Confederacy

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

UNITED DAUGH- TERS OF THE, a woman's patriotic society founded at Nashville, Tenn., in 1894 to perpetuate the memory of those in the South who fought for or assisted their fight for independence. To be a member of the society one must be a female descendant of one who rendered service to the Confederacy, either civil or military. There are chapters in all the Southern States, as well as elsewhere. The combined membership in 1920 was about 100,000. CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMER- ICA, THE, the name adopted by the Southern States when they ey seceded from the Union and formed a government at Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 4, 1861. Delegates from the States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, adopted a Constitution and elected Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President, and Alexander E. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. as, Arkansas, North Carolina, Ten- , Texas nessee, and Virginia afterward joined the Confederacy. Missouri and Kentucky were always in dispute and had representatives in both the United States Congress and the Confederate States Congress. The States which entered into the formation of the Confederacy had all passed ordinances of secession, withdrawing from the Union in full confidence that they not only had the legal right to do so, but were fully justified in their action by circumstances and the interests of their people. Historical precedent certainly seemed to give them the right of withdrawal. After the first gun had been fired by John Brown at Harper's Ferry and when Major Anderson marched out of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, both sections were wild with excitement and there seemed nothing left but to fight it out to the bitter end. The odds in numbers and resources were overwhelmingly in favor of the North. The States which adhered to the Federal government (not counting Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, which furnished more troops to the Federal than to the Confederate armies) had a population of 20,000,000, while the white population of the Confederate States numbered only 5,000,000. The official reports of the Adjutant-General, United States army, show that there were actually mustered into the Federal armies during the war 2,778,304 men, while the Confederate Adjutant-General, Samuel Cooper, has shown that the Confederates mustered into service only 600,000 men in all. The South had to depend upon scant resources and material, and had no cause to be ashamed of its leaders, but could proudly point to its soldier-President, Jefferson Davis, and its generals, such as Robert Edward Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard, "Stonewall" Jackson, Bedford Forrest, J. E. B. Stuart, Stephen D. Lee, Richard Taylor, Fitzhugh Lee, Wade Hampton, Kirby Smith, W. J. Hardee, John B. Gordon, Jubal Á. Early, and others. The Constitution of the Confederate States was modeled after that of the Federal Constitution, and in some important differences has won the approval of even Northern statesmen. It recognized Almighty God and invoked His favor and guidance. It guarded carefully the doctrine of the "sovereignty of each State." It expressly forbade the slave trade, or the importation of slaves from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States and Territories of the United States. It forbade "bounties" or "trusts" of any kind, and وو provided a "tariff for revenue." It gave Cabinet officers the privileges of the floors of its Congress, allowed the President to veto any part art of a bill and approve the remainder, giving his reasons for such action, and fixed the term of office of the President at six years and made him ineligible for a second term. The "Confederate States of America" passed away, but its survivors, their children and their children's children may proudly claim that in four short years the Confederacy toonderamadrid name andill ingly let die." See CIVIL WAR, AMERI- CAN.