Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy or the South, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. Formed on February 8, 1861, it comprised 11 U.S. states that declared secession, initially by South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. These states believed their slavery-dependent plantation economies were threatened by Abraham Lincoln's election. The Confederacy fought against the United States during the American Civil War, which began in April 1861. Its capital was initially Montgomery, then Richmond. By May 1865, after four years of fighting, most Confederate forces surrendered, and the federal government dissolved.