The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederacy, was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by a number of Southern slave states that had declared their secession from the United States. The Confederacy recognized as members eleven states that had formally declared secession, two additional states with less formal declarations, and one new territory. Secessionists argued that the United States Constitution was a compact among states, an agreement which each state could abandon without consultation. The United States government rejected secession as illegal. Confederate forces seized U.S. forts within territory claimed by the CSA, and the American Civil War began in 1861 with the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter. By 1865, all Confederate forces had surrendered to U.S. forces,and the Confederacy collapsed. No foreign nation officially recognized the Confederacy as an independent country, but several did grant belligerent status. - Source: Wikipedia
Related Stories
