At a time of heated controversy surrounding Confederate monuments, many Americans still find it hard to grasp why secession occurred. Historians indicate that secessionists formed their nation-state on principles rooted in white supremacy.
Opponents argued that the three-fifths clause gave slaveholding states an unfair advantage in a federal union and believed Africans to be less fully human than others.
The Constitution
The Constitution established the Confederacy as a league of states united in "a firm alliance for their common defense, security and general welfare". A unicameral congress formed as the central government with state legislatures electing representatives for representation at its central meeting place. State sovereignty was an integral aspect of this constitution as state legislators held ultimate power over taxes levied or commerce regulation regulations passed through Congress; instead its main duty was protecting Southern states against invasion.
At its inception, the Confederacy existed only as a nameplate nation. Lacking financial resources and personnel trained to operate national monetary policy and major shipping industries that dominated federal policy systems; most gold and silver reserves and mines as well as most railroad mileage lay within loyal Union states dominated federal system operations.
Further eroding Confederate government was political factionalism and ideological rivalries that sapped its effectiveness. Even as early as 1861, Davis and his advisors battled over how best to proceed in war efforts; some Congress members showed little sympathy with his policies.
Racial tensions further complicated Confederacy's military strategy. Following advice from Prussian strategist Karl von Clausewitz, Confederate leaders believed an early victory at Manassas or Bull Run could prove fatal for Northern field armies and turn public opinion against them and thus turn the war in their favour.
By June 1861, however, it became evident that Confederate victory was no longer feasible. Splintered rebel ranks combined with American blockade and repeated battlefield losses had rendered this war nearly hopeless and made victory unlikely.
By the end of the Civil War, most Southerners acknowledged they had waged a losing war to preserve white supremacy and perpetuate slavery of millions of African Americans. Yet the Lost Cause narrative persisted into the 20th century and beyond; its narrative of noble rebellion reigning supreme even now with monuments like Silent Sam being displayed throughout South Carolina and the rest of America despite these facts being known. Public entities must stop perpetuating this false history narrative to provide clarity for their constituents about history's truthful accounts of our history.
The Executive Branch
Although the Confederate Constitution closely followed large sections of the United States Constitution, there were significant variations between its branches and between national and state governments in terms of how power was distributed between government branches. All legislative power lay with the bi-cameral Confederate Congress, yet federal legislation that might compromise Southerners who owned slaves was strictly forbidden by this charter. Furthermore, Congress could not impose protective tariffs or fund internal improvements through national banks.
Even without adequate financial resources, the Confederate Congress still managed to fulfill its constitutional duties. It appointed five cabinet secretaries and one Supreme Court justice; passed various pieces of legislation including a protective tariff bill which provided much-needed revenue; created a committee of thirteen for peace proposals; yet radical Republicans such as Charles Sumner rejected these efforts as revolution, leaving no room for compromise in the new nation.
Jefferson Davis had some allies in the Confederate Congress, including Speaker of the House Bocock of Virginia and senators Thomas S. Bocock from Virginia and Benjamin H. Hill from Georgia; however, states' rights extremists obstructed any attempts at more vigorous prosecution of war. They denounced energetic Federal initiatives as sources of centralized despotism while President Davis argued for defensive warfare as essential to maintaining Southern power.
Conflict between Confederate strategists was ultimately what brought down their cause. Jackson and Lee offered plans that could have won the war; but Davis and Lee refused to implement them.
Confederate Congress also issued flawed conscription laws, mandating all white male citizens unless physically disabled to serve in its military; teachers, preachers, hospital workers and others not essential to its armies were exempted from service in its ranks. Yet despite all of its flaws the draft remained an integral component of Confederacy's army during its four year existence.
The Judicial Branch
The Confederacy's constitution was designed to mirror that of the United States in terms of national judicial structure, with all power being delegated to an elected supreme court and other national courts commissioned by Congress. Ideally, this system of checks and balances should have helped counteract vindictive personal politics as it had done under Union governance; unfortunately it proved otherwise; instead of providing checks against power abuses caused by vindictive personal politics, political infighting exploded out of control in this republic that forwent two-party politics altogether.
At its heart, the Confederacy's demise was determined more by internal division among its leaders than by Union force on the battlefield. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee (and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson for that matter) offered plans that would have brought victory for South but due to fundamentally divergent views of warfare they were unable to implement them effectively.
Rable effectively illustrates that one major contributor to the Confederacy's downfall was its inability to establish an efficient economy and financial system, with Rable showing how this was in large part caused by their desire to dismantle political parties that caused factionalism - seen by many Southerners as corrupt components of American system, they believed such parties must be disbanded in order to promote a purer form of nationalism.
Confederacy's attempt at developing a new economic system was plagued by its creation during a profound economic crisis, with most gold and silver reserves, most mines, nearly all railroad mileage and nearly all heavy industry remaining in the North despite it having most people experienced in administering national monetary policy residing at Federal government level.
Due to an unsound financial system, the Confederacy started with an empty treasury upon its establishment and was forced to print money to fund its war effort. This caused inflationary trends which made life increasingly expensive for formerly well-off people while undermining real estate value and leading to much infighting among property owners.
The Legislative Branch
At its outset, one of the primary challenges of Confederacy government was finding money. Although its treasury started out empty-handed and eventually received funds from Alabama and federal customhouses and mints in New Orleans for printing paper money and issuing bonds as means to generate income sources, its leaders realized they required a steady and inexhaustible source of funds if their nation was going to survive and thrive. Printing money and bonds was considered less painful and more popular than direct taxes while more logical than raising sales taxes such as those levied upon cotton products which comprised over half the exports from United States exports in 1860.
Memminger was initially unsuccessful in creating a national economy due to the failed bond issue and Congress' inability to implement direct taxation; his attempts fell flat upon implementation as his efforts met various obstacles such as Southern cultural antipathy toward taxation; war optimism; lack of national banking system and representatives more interested in states' rights than effective federalism.
Political decentralization hampered Confederate war efforts greatly, yet an even deeper setback came through judicial usurpation. Confederate legislators, fearing a centralizing judiciary branch, purposely failed to pass legislation creating a national supreme court; sensing Chief Justice John Marshall's expansion of judicial powers through judicial nationalism, they saw such an institution as an opportunity for consolidating national power bases.
Even with its many failings, the South fought an impressive and courageous war for independence from Britain and established an extraordinary nation with remarkable integrity. Our public institutions should stop honoring a secessionist government that waged war against America to preserve white supremacy and the slavery of millions. Let us bury this mythical notion known as The Lost Cause once and for all!
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