Confederate States of America (1861–1865)

Confederate States of America
1861–1865/66
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Deo vindice
Capital	Richmond
Capital-in-exile	Danville
Largest city	New Orleans
Dominant mode of production	Slavery
Government	Oligarchical reactionary slave state
History
• 1860 United States presidential election	1860
• Secession crisis	1860
• Formation of the CSA	1861
• Battle of Fort Sumter	1861
• American Civil War	1861
• Battle of Appomattox Court House	1865
• Final surrender	1865
• Legal abolition	1866

The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederacy, was a reactionary slave state rooted in white supremacy and settler colonialism. It existed during the American Civil War, and its defeat acted as bourgeois revolution as it resulted in the destruction of slavery in the Southern United States.

Class structure

76% of settlers in the Confederacy owned no slaves, 17% owned 1–9 slaves, and 6.5% owned more than ten slaves. Less than 1% of settlers owned more than 100 slaves. Of the settlers who did not own slaves, 10% owned no land and most owned less than 100 acres.

Marxist analysis

Karl Marx

In Karl Marx's work, the United States' war against the Confederacy was important for the destruction of chattel slavery and good for the proletarian movement. Marx also viewed the Confederacy as the aggressor in the American Civil War, stating that "the South broke the peace", going against the traditional narrative of the so-called "War of Northern Aggression". Marx viewed the Confederacy as an oligarchy that wasn't representative of the majority of the population.

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels wrote a lot on the military strategies used by both the Confederacy and US during the American Civil War. He also sided against the Confederate causes, supporting Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the abolition of slavery. Engels also fought against British support for the Confederates. He also supported the Republican Party against the CSA.