PDF 49Kb] Series Eh50-58 Confederate blockade running-ships engaged, ships lost, and successful runs, by vessel type and port: 1861-1865 [PDF 56Kb] Series Eh59-94 Quantity and price of cotton imported into the United Kingdom: 

1855-1875 [PDF 53Kb] Series Eh95-102 European cotton imports, by country of origin: 1860-1875 [PDF 47Kb] Series Eh103-110 Money and Prices, Series Eh111-193 doi:10.1017/ISBN-9780511132971.Eh111-193 Confederate money stock: 1860-1862 [Godfrey, nine states] [PDF 53Kb] Series Eh111-117 Confederate money stock: 1860-1865 [Godfrey, seven states] [PDF 62Kb] Series Eh118-124 Confederate money stock: 1861-1864 [Lerner] [PDF 50Kb] Series Eh125-127 Prices and wage indexes for the eastern Confederacy: 1861-1865 [PDF 71Kb] Series Eh128-130

 Monthly index of Richmond wholesale commodity prices: 1861-1865 [PDF 56Kb] Series Eh131 Wholesale commodity price indexes in Richmond, the eastern Confederacy, New York, and San Francisco: 1861-1865 [PDF 50Kb] Series Eh132-135 Monthly wholesale price quotations for selected commodities in Richmond: 1856-1865 [PDF 54Kb] Series Eh136-165 Monthly commodity price indexes for the Confederate states: 1861-1865 [PDF 66Kb] Series Eh166-193 Government Finances, Series Eh194-228 doi:10.1017/ISBN-9780511132971.Eh194-228 Confederate government revenues and expenditures: 1861-1864 [PDF 61Kb] Series Eh194-215 Bond yields on domestic loans in the Confederacy: 1862-1864 [PDF 51K

b] Series Eh216-220 Weekly prices of Confederate cotton bonds and sterling bonds in Amsterdam: 1863-1865 [PDF 58Kb] Series Eh221-222 Gold prices in the Confederacy: 1861-1865 [PDF 69Kb] Series Eh223-228 Jefferson Davis Jefferson Davis Tweet (National Archives) Jefferson Finis Davis, the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, was a planter, politician and soldier born in Kentucky and raised in Mississippi.

Davis was the tenth and youngest child of Revolutionary War soldier Samuel Davis and his wife Jane Cook Davis (Finis in Latin means final—the couple wanted no more children after Jefferson). Born June 3, 1808, he was heavily influenced by his oldest brother, Joseph, who saw to it that he was well educated. Davis attended college in Kentucky at Transylvania before entering the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1824. Related Material P.G.T. Beauregard As a military cadet, Davis’ performance was only adequate. When he graduated in 1828 he placed twenty-third in a class of thirty-four. He went on to serve briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832. While stationed under Colonel Zachary Taylor (future President of the United States) the following year, he met the colonel’s daughter, Sarah. Jefferson Davis married her in 1835 against her father’s wishes. Sadly, the couple came down with bad cases of malaria only three months after the wedding, and the young bride died. Jefferson Davis led a secluded life for the next eight years on his cotton plantation at Davis Bend, Mississippi.

A slaveholder, Davis firmly believed in the importance of the institution of slavery for the South. In 1845 he married his second wife, Varina Howell, a young woman eighteen years old. Jefferson and Varina Davis eventually had six children—two girls and four boys—but only their daughters lived into adulthood. In the same year, 1845, Mississippi sent Davis to the U.S. House of Representatives. His Congressional term was short, however. He resigned in June 1846 to fight in the Mexican War where he led his troops valiantly at the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. He was offered a promotion to brigadier general in 1847 but refused it when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Davis U.S. Secretary of War where he served with distinction and was recognized as one of the most capable administrators to hold the office. In 1857, Davis returned to the Senate as a vocal proponent of states rights. He formally withdrew from the U.S. Senate on January 21, 1861 after Mississippi seceded from the Union.

