In 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, Alexander Stephens was inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

Inauguration of POTCS Alexander H. StephensIt was a surprising turn for the long-time Congressional Representative who was chosen as President for the provisional government of the Confederate States of America to hold office until formal elections could be held. The constitutional convention meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, had been expected to choose Jefferson Davis, who had twice served as senator from Mississippi as well as being the Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce. However, it became clear that Davis would rather serve his country as a general, and so Stephens was chosen, as he was also a moderate, instead of fiery secessionists Howell Cobb and Robert Toombs. While Toombs had called for war almost immediately (his farewell speech to the US Senate had included, "as one man would meet you upon the border with the sword in one hand and the torch in the other"), Stephens was slow to raise arms. Earlier in the convention that elected him, he campaigned against secession and detailed the American political system with the Republicans holding a minority in Congress and, even if any laws were to be passed around them, the Supreme Court would continue the status quo, as it had in its 7-2 decision in the Dred Scott case four years before.

A new story by Jeff ProvineGeorgia native Stephens had always seemed to best understand the mechanics behind the obvious. Despite growing up poor, benefactors had paid for his education, and he passed the Georgia bar at age 24 after graduating at the top of his class. He was routinely ill, even from childhood, but he was a masterful lawyer who, in his 34 years of practice, never had a client charged with a capital crime meet the death penalty. As he became wealthy and established himself with land and slaves, he returned the generosity he had been given by opening his own home to the homeless and paying for more than one hundred students' educations. Even though he was constantly thin from illness, he earned the nickname "The Strongest Man in the South" from his intelligence and craftiness. Stephens went on to Washington as a Representative as a Whig, Unionist, and finally Democrat. His self-described "greatest glory of my life" would be the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in the House by use of rare point of order, thus bringing popular sovereignty to the territory despite the Missouri Compromise limiting slavery to the South.

After the election of 1860 gave Lincoln the White House, Stephens was sent as a delegate to the convention judging the question of secession. Stephens opposed it, arguing that the South bide its time, but was eventually convinced on the grounds of the North not abiding by the Fugitive Slave Law. As one of his first acts in the presidency, Stephens gave his impromptu "Cornerstone Speech" in Savannah describing the new constitution the convention had written, clarifying its differences from that of the United States. While Lincoln referred to the famous line "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence, Stephens replied, "Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas" and called slavery a "natural and moral condition". Stephens also outlined economic independence rather than the Federalism of the North, stating, "If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah river has to be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it, bear the burden".

Finally, Stephens also noted the significance of Fort Sumter, which would prove the first issue of his presidency. Lincoln, only a month into his own presidency, ordered a relief expedition after skillfully dodging any agreements with the South that would have served as a political recognition of the CSA instead of considering it a rogue government. He notified South Carolina's Governor Pickens of a delivery of "provisions only", and Pickens turned to General P.G.T. Beauregard, who relayed the information to Stephens. While his cabinet (interestingly, though, not Secretary of State Robert Toombs) called for an attack to clear out the fort, Stephens ordered the CSA to stand down, and Lincoln achieved his goal of feeding Sumter. Stephens was declared "yellow" by many, but the political tide turned back to favor the South a month later when the heavy-handed actions of Union General Lyon in the West attacked parading Missouri State Militia called up by secessionist Governor Claiborne "Fox" Jackson.

While not enough to swing Virginia's support to the South, Yankees were increasingly perceived as brutes, tarnishing Lincoln's image, who sent additional troops to Missouri and Kansas, resulting in secession by Arkansas. Guerilla fighting continued, but it was never enough to make a full move against the South without seeming the aggressor. The quasi-war dragged on for years until Lincoln lost his bid at reelection in 1864, and President Horace Greeley was elected by Copperheads to end the war.

Stephens retired the presidency after his single term (as per the CSA constitution) in 1867 as a hero who had "waited out the Union" and became governor of Georgia, confirming the supremacy of the states. The Confederacy continued on its states' rights, later seeing the secession of the Republic of Texas in 1874 (who later had a number of military disputes with both the US and CS as the West became settled). Attempts were made to add Caribbean and Middle American states to the Confederacy, but each turned into either military blunders or economic burdens. By the 1890s, the South was seen as economically and culturally stunted compared to the great wealth and strength of the industrialized North. A movement began around the turn of the century to rejoin the Union, but many on both sides would refuse. President Theodore Roosevelt's 1907 Goodwill Tour proved for naught after it brought international attention to the deplorable poverty of newly freed Africans and entrenched the crippling conservatism of the nation.

In 1637, on this day a Dutch Convoy defeated Spain off Lizard Point.

Dutch Convoy Defeats Spain off Lizard PointThe Dutch War of Independence had dragged on for some seventy years after the lowland provinces began their attempt to break away from Spain. There were numerous reasons for the rebellion, including cultural and religious differences exacerbated by the birth of Protestantism, political ideals, and, perhaps most importantly, the growth of the Dutch economy. While Spain had made tremendous wealth by conquering the lands of the Aztecs, Inca, and others, Dutch merchants prospered greatly from the increasing maritime trade. This income fueled Dutch desires for independence as well as giving it the ability to hire, train, and outfit some of the greatest soldiers Europe had seen.In 1637, the Dutch economy was soaring. Spanish embargoes had limited Dutch trade for some time, but victories at sea lifting river blockades in 1629 came alongside the timely end of the Polish-Swedish War, which opened the Baltic to safe trading once again. When the Franco-Spanish War erupted in 1635, Spanish Flanders lost its southern trade and instead had to pay hefty tariffs for a route through the north. Along the same time, demand for supplies for the Thirty Years' War in Germany gave an enormous market, easily fed by the victories of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, which gave the Dutch extensive colonies, including vast sugar plantations in newly conquered regions of Brazil. This massive influx of money led to speculation, including the projects of draining land in Holland and famous spikes in luxury goods such as tulips.

A new story by Jeff ProvineThe economy of the small nation depended upon trade at sea, which was readily targeted by the Spanish navy. Miguel de Horna, new commander of the Dunkirk squadron as his predecessor was captured and died of illness, was fresh from the capture of a merchant ship when his fleet came upon a convoy of 28 Dutch and 16 English merchant ships escorted by six Dutch men-of-war off Lizard Point, Great Britain's most southerly tip. Horna's fleet of six galleons and two frigates descended upon the Dutch, whose warships lined up to fight closely while artillery from the armed merchantmen gave support. Three of Horna's ships, including his own flagship, assaulted the Dutch flagship, which was crippled early in the battle. Whether through accident or desperation not to be captured, the Dutch flagship was set aflame. Explosions riddled the Spanish ships when the fire reached the magazine, injuring Horna and turning the tide of battle. The remaining Dutch were able to disengage and make safely for port while the Spanish were forced to limp home for repairs.

The Battle off Lizard Point was said to wreck Horna's nerves. He continued to harass Dutch shipping, though rarely again fighting closely enough to capture prize ships. Two years exactly after his fateful defeat off Lizard Point in 1639, Horna was due to leave Dunkirk and join Admiral Antonio de Oquendo's fleet, but he was pinned by the Dutch blockade under Admiral Maarten Tromp. Horna sailed close to the shore, using batteries from shore as cover. Tromp pursued and came into the shallow waters where the vice-flagship had lost its steerage and run aground. Though he was able to capture the ship, it limited the Dutch maneuvers, and the rest of the Spanish fleet escaped with fair damage.

That October, the fleet under Oquendo was set to escort a series of neutral English transports bringing fresh troops to relieve Dunkirk. Tromp arrived with over one hundred ships to block them, and the Battle of the Downs began. Tromp dispatched several squadrons on tasks of preventing escapes to the north or south and interference by the English populace (gathered to watch the battle) and attacked directly with his three remaining squadrons, using principally fire ships against the large, ungainly Spanish warships. Horna and his seven ships were placed as the vanguard due to their familiarity with the Channel, and Oquendo had already experienced a battle with Tromp that September. Horna's slow hand recommended defensive tactics, and Oquendo had learned a lesson from his humiliation from bravado at the battle on September 16. The battle raged tightly with the Spanish troops meant for Dunkirk used to keep away the grapples of fire ships until a fog fell. Unable to use their artillery, the Dutch were drawn in close, and the Spanish swarmed them. With Tromp imprisoned, the Dutch fleet was in disarray, and the Spanish managed to escape the blockade.

While the war was largely over with Spain increasingly caught up in battles inside Germany and an uprising in Portugal, the Dutch were unable to confirm themselves as masters of the sea. The Republic affirmed its independence in 1648 with the Peace of Munster, and the economy gradually switched to peacetime. However, without maritime laurels to rest on, the Dutch found themselves needing to maintain their navy as protection from privateers. Although losing out in North America to the English, the Dutch would become the principle force in the Pacific, maintaining Formosa despite Chinese attack and expanding their East Indies colonies to include New Holland and New Zeeland.

In 1796, on this day the "Great Apostate" John Bell was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Due to the acute sectional tensions and complex political processes of the bitterly contested 1860 election, he would be voted the sixteenth President of the United States by the Electoral College.

Rise of the "Great Apostate" by David TennerBy that transformative year he was fully established as a highly experienced and balanced national politician, serving in the United States Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate as well as receiving appointments as House Speaker and Secretary of State for War.

Bell had actually run as a member of the Constitutional Unionist Party, but was originally a Democrat that had become a Whig after falling out with Andrew Jackson. And even though he was a wealthy slaveholder, he was by no means a zealot for slavery expansionism. In fact he was the only Southerner to have opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill as well as the Lecompton Constitution. As late as 1856, he would refer to slavery as an "accidental and enforced blemish".

Clearly a potential compromise candidate, his road to the White House opened when the Republicans realised that they just could not get a majority of delegations in the House. They actually controlled fifteen delegations, their chances of getting the remaining two necessary were probelmatic, probably involving winning over one Illinois Douglasite and unseating a narrowly elected Breckinridge-Lane man from Oregon - they could theoretically, if united, elect Bell in combination with Bell's own supporters ("Americans", "Oppositionists" etc.) and perhaps a few Douglas Democrats.

And the other factor of course was the mutual hatred in the Democrat Party. The Buchanan and Douglas wings of the Democratic party was so great that probably either candidate would prefer Bell to a rival "Democrat".

In 1861, on this day in Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson Finis Davis officially began his term of office as the first President of the Confederate States.

Jefferson F. Davis
1^st Confederate President
February 18, 1961 - March 4, 1867Jefferson Davis was a graduate of West Point Military Academy (class of 1828) and a veteran of the US Army. He would serve in the US House of Representatives, resign to fight in the Mexican-American War, and then return to Washington as a Senator. He was Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. When his home state of Mississippi seceded from the Union in January of 1861, Davis resigned only to be appointed and then elected the first president of the Confederate States of America.

A new article from the "Two Americas" thread on Althistory WikiaEarly Life

Born the tenth child of Samuel E. Davis and Jane Cook on June 3, 1808, young Jefferson was only a toddler when three of his older brothers fought in the Battle for New Orleans under General Jackson in 1812. He would go on to a career in the army himself, though, graduating from West Point in 1828. As a young soldier, though, he would not see battle.

Part OneWhile serving under General Zachary Taylor he would meet and fall in love with Sarah Knox Taylor. Since the general did not approve of the relationship, Davis resigned from the army (not having yet seen battle) and married Sarah. The two would contract malaria in Louisiana. Sarah died of the disease only three months after the wedding.

After eight years as a recluse, Davis emerged from obscurity to enter politics, becoming the Representative of the at large district of Mississippi. He served almost two terms, during which he met and married Varina Howell of Nachez. They were to have six children, only one of which would present him with grandchildren. He resigned his seat in Washington to fight in the Mexican-American War. After Davis had been injured in the Battle of Buena Vista, President James Polk offered him a post over a militia brigade. Davis refused on constitutional grounds, believing that such a post was the state governor's to confer. It was that governor, in fact that returned him to political office.

Senator from Mississippi

The governor of Mississippi appointed Davis to fill a vacancy in 1846, and the legislature of Mississippi elected him to the seat in January of 1847. He rose in the ranks, and was appointed chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs in 1849. However, he resigned his Senate seat to run for governor of Mississippi, losing by only 999 votes.

His political career was not over, however, for his campaigning for Franklin Pierce earned him the post of Secretary of War under that one-term president. At the end of those four years, in 1856, he won election once again as Senator from Mississippi. During this term, he was a voice of reason against talk of secession coming from other southern politicians. However, when Mississippi seceded from the union in January of 1861, he resigned and returned to Mississippi where the governor commissioned him to be a major general in the Mississippi army.
Alt Biopic continues

In 1874, James Longstreet of Georgia became the third President of the Confederate States, taking his oath of office on the elevated porch of the Alabama Capitol building in Montgomery, the same place where his predecessors in office, Jefferson Davis and Edmund Ruffin, had been inaugurated.

Gettysburg Prayer Part Five by Raymond SpeerDuring the war, Longstreet had been a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia, third in command behind Lee and Jackson. President Davis had promoted him to be the chief of the Confederate Army following the demobilization, but President Ruffin had removed him from that post and installed Jubal Early in it.

Retiring from active service, Longstreet alleged that there was a move afoot to unlawfully deny Negroes their earned veteran's benefits. "If Early will do it to a crippled Negro, is there any reason for a crippled white man to expect better?" asked Longstreet rhetorically. "I want every veteran of our Armiies secure in the knowledge that his country will provide for him in spite of his injury".

Both President Ruffin and General Early expressed great respect and sympathy for veterans of both colors, but the incumbents said the central government did not have the money to open a nation wide chain of"soldiers and sailors" homes for injured vets. Those who disagreed rallied behind Longstreet's bid for president in 1873.

James Longstreet associated himself with his fellow Confederate General William "Billy" Mahone, who organized the Readjuster Party in opposition to Ruffin's people, the Citizens Party. Mahone said that the only motivation of a politician should be to readjust things so that public affairs worked better. "We want government that costs less and does more," said Mahone, who endorsed Negro candidates on all levels.

The first National Convention of a Confederate political party was held in New Orleans by the Readjusters. James Longstreet was nominated on the first ballot and Edmund Kirby Smith was chosen as the vice presidential nominee.

Robert M.T. Hunter of Virginia had served President Ruffin as his Secretary of State, and received his chief's endorsement as the presidential candidate for the Citizens Party. Hunter's running mate was Stephen Mallory, who had served with distinction as Navy Secretary to both Davis and Ruffin.

Longstreet complained during the campaign about the naval appropriations which Hunter and Mallory sought from Congress, arguing that money ought be raised for the care and comfort of "amputee heroes and widows and orphans". The Citizens Party retaliated with accusations that Longstreet had been surly and argumentative in his contacts with Lee and Jackson, and one of Lee's clerks even said that Longstreet's poor attitude had forced Lee and Jackson to consider removing him from his corps command on the second day of Gettysburg.

More substantly, the Readjuster Party wanted a law to be passed by the central government to assure Negro voting rights in every State. The Citizens Party backed denial of the ballot on voters who could not prove lteracy, and said voting rights were best left to the States.

The Longstreet- Kirby Smith ticket took 47.6 percent of the popular votes and Hunter-Mallory registered at 45.3 percent of the popular votes. (For the first time, Virginia cast its electoral vote for the loser. Once again, the South Carolina legislature --- and not the people --- decided where SC's electoral votes went, and they would go to Hunter.) Longstreet won the race.

Longstreet's long time friend, Ulysses Grant, had won the 1868 US presidential election from incumbent president George McClellan. On assuming office as CS president, Longstreet made a visit of good will to Washington DC, that was the basis of a week of circuses, fireworks, parades and balls.

By terms of the Davis-McClellan Agreement, the Confederacy had no rights to block or bar or in any way hinder the flow of trade down the Mississippi River. Moreover, the river was patrolled by US ironclads that reported to the federal forces encamped at Vicksburg, MS. President Ruffin and his Secretary of State, Hunter, had long bellyached about the River Rights that the United States insisted on. President Longstreet signed a note with US Grant acknowledging those River Rights and the US ownership of their fortified capitol, Washington DC., as well as the US ownership of West Virginia.

For the Union, there was a recognition that the lower half of the Southwest territory between Texas and Calfornia was the Confederate territory of Arizona, and the northern half was the Union territory of New Mexico. There would be no military buildup on either side of that new border.

With the end of slavery in the South, given the Greatest Christmas Present which cancelled the peculiar institution, Negroes were free to choose new lives, and many of them went west to Arizona. In Longstreet's last year of office, Arizona joined the Confederacy with a population that was 55% Negro and 10% Hispanic. Of a Congressional delegation of four, two Congressmen were Negro, one CS Senator was Negro and the other Senator was Hispanic.

As early as 1872, Horace Greeley had suggested that the two American Governments consider Reunion as the implementation of the Gettysburg Prayer had removed the chief cause of the 1860 breach, the matter of slavery. Greeley had run for president against Grant and lost and died soon afterwards.

When Longstreet came to office, Abraham Lincoln set about to systematically organize a ReUnion effort between the United States and the Confederate States. By the end of the second year of the ReUnion League's business, it reported 50,000 members in the USA and 20 thousand members in the CSA.

President George B. McClellan, seeking appropriations for defensive fortifications, had passed on the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire and by 1868, Russia had sold Alaska to Britain, which added the province to Canada. When the dictator of Santo Domingo, the eastern segment of Hispanola just across from Hayti, offered to sell the country to the USA, US Grant was determined not to let that opportunity pass.

Outrage was heard in both Houses of the Confederate Congress. The Citizens Party had majorities in both Houses and denounced the"acquisition of territory by the United States" that could "further impair Confederate trade or autonomy". Grant was warned by Longstreet of the agitation that the annexation of Santo Domingo was causing in the South. but Grant ignored the pleas of his old friend. The Santo Domingo Purchase passed the US Congress but only after a crowd of at least 100,000 came from the capitol's Confederate neighbors and protested against the Union's expansion.

Abraham Lincoln wrote in his newspaper column that the South's victory in the War of Secession had rebounded in favor the Reublican Party. "Had the South been re united with the North by battlefield brutality, Governor Tilden the Democrat would now have all the Southern States backing him in the 1876 election, and his victory over the Republicans might appear probable. Instead, Rutherford Hayes has remained in the lead throughout the contest, and is expected to win the presidency next week". As assumed by all, Hayes won a respectable victory over Tilden, even though Tilden won New York's electoral votes

In 1868, in Montgomery, Alabama, the second president of the Confederate States of America, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, was sworn into office. As a favor to Alabama congress members who were slow in accepting Richmond as the capitol, the incoming president agreed to be sworn into office in the same place that his predecessor, Jefferson Davis, entered office.

Gettysburg Prayer Part Four by Raymond SpeerDavis had spent a year as Provisional President and his six year term as president was so counted from 1861 to 1867. Besides seeing the Confederacy survive a cruel war, Davis had delivered the Gettysburg Prayer of July 31, 1863, and,more challenging, had managed the Big Christmas Present of 1865 which emancipated all slaves in the CSA.

Jefferson Davis had encouraged Robert E. Lee to run for the presidency, but Lee politely but stubbornly refused the honor. Notably, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson volunterred for the race and conducted it on a "Christian" platform of full civil rights for all Confederates. Popular both for his faith in God and his skills as a General, Jackson was a strong candidate for the office.

As ex- US President Lincoln noted on a tour of the South that election year, General Jackson's expression of God's will made Negroes eligible for entry in public schools and churches, brought them into juries and witness podiums, and gave them full contractual rights. "There are men counted as Abolitionists in the North who are not as definite or assertive as General Jackson is on the question of Negro rights".

"Frankly, I find it unbelievable that a population so adverse to Negro personal rights in 1860 are so favorable to the idea in 1867," wrote Lincoln. Lincoln and his wife (blamed by many for the scandal which wrecked Lincoln's support when he may have been on the verge of victory) were recognized and welcomed courteously at all places. "Perhaps my defeat in the late War makes me seem pleasent but ineffectual".

The more conservative candidate was Edmund Ruffin, a famous journalist and advisor on the agriculture and economy of the South. Though not in any office, the Virginian traveled thousands of miles encouraging the establishment of the CSA. At Fort Sumter, Ruffin was given the honor of firing the first cannon ball at the fort and the Yankee flag.

When Lee kept on refusing to run, Ruffin got the support of white conservatives. General Jackson said he welcomed Edmund Ruffin's competition and that he expected Ruffin to compete for the Negro vote.

Jackson carried the Negro vote of the so-called Black Belt while Ruffin won the Border States votes. Jackson accepted his defeat with ease, having acquired 47% of the popular vote.

Over the next six years, President Ruffin vetoed public education bills and organizations that would use public money to build private businesses. He reopened the Citadel and the Virginia Military Institute to serve as West Points for young soldiers of the Confederacy. Ruffin also stationed soldiers on the edge of the Rio Grande, incomfortable with the aid and comfort the United States was promising President Juarez's rival.

"I love this country," said the president. "There is no better place on earth. I wish to celebrate the remainder of my life with my family, in my gardens, until the Good Lord calls me home".

After leaving office in a Montgomery ceremony in 1874 in which James Longstreet of Georgia became the third president of the CSA, Ruffin wrote up a three book sheet of memoirs, only one of which concerned his residency, Ruffