For the CSA to thrive, it needed a healthy economy and a reliable source of income. Neither came easily due to the raging Civil War and a northern blockade. Moreover, the CSA was plagued by infighting over taxes and labor regulations, and impressment policies. In general, people did not love their government.
In February 1861, delegates to the Confederate States of America assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, to write a charter for a new country. The document closely resembled the 1787 U.S. Constitution but placed a greater emphasis on states’ rights, including the right to defend slavery. Specifically, Article One, Section Nine, stated: “No… law impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.”
Remembering History: Confederate States of America Flags
A provisional government was formed with Jefferson Davis, then a Mississippi Senator, as President and Alexander Stephens, Georgia’s governor and an anti-secessionist, as Vice-President. The CSA also adopted a centralized government structure. However, its lack of a two-party political system prevented the founders from harnessing the full power of party discipline to channel state administrations behind federal authority and minimize the debilitating effects of personal politics. Instead, the CSA’s infighting sabotaged the federation’s chances for survival. Ultimately, the Confederacy was doomed to fail. The statues commemorate the courage of those who, despite knowing they could never be a nation with the United States of America, fought to preserve the ideal of a white-supremacist, pro-slavery nation. They did not die in vain. Their descendants, many of whom live in Richmond today, continue to honor their sacrifice.