One month later, the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama selected Jefferson Finis Davis to become the provisional President of the Confederacy. He was inaugurated for a six-year term as President on February 22 of the following year. Davis’ appointment was largely political; he was a compromise candidate chosen to appease both the moderate and radical factions in the Congress. Davis, however, did not want the job. He had hoped for a military command. Initially, Davis was a popular President with the Southern people. He had a dignified bearing, a distinguished military record, extensive experience in political affairs, and—most importantly—a dedication to the Confederate cause. Unfortunately for Davis, these attributes were not enough to triumph over the harsh challenges posed by his new position. His early popularity was a result of war fervor and he did not have the personality necessary to sustain it. He was impatient with people who disagreed with him, and he had the unfortunate habit of awarding prominent posts to leaders who appeared unsuccessful. Davis’ loyalty to these people led to bickering and quarrels throughout his administration. In addition, he was plagued by chronic illness. Davis’ popularity and effectiveness were not enhanced by the growing numbers of Confederate defeats in the latter years of the War.

On April 2, 1865, he and the other members of the Confederate government were forced to flee from Richmond before the advancing Union Army. The Confederate President was captured by Northern soldiers near Irwinville, Georgia on May 10, 1865. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia for two years. He was never tried for treason, but was released on bond in May 1867. After being released, Davis and his family traveled for some time in Europe before returning to the American South. They first took up residence in Tennessee then relocated to the Mississippi gulf coast where Davis lived out his retirement years at an estate called Beauvoir near Biloxi. Mississippi tried to return him to the U.S. Senate, but he was not legally qualified to serve since he refused to request an official pardon from the United States for his role in the Civil War. Like many of his contemporaries, Davis wrote about his wartime experiences. Entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government , his two-volume book was published in 1881. Jefferson Finis Davis died in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 6, 1889.

The year before his death the former President of the Confederate States of America beseeched the young men of Mississippi to “lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wished—a reunited country.” Want the Latest? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America November 6, 1861 Who was president during the Civil War? If you were from a Northern state, you answered Abraham Lincoln. If you were from a Southern state, you may have answered Jefferson Davis. On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president, not of the United States of America but of the Confederate States of America. He ran unopposed and was elected to serve for a six-year term. Davis had already been serving as the temporary president for almost a year. How do you think President Lincoln, who had earlier been elected president of the United States, reacted to the Southern election?

page 1 of 2 The American Civil War, Confederate States of America Edited by: Robert Guisepi The Confederate States of America was also called the CONFEDERACY and during the American Civil War, composed the government of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61, carrying on all the affairs of a separate government and conducting a major war until defeated in the spring of 1865.Convinced that their way of life, based on slavery, was irretrievably threatened by the election of President Abraham Lincoln (November 1860), the seven states of the Deep South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) seceded from the Union during the following months. When the war began with the firing on Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861), they were joined by four states of the upper South (Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). A permanent government at Richmond, Va., replaced a provisional government, established in February 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama, a year later. President Jefferson Davis and Vice President Alexander H.

Stephens headed the Confederacy, operating under a structure similar to that of the United States. The new nation soon acquired other symbols of sovereignty, such as its own stamps and a flag known as the Stars and Bars. The main concern of the Confederate States was raising and equipping an army. The Southern Congress first voted to permit direct volunteering up to 400,000, but conscription was begun in April 1862. The total number of Confederate soldiers is estimated at 750,000, as opposed to twice that many Federal troops. (Confederate population stood at about 5,500,000 whites and 3,500,000 black slaves, as against 22,000,000 Northerners.) In railroads, the South had only 9,000 miles, the industrial North 22,000.The Confederacy's early attempts to raise funds centered on printing money, which proved highly inflationary, and issuing bonds that could be paid for in kind. Because of the Federal blockade of Southern ports, tariff revenues proved inadequate.

In 1863 a general tax bill was passed, imposing license and occupational taxes, a profits tax, and a 10 percent tax on farm products, collected in kind. Profitable private blockade running was put under strict supervision in 1864. Prices of farm products for the army were eventually fixed to check profiteering. In foreign affairs, the South had been initially confident of the power and influence of "King Cotton", the crop that accounted for more than half the value of U.S. exports before the war. Confederates felt that the importance of cotton would force diplomatic recognition from the Federal government and European countries. Neither the commissioners sent abroad in 1861 nor the permanent envoys that replaced them were able to secure recognition from Great Britain, France, or any other European power. The South was able, however, to buy considerable war materiel and several fast ships that destroyed much Federal shipping on the high seas. President Davis took an active part in dictating military policy and major strategy, but the great leader on the battlefield was Gen. Robert E. Lee. Heartened by a series of military victories in the first two years of fighting, the Confederacy was convinced of its ultimate success.

But disillusionment set in with almost simultaneous Federal victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg (July 1863). Not even the brilliant tactics of Lee in the East or of General Joseph E. Johnston in the West could indefinitely hold off the stronger Northern armies. After Lee surrendered his dwindling, half-starved army at Appomattox, Va., on April 9, 1865, the Confederacy soon collapsed. Between Dec. 20, 1860, and Feb. 1, 1861, six southern states declared their withdrawal (secession) from the United States. On February 4, at Montgomery, Ala., they organized a separate and independent government called the Confederate States of America. The states that set up this government were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. A seventh state, Texas, was admitted to the confederation on March 2. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, vice-president. The preamble of the new Confederate constitution declared that each state was "acting in its sovereign and independent character." This right had been asserted at earlier periods in American history.

Never before, however, had the issue been charged with the emotional factor of the abolition of black slavery.The constitution of the Confederate States reflected the then prevailing belief in the South that slavery was the only practicable status for the large black population of that section. It forbade any legislation impairing the institution of slavery though it did prohibit foreign slave trade. The remainder of the constitution was largely based on that of the Union from which the states of the lower South were withdrawing. Among the modifications was a six-year term for the president, who could not succeed himself. The president was, in addition, given the right to veto separate items of appropriation bills. Congress was prohibited from adopting a protective tariff on imports. The Three Branches of Government The legislative branch of the government was the Confederate Congress, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Its work was lessened by adopting all United States statutes consistent with the Confederate constitution. On the other hand it had to deal with the difficult problems of war. Within the Congress there were no recognized party divisions. Members tended to fall into administration and anti-administration groups on personal grounds.The judicial system of the Confederacy consisted chiefly of district courts located in the old federal judicial districts.

The ill-defined jurisdiction of circuit courts was abolished (a step followed half a century later by the United States). Provision was made for a supreme court, but it was never organized because of bitter controversies between members of Congress over its jurisdiction and powers. The executive branch consisted of Departments of State, Treasury, War, Navy, Justice, and the Post Office. The heads of these departments made up the president's Cabinet. Fourteen men held Cabinet offices. In order of their terms of service they were: secretary of state, Robert Toombs, R.M.T. Hunter, and J.P. Benjamin; secretary of the treasury, C.G. Memminger, G.A. Trenholm; secretary of war, L.P. Walker, J.P. Benjamin, G.W. Randolph, James A. Seddon, John C. Breckinridge; secretary of the navy, Stephen R. Mallory; attorney general, J.P. Benjamin, Thomas Bragg, Thomas H. Watts, and George Davis; postmaster general, John H. Reagan. Four More States Join the Confederacy The election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States had touched off the series of secessions.

By the time Lincoln took office four months later, the seceding states had taken possession of most of the forts and other public property of the United States lying within their borders. In Charleston Harbor, however, Fort Sumter still garrisoned United States troops. The Montgomery government ordered its forces at Charleston to fire on and reduce Fort Sumter. The bombardment began on April 12, 1861; the fort was surrendered on April 14.On April 15 President Lincoln called for troops to be used against the seceding states. Two days later Virginia, caught between the warring states and forced to a choice, took its first step toward secession. It was followed in turn by Arkansas, North Carolina, and finally (on June 24) by Tennessee.Upon Virginia's invitation, the capital of the new nation was moved to Richmond in May and June 1861. The number of stars in the Confederate flag, originally seven, was increased to 13 in recognition of member states plus Kentucky and Missouri. Neither of these two states seceded, though both sent representatives to the Confederate Congress.The war that began in 1861 continued for almost four years.

At the beginning of the war, the 11 Confederate States had a total population of about 9 million, of whom some 3.5 million were slaves; the 23 states remaining in the Union had a population of about 23 million. The difference in resources was even greater. Most of the industrial power was in the Union states, which had the further advantage of overwhelming naval strength. This sea power was effectively used to blockade Southern ports. Some advantages did lie with the Confederacy. It stood on the defensive, not seeking to conquer the Union states but only to resist efforts to occupy the South. It operated on interior lines so that, even though its railroads were less in extent and in capacity than those of the North, it was able to shift troops from one theater of action to another. It had the handicap of its own emphasis on the rights and independence of its individual states. Several states asserted these rights at such times and in such ways as to weaken the general effort of the Confederacy. First Three Years of the War In the beginning of the struggle, both sides relied on short-term volunteers--the Union for 90 days, the Confederates for one year.

During the first 12 months of the war, despite the dramatic victory of the first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, things went badly for the Confederacy.Missouri was lost to the South as was northern Arkansas, more than half of Tennessee, and important positions on the seacoasts. A Union fleet held the mouth of the Mississippi River and threatened New Orleans. In this state of affairs, the Confederacy adopted conscription, a course soon followed by the Congress of the United States.The second year of the war opened with the loss of New Orleans and Memphis and with a Union army in sight of Richmond. The course of events was reversed, however, when Stonewall Jackson's brilliant campaign freed the Shenandoah Valley and Robert E. Lee took command of the newly named Army of Northern Virginia. Lee drove George B. McClellan from Richmond and, in a series of brilliant victories, threatened Washington and crossed the Potomac into Maryland. Meanwhile in the west, Gen. Braxton Bragg drove his Southern Army of Tennessee into Kentucky, almost to the Ohio River. He was compelled to withdraw after the battle of Perryville (Oct. 8, 1862).

Earlier Lee had to leave Maryland after the battle at Sharpsburg, or Antietam, on September 16 and 17.The battle of Antietam was enough of a Union victory to warrant President Lincoln's issuing his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It was to become effective on Jan. 1, 1863, and was to apply only to slaves in states still resisting Union arms at that time. More important it served to make the war a crusade against slavery as well as a conflict to preserve the Union. It thereby effectively ended any possibility of foreign intervention on the Confederate side.During the remaining years the tide of war slowly turned against the Confederates. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania ended in defeat at Gettysburg. The North gained control of the Mississippi River, cutting off the western South from the remainder of the Confederacy. The railroad lines connecting the central South with the eastern section were cut. In the Shenandoah Valley and elsewhere Union forces deliberately destroyed the South's facilities for producing war supplies.The Southern government had started out with high hope of foreign support, particularly from Great Britain and France. To create an artificial scarcity of cotton abroad, the Confederate government prohibited its export in the early days of the war.

Later they could not get it out in sufficient quantities because of the effective blockade. The Confederate States never gained diplomatic recognition as a nation. Europe's chief contribution was in the form of navy cruisers, such as the Alabama. These warships did much to disrupt Union seaborne commerce. The Confederacy was never able to solve its financial problem. As a result the successive issues of Confederate paper money lost more and more purchasing power until they finally became of no value. Estimates of the amount of money printed by the Confederate government range between one and two billion dollars. To this should be added perhaps another half billion dollars of notes and fractional currency ("shinplasters") issued by states, banks, railroads, and other business organizations. The End of the Confederacy Late in 1864 it became apparent that the Confederacy had no chance to win the war. The fall of Atlanta was followed by the rout of General John B. Hood's Army of the Tennessee and the virtually unopposed march of General William T. Sherman to Savannah. Unsuccessful attempts were made to negotiate a peace with President Lincoln at Hampton Roads on Feb. 3, 1865. Three days later, President Davis appointed Robert E.

Lee to the position of general in chief. In another six days Wilmington, the last Confederate port open to blockade runners, was closed by the fall of Fort Fisher.Petersburg, Va., fell on April 2, 1865, and Richmond had to be evacuated. Although scattered fighting persisted in the Carolinas, in Texas, and on the high seas, the Confederate States of America could not survive after Lee's surrender at the Appomattox, Va., courthouse on April 9. The Confederate States had to accept the reconstruction terms imposed upon them by the federal government, before being allowed back in the Union. Politically, the period of reconstruction was completed in 1877. Economically, the effects of the war lasted much longer. One lasting result of the war was the creation of the state of West Virginia. The decision by Virginia to secede from the Union in 1861 led more than 50 counties in the northwest part of the state to break away from Virginia to form the new state in 1863

Question: Who was the first and only President of the Confederate States of America?
Answer: JEFFERSON DAVIES