Confederat Capital: Was Richmond the Right Choice?

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THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL: WAS RICHMOND THE RIGHT CHOICE? ALFRED G. "GRUMBLE" JOHNSON Thesis The original location of the capital of the Confederate States of America (CSA) was Montgomery, Alabama. The location of the Confederate capital may or may not have historical significance as a factor in the outcome of the Civil War, at this juncture one can only speculate. But, understanding the motivation to move the capital from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia could shed some light on whether there may have been better options at the time and what difference it may have made in the war if the capital had stayed in Montgomery, or moved to another alternative site. Birth of the Confederacy The election of Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth President of the United States on November 6, 1860 was a signal for the seven lower South states to secede from the Union. South Carolina, the state that had been most outspoken and felt it had the most to lose from Lincoln’s impending reign, acted first. In a seeming paradox, but remembering the lessons learned from the Nashville convention of 1850, which ended in caution and delay, secession in the lower South moved swiftly on a state-by-state basis rather than by collective action. So, because the ground for secession had long since been plowed and planted, the harvest of disunion came quickly after the thunderstorm of Lincoln’s election.[1] Between December 20, 1860 and February 1, 1861, six other lower South states followed South Carolina in this order: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Within three months of Lincoln’s election, the Confederate States of America organized itself, drafted a constitution, and had set up shop in Montgomery, Alabama. For a few weeks, the seceded states were in fact independent commonwealths, but leaders of the secession movement
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