14. What were the weaknesses of the Confederate political system.

What were the weaknesses of the Confederate political system, that both caused the downfall of the Confederacy as well as made it difficult to fight in the Civil War.

Damian Hernandez

Categories

•Economics

•State rights

•Power

•Foreign Dependence

Economics

•Agricultural

•Cash-crop based

•Crushing of the Cotton Kingdom

State Rights

•Clashing

•Secession

•Holding back help

•Executive branch vs. Legislative Branch

Power

•Jefferson Davis

•Impeachment

•“Every man for himself”

•Absolutely unstable ground

•The Confederate Constitution

Foreign Dependence

•Foreign Intervention

•Cotton

•Revolt/no-support

•North-dependence

Economics

·The South was mostly based on agriculture, instead of industry like the North.

·The focus on agriculture made the South weak financially

·This weakness in economics strained the capabilities of the Southern government, thus making compromises far more difficult in their Congress and made it nearly impossible to support troops.

·The South merely focused on cash-crops

· The focus on cash-crops became the largest contributor to the Confederacy’s economic downfall

· With the focus on cash-crops, the necessities such as food and clothing were scarce, thus making government even more strained; it was a country drowning in dismay.

· With the downfall of the cotton kingdom, the Confederacy’s economic prowess was gone and so was its trump card.

State Rights

· With the secession there came the power of the states’ rights, this was a country based on this, was it not?

· Because of those state rights ideas there was always a clash in Congress (Confederacy) and one state wanted help for itself, and forget the other

· With the focus on state rights, the focus on keeping the new nation was thrown out the window and a new “11 seceded colonies” were created.

· They worked as 11 different countries, and this was like a trip to the dentist for a root canal

· Because the nation was built by secession, logically they would be allowed to secede, unfortunately since the “countries” were selfish, light on this issue was diminished to a mere speck.

· Since the countries were selfish, they held back help in the Civil War, they held back compromise in Congress, they held back the hope of a strong unified nation

· Because of all the state rights activists running about in the Confederate Congress, Davis was always ramming heads with a festering spawn pool of Members of Congress.

· Again, a recurring point, compromise was apparently not an option

Power

· Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy

· He was not very popular, and thus never had much support

· He wasn't “flexible” like Lincoln, and thus was not a very good leader for the time.

· Impeachment was always in the air, solely because Davis didn’t seem to be of any help, he wasn’t fully to blame there was just no hope compromising with such a pompous government

· The basic motto in the Confederacy, not literally just a concept, was “Every man for himself” there just wasn’t any joining of powers to help, every state took care of its problems and solely its problem, very little help would be sent for the Confederacy

· Doing anything in that damned Confederate Congress was like a death sentence

· You were basically walking on eggshells and it wasn’t likely you were going to get much support; you’d probably have a better chance talking to a brick wall.

· Next problem was the Constitution of the Confederacy, sure it was mostly based on the US Constitution, but one problem it openly allowed secession because then they would be working a hippocracy if otherwise.

· This open concept of secession just made it more difficult to have negotiation in the Confederate government.

Foreign Dependence

·One of the main problems of the Confederate government was its total dependence on foreign countries

· It was its trump card, foreign intervention, and it just didn’t happen to work out the way they planned.

· Europe wasn’t in dire need of cotton, it had a surplus from pre-war years

· Since Europe didn’t need the cotton, it wasn’t as prompted to help the Confederacy.

· Humanist books such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin inspired the working classes of Europe to side with the North.

· If the governments of Europe were to interfere, they would have no support, or worse revolt.

· Regardless, Europe was far too dependent on the North’s industries to take open part in the Civil War, so Europe was careful not to fully interfere.

The main points are lack of compromise and foreign dependence!!! But you still need the other points because they help support this!!!

5	•Analytical •Touched all, or nearly all of the points •Showed varying viewpoints •Challenged the question, or investigated it thoroughly. •Strong thesis
4	•Analytical •Touched nearly all of the points •Showed varying viewpoints •Somewhat challenged/investigated the question •“Upper end of the scale” thesis
3	•Analytical or Narrative •Touched most of the points •Showed merely one or two sides •Slightly challenged/investigated the question •Average thesis
2	•Narrative •Touched some of the points •Showed only one viewpoint •Did not challenge/investigate the question •Weak thesis
1	•Narrative •Touched a few, or none of the points •Showed only one viewpoint •Did not challenge/investigate the question •No thesis/Weak thesis
0	•Completely off topic •Did not turn in