Chapter 275 : The Confederate States Of America Are Founded

Date: February 4, 1861

The Seven Seceding States Meet In Montgomery

On the same day that Tyler’s Peace Conference is meeting in Washington, the states that have already left the Union gather in Montgomery, Alabama, to confront the prospects of war.

It is the 60 year old Fire-eater from South Carolina, Robert B. Rhett, who anticipates the need for this Southern Convention, and goes about organizing it.

It begins on February 4 in the Senate Chamber of the Alabama legislature, with 37 delegates present.

They see their task much like that of the Founding Fathers: first to assert their independence; second to write a Constitution and form up a new government; third to agree on a plan to proceed in lockstep in response to whatever reactions occur in Washington.

Those gathered consider themselves conservative by nature, disinclined to embrace the hot-heated stances prevalent in South Carolina.

They choose Howell Cobb, who resigns as Buchanan’s Treasury Secretary back on December 8, as President of the convention. They then look to another Georgian, the 5’ tall, 95 lb. dynamo and friend of Lincoln, Alexander Stephens, to orchestrate the proceedings.

Strident men like Rhett and Lawrence Keitt are present, but they are held in check by others, including Jefferson Davis who tracks events from his home in Mississippi.

Date: February 7-9, 1861

A Constitution Is Completed And A Name Chosen

All meetings are held in secret, and action follows swiftly.

By the fourth day, February 7, the delegates pass a Constitution, largely the work of the German born Christopher Gustavus Memminger, who will go on to serve as Treasury Secretary in the new government he helps codify.

The work itself mirrors the 1787 US document, on the grounds that it served the nation well until the Black Republicans decided to violate it.

Still there are a few alterations, chief among them an explicit guarantee of slavery in Article I, Section IX:

No…law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.

Other articles try to overtly harness federal power vis a vis the sovereign states.

Thus the President will be limited to one six year term.

Unlike the U.S. Constitution, the open-ended call for him to do what he deems necessary to “protect and defend the general welfare” disappears from his enumerated powers.

Time will tell that these limits on central authority go on to plague efforts to get members to act in unison especially on military strategy and funding the war.

On February 9, the new government is christened the Confederate States of America.

Date: February 11, 1861

Jefferson Davis Is Chosen As The CSA President

The next order of business lies in selecting the CSA’s top officers, each for one six year term.

Initial interest here focuses on Georgian moderates – 49 year old Senator Robert Toombs and 44 year old Howell Cobb, recently resigned from Buchanan’s cabinet. But Toombs is sometimes prone to drunkenness and Cobb’s often abrasive temperament rules him out.

The answer instead is Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, who insists that he would prefer a position as head of the CSA army.

Davis too arrives with his own full share of critics. Sam Houston calls him “as ambitious as Lucifer and as cold as a lizard.” Howell Cobb’s brother, Thomas, says: “he is not great in any sense of the term…the power of will has made him all he is.”

But Davis is blessed with the military background and “command presence” that the delegates feel may well be needed if Lincoln challenges the new government with force.

In the end, he becomes the only nominee put forward, and wins by acclimation. His response is characteristically dour, a tone that will be repeated throughout his tenure:

Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.

The Vice-Presidential slot goes to a third prominent Georgian, Alexander Stephens. He will find Davis overbearing and will quarrel with him almost continuously over the next four years.

Stephens is sworn in on February 11, with Davis’ formal inauguration delayed until February 18, when he finally reaches Montgomery from Mississippi.

In his acceptance speech, Davis:

* Calls upon other Southern states to join the cause;

* Insists that the break is permanent;

* Hopes that war can be avoided while mentioning it five times; and

* Seeks formal recognition from the UK and France.

With this, America’s struggle no longer becomes a matter of South Carolina and Sumter, but of how to react to a new power, the Confederate States of America, residing on domestic soil.

Sidebar: Initial CSA Cabinet

Within a month of his election, Davis will organize his initial cabinet, choosing one member from each of the six states beyond Mississippi that have seceded. Harmony seldom reigns for long within this circle, given Davis’ stern and autocratic manner. Both his State and War Secretaries will be gone in less than seven months, and his Vice-President, Stephens, will become a constant critic over the life of the confederacy.

Jefferson Davis’ Opening Cabinet