Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) was the government formed by eleven  of the  between 1861 and 1865.

Seven states declared their independence from the United States before was inaugurated as ; four more did so after the  began at the. The United States of America ("") held illegal and refused recognition of the Confederacy. Although British commercial interests sold it warships and operated s to help supply it, no European powers officially recognized the CSA. Thus, by the definition of a sovereign state, as defined in international relations, the CSA was never an independent country (e.g. one of the requirements to be considered a sovereign state is to have the recognition of other states).

The CSA effectively collapsed when and other Confederate generals surrendered their armies in April of 1865. The last meeting of its Cabinet took place in Georgia in May. Nearly all remaining Confederate forces surrendered by the end of June. A decade-long process known as temporarily gave  and the right to vote to the, expelled ex-Confederate leaders from office, and re-admitted the states to representation in.

Causes for secession
Four of the seceding states, the states of South Carolina, Mississippi , Georgia , and Texas, issued formal declarations of causes, each of which identified the threat to slaveholders’ rights as the cause of, or a major cause of, secession; Georgia also claimed a general Federal policy of favoring Northern over Southern economic interests. In what later came to be known as the, C.S. Vice President , declared that the "cornerstone" of the new government "rest[ed] upon the great truth that the is not equal to the  man; that —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, C.S. President Jefferson Davis made no explicit reference to slavery in his inaugural address, instead emphasizing as the reason for secession .

Some southern religious leaders preached the cause of secession. (1818-1902), pastor of the First of, thundered his support for secession in a  sermon in 1860, arguing that white Southerners had a right and duty to maintain slavery out of economic and social self-preservation, in order to act as "guardians" to the "affectionate and loyal" but "helpless" blacks, to safeguard global economic interests, and to defend religion against "atheistic" abolitionism. His sermon was widely distributed across the region.

Seceding states


Seven states seceded by February 1861: After Lincoln called for troops, four more states seceded: Two more states had rival (or rump) governments. The Confederacy admitted them but they never controlled these states and the pro-Confederate state governments were soon in exile: Both states allowed slavery and both had strong Unionist and Confederate counties, including some Unionist slave-owners. Additionally, portions of modern-day Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico were considered Confederate territories.
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Rise and fall of the Confederacy
The American Civil War broke out in April of 1861 with the in. Federal troops of the U.S. had retreated to soon after South Carolina declared their secession. U.S. President Buchanan had attempted to resupply Sumter by sending the , but Confederate forces fired upon the ship, driving it away. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln also attempted to resupply Sumter. Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens that "an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, [except] in case of an attack on the fort." In response, the Confederate cabinet decided at a meeting in Montgomery to open fire on Fort Sumter in an attempt to force its surrender before the relief fleet arrived. On, , Confederate troops, following orders from Davis and his Secretary of War, fired upon the federal troops occupying Fort Sumter, forcing their surrender. Following the, Lincoln called for the remaining states in the Union to send troops to recapture Sumter and other forts and customs-houses in the South that Confederate forces had claimed, some by force. This proclamation was made before Congress could convene on the matter, and the original request from the War Department called for volunteers for only three months of duty. Lincoln's call for troops resulted in four more states voting to secede, rather than provide troops for the Union. 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, to. All but two major battles took place in Confederate territory.

Alexander H. Stephens maintained that Lincoln's attempt to resupply Sumter had provoked the war.

Kentucky was a during the 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, 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; later versions of Confederate flags had thirteen stars, reflecting the Confederacy's claims to those states.

The five tribal governments of the — which became  in 1907 — also mainly supported the Confederacy, providing troops and one. It was represented in the after 1863 by  representing the, and  representing the  and.

Citizens at and  in the southern part of  formed a secession convention and voted to join the Confederacy on, , and appointed  as the new territorial governor. In July, Mesilla appealed to Confederate troops in, under Lieutenant Colonel for help in removing the  under Major Isaac Lynde that was stationed nearby. The Confederates defeated Lynde at the on. After the battle, Baylor established a territorial government for the Confederate and named himself governor. In 1862, a was launched under General  to take the northern half of New Mexico. Although Confederates briefly occupied the territorial capital of, they were defeated at in March and retreated, never to return.

The northernmost slave states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) were contested territory, but the Union won control by 1862. In 1861, was declared in  (the state which borders the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., on three sides) to block attempts at secession. , also a slave state, never considered secession, nor did Washington, D.C. In 1861, a unionist legislature in  seceded from Virginia, claiming 48 counties, and joined the United States in 1863 as the state of  with a constitution that gradually abolished slavery.

Attempts to secede from the Confederate States of America by some counties in were held in check by Confederate declarations of martial law.

The surrender of the by General  at  on, , is generally taken as the end of the Confederate States. President Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia, on, and the remaining Confederate armies surrendered by June 1865. The last Confederate flag was hauled down from on,.

Constitution
The Southern leaders met in Montgomery, Alabama, to write their constitution. The reveals much about the motivations for secession from the Union. Although much of it was copied verbatim from the, it contained several explicit protections of the institution of slavery, though the was maintained. In certain areas the Confederate Constitution gave greater powers to the states, or curtailed the powers of the central government more, than the U.S. Constitution of the time did, but in other areas the states actually lost rights they had under the U.S. Constitution. Although the Confederate Constitution, like the U.S. Constitution, contained a, the Confederate version prohibited the central government from using revenues collected in one state for funding s in another state. The Confederate Constitution's equivalent to the U.S. Constitution's prohibited s, and spoke of "carry[ing] on the Government of the Confederate States" rather than providing for the "general welfare". State legislatures were given the power to officials of the Confederate government in some cases. On the other hand, the Confederate Constitution contained a and a  that were essentially identical to those of the U.S. Constitution. The Confederate Constitution did not specifically include a provision allowing states to secede; the Preamble spoke of each state "acting in its sovereign and independent character" but also of the formation of a "permanent federal government". States were also explicitly denied the power to bar slaveholders from other parts of the Confederacy from bringing their slaves into any state of the Confederacy or to interfere with the property rights of slave owners traveling between different parts of the Confederacy. In contrast with the secular language of the United States Constitution, the Confederate Constitution overtly asked God's blessing ("invoking the favor of Almighty God.")

The President of the Confederate States of America was to be elected to a six-year term, but could not be re-elected. (The only president was ; the Confederacy was defeated by the Union before he completed his term.) One unique power granted to the Confederate president was his ability to subject a bill to a, 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. In addition, appropriations not specifically requested by the executive branch required passage by a two-thirds vote in both houses of 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 minting.

Civil liberties
The Confederacy actively used the military to arrest people suspected of loyalty to the United States. Historian Mark Neely found 2,700 names of men arrested and estimated the full list was much longer. They arrested at about the same rate as the Union arrested Confederate loyalists. 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 system.

Capital
The capital of the Confederate States of America was, from until ,. , was named the new capital on,. 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. , served as the last capital of the Confederate States of America, from to,.

International diplomacy
Once the war with the United States began, the best hope for the survival of the Confederacy was military intervention by and. The United States realized this as well 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 "" — that is, Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton — were proven wrong. The war and Union blockade of the South caused, which depended heavily on cotton exports from the seceding states ; however, abolitionist sentiment among English workers ran counter to this economic interest in Confederate victory.

During its existence, the Confederate government sent repeated delegations to ; historians do not give them high marks for diplomatic skills. was sent to as Confederate minister to, and  was sent to  as minister to. Both were able to obtain private meetings with high British and French officials, but they failed to secure for the Confederacy. Britain and the United States were at sword's point during the in late 1861. Mason and Slidell had been illegally seized from a British ship by an American warship. Queen Victoria's husband,, 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, British foreign secretary and Napoleon III, and, to a lesser extent, British Prime Minister, were interested in the idea of recognition of the Confederacy, or at least of offering a mediation. Recognition meant certain war with the United States, loss of American grain, loss of exports to the United States, loss of huge investments in American securities, possible war in and other North American colonies, much higher taxes, many lives lost and a severe threat to the entire British merchant marine, in exchange for the possibility of some cotton. Many party leaders and the general public wanted no war with such high costs and meager benefits. Recognition was considered following the when the British government was preparing to mediate in the conflict, but the Union victory at the  and Lincoln's, combined with internal opposition, caused the government to back away.

In November 1863, Confederate diplomat met  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 mistakenly viewed it as a de facto recognition of the C.S.A.  Confederate Secretary of State, 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 commissioners continued meeting with , the  Secretary of State. In 1864, Catholic Bishop  of Charleston traveled to the Vatican with an authorization from Jefferson Davis to represent the Confederacy before the . That same year, Davis sent  to France and England with an offer to emancipate Southern slaves in exchange for recognition of the Confederacy from France and England. This attempt was unsuccessful.

No country appointed any diplomat officially to the Confederacy, but several maintained their consuls in the South who had been appointed before the war. In 1861, applied for approval as the  consul, but he was a citizen of Texas and there is no evidence that Saxe officials knew what he was doing. In 1863, the Confederacy expelled all foreign consuls (all of them British or French diplomats) for advising their subjects to refuse to serve in combat against the U.S.

Throughout the war most European powers adopted a policy of neutrality, meeting informally with Confederate diplomats but withholding diplomatic recognition. None ever sent an ambassador or official delegation to Richmond. However, they applied international law principles that recognized the Union and Confederate sides as s. allowed both Confederate and Union agents to work openly within its borders, and some state governments in northern  negotiated local agreements to cover trade on the Texas border.

"Died of states' rights"
Historian argued that the Confederacy "died of states' rights." According to Owsley, strong-willed governors and state legislatures in the South refused to give the national government the soldiers and money it needed because they feared that Richmond was encroaching on the rights of the states. Georgia's governor warned that he saw the signs of a deep-laid conspiracy on the part of Jefferson Davis to destroy states' rights and individual liberty. Brown declaimed: "Almost every act of usurpation of power, or of bad faith, has been conceived, brought forth and nurtured in secret session." To grant the Confederate government the power to draft soldiers was the "essence of military despotism." In 1863 governor of Texas insisted that Texas troops were needed for self-defense (against Indians or a threatened Union invasion), and refused to send them East. , the governor of North Carolina was notoriously hostile to Davis and his demands. Opposition to conscription in North Carolina was intense and its results were disastrous for recruiting. Governor Vance's faith in states' rights drove him into a stubborn opposition.

Vice President Stephens broke publicly with President Davis, saying any accommodation would only weaken the republic, and he therefore had no choice but to break publicly with the Confederate administration and the president. Stephens charged that to allow Davis to make "arbitrary arrests" and to draft state officials conferred on him more power than the English Parliament had ever bestowed on the king. History proved the dangers of such unchecked authority." He added that Davis intended to suppress the peace meetings in North Carolina and "put a muzzle upon certain presses" (especially the antiwar newspaper Raleigh Standard) in order to control elections in that state. Echoing 's "give me liberty or give me death" Stephens warned the Southerners they should never view liberty as "subordinate to independence" because the cry of "independence first and liberty second" was a "fatal delusion." As historian George Rable concludes, "For Stephens, the essence of patriotism, the heart of the Confederate cause, rested on an unyielding commitment to traditional rights. In his idealist vision of politics, military necessity, pragmatism, and compromise meant nothing."

The survival of the Confederacy depended on a strong base of civilians and soldiers devoted to victory. The soldiers performed well, though increasing numbers deserted in the last year. The civilians, although enthusiastic in 1861-62 seem to have lost faith in the nation's future by 1864, and instead looked to protect their homes and communities. As Rable explains, "As the Confederacy shrank, citizens' sense of the cause more than ever narrowed to their own states and communities. This contraction of civic vision was more than a crabbed libertarianism; it represented an increasingly widespread disillusionment with the Confederate experiment.

Relations with the United States
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, U.S. Secretary of State issued formal instructions to, 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 seemed 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 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 and rebellion. Mid-war negotiations between the two sides occurred without formal political recognition, though the governed military relationships.

Four years after the war, in 1869, the ruled in  that secession was unconstitutional and. The court's opinion was authored by Chief Justice. , former president of the Confederacy, and Alexander Stephens, its former vice-president, both penned arguments in favor of secession's legality, most notably Davis' .

Confederate flags
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 difficult to distinguish from the 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.

Legislative
The 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.

Provisional Congress For the first year, the unicameral was the confederacy's legislative branch.

President of the Provisional Congress
 * of Georgia - -

Presidents pro tempore of the Provisional Congress
 * of - February 4, 1861
 * of - December 10-21, 1861 and January 7-8, 1862
 * of - December 23-24, 1861 and January 6, 1862

Sessions of the Confederate Congress

Tribal Representatives to Confederate Congress
 * 1862-65 -
 * Burton Allen Holder 1864-1865
 * Robert McDonald Jones 1863-65 -

Judicial
A Judicial branch of the government was outlined in the constitution, but the "Supreme Court of the Confederate States" was never created or seated because of the ongoing war; the state and local courts generally continued to operate as they had been, simply recognizing the CSA, rather than the U.S., as the national government. Some Confederate district courts were, however, established within some of the individual states of the Confederate States of America; namely, South Carolina, Arkansas, 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.

Supreme court - not established

District Court
 * Asa Biggs 1861-1865
 * John White Brockenbrough 1861
 * Alexander Mosby Clayton 1861
 * Jesse J. Finley 1861-1862

Geography
The Confederate States of America claimed a total of 2,919 miles (4,698 km) of coastline, thus a large part of its territory lay on the sea coast with level and often sandy or marshy ground. Most of the interior portion was arable farmland, though much was also hilly and mountainous, and the far western territories were deserts. The lower reaches of the bisected the country, with the western half often referred to as the. The highest point (excluding Arizona and New Mexico) was in  at 8,750 feet (2,667 m).

Climate
Much of the area claimed by the Confederate States of America had a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. The climate and terrain varied to semi-arid steppe and arid desert, west of longitude 96 degrees west. The subtropical climate made winters mild but allowed infectious diseases to flourish. Consequently disease killed more soldiers than died in 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 Union soldiers were used to garrison captured areas and protect rail lines. But the seized most of the navigable rivers by 1862, making its own logistics easy and Confederate movements difficult. After the in July 1863, it became impossible for units to cross the Mississippi since Union gunboats constantly patrolled it. The South thus lost use of its western regions.

Railroad system
The formed an extensive system east of the Mississipi, but there were many gaps in the system and changes of gauge which hindered operations. Hence the Confederacy failed to gain the advantage of interior lines, that a more complete railway system might have supplied. Inability to supply spare parts including lack of rails drove operators to frustration and despair.

Rural areas
The area claimed by 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. was the only Southern city 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 U.S. cities in 1860, most of them ports whose economic activities were shut down by the. 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 (,, , and Washington, as well as , , and , ) were never under the control of the Confederate government.

(See also, , , , and ).

Economy
The Confederacy had an agrarian economy with exports, to a world market, of, and, to a lesser extent, and. Local food production included grains, hogs, cattle, and gardens. The 11 states produced $155 million in manufactured goods in 1860, chiefly from local grist mills, and lumber, processed tobacco, cotton goods and such as turpentine. The CSA adopted a low tariff of 15 per cent, but imposed it on all imports from the rest of the United States. The tariff mattered little; the Confederacy's ports were blocked to commercial traffic by the Union's blockade, and very few people paid taxes on goods smuggled from the Union states. The government collected about $3.5 million in tariff revenue from the start of their war against the Union to late 1864. The lack of adequate financial resources led the Confederacy to finance the war through printing money, which led to high inflation.

Armed forces
The military armed forces of the Confederacy were composed of three branches:

The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the and  who had resigned their Federal commissions and had been appointed to senior positions in the Confederate armed forces. Many had served in the (including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis), but others had little or no military experience (such as, who had attended  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 and ) 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. Many thousands of slaves served as laborers, cooks, pioneers and in other non-combat roles. The Confederacy adopted in 1862. Depleted by casualties, the military suffered chronic manpower shortages. After agitation from the Army, and at the demand of General Lee, slaves were enrolled in new combat units in the spring of 1865, with the promise of emancipation; they were in training when the war ended and did not serve in actual combat.

Military leaders
Military leaders of the Confederacy (with their state of birth and highest rank ) included:


 * - and  (1865)
 * (Kentucky) - General
 * (Virginia) - General
 * (North Carolina) - General
 * (Louisiana) - General
 * (Virginia) -
 * - General (Adjutant General and highest ranking general in the Army); not in combat
 * (South Carolina) - Lieutenant General
 * (Virginia now )- Lieutenant General
 * (Kentucky) -
 * (Virginia) - Lieutenant General
 * (Texas) - Lieutenant General
 * (South Carolina) - Lieutenant General
 * (Tennessee) - Lieutenant General
 * , the "Grey Ghost of the Confederacy" (Virginia) - Colonel
 * (Virginia) -
 * (Georgia) - Brigadier General
 * (Maryland) -
 * (Maryland) -
 * (Georgia) -
 * (, now ) - Brigadier General (last to surrender)
 * (North Carolina) - Lieutenant General
 * (Virginia) - Major General
 * (Virginia) - Lieutenant General
 * (Kentucky) - Lieutenant General (Son of U.S. President )
 * (South Carolina) - - Commandant of the Confederate States Marine Corps
 * (North Carolina) Major General
 * (France) Major General
 * (Tennessee) Major General
 * (Virginia) Major General
 * Brigadier General

Economic & Social History
see
 * Black, Robert C., III. The Railroads of the Confederacy, 1988.
 * Clinton, Catherine, and Silber, Nina, eds. Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War, 1992.
 * Dabney, Virginius. Richmond: The Story of a City. Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8139-1274-1.
 * Faust, Drew Gilpin. Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War, 1996.
 * Faust, Drew Gilpin. The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South, 1988.
 * Grimsley, Mark. The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865, 1995.
 * Lentz, Perry Carlton. Our Missing Epic: A Study in the Novels about the American Civil War, 1970.
 * Massey, Mary Elizabeth. Bonnet Brigades: American Women and the Civil War, 1966.
 * Massey, Mary Elizabeth. Refugee Life in the Confederacy, 1964.
 * Rable, George C. Civil Wars: Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism, 1989.
 * Ramsdell, Charles. Behind the Lines in the Southern Confederacy, 1994.
 * Roark, James L. Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction, 1977.
 * Rubin, Anne Sarah. A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868, 2005.  A cultural study of Confederates' self images.
 * Thomas, Emory M. The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience, 1992.
 * Wiley, Bell Irwin. Confederate Women, 1975.
 * Wiley, Bell Irwin. The Plain People of the Confederacy, 1944.
 * Woodward, C. Vann, ed. Mary Chesnut's Civil War, 1981.

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.
 * 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.
 * Yearns, Wilfred Buck. The Confederate Congress, 1960.