The American Civil War

from the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas quickly followed suit. These states sent delegates to Montgomery, Alabama and on February 8, 1861 adopted a provisional constitution for the newly formed Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was chosen as the President for a six-year term of office. The Constitution by which the permanent government of the Confederate States of America was formed was reported by the committee and adopted by the Provisional Congress on the 11th of March, 1861, to be submitted to the States for ratification. All States ratified it and conformed themselves to its requirements without delay. The Constitution varied in very few particulars from the Constitution of the United States, preserving carefully the fundamental principles of popular representative democracy and confederation of co-equal States.
These events were to set the stage for the bloodiest and saddest war in American history. In a conflict that combined elements of the Napoleonic Age with the new Machine Age, at least 600,000 Americans and others would lose their lives fighting for constitutional principle, sectional differences, economic self-interest, and moral righteousness. As a defining moment in United States history, the Civil War has no equal, which is why it remains such a fascinating subject even today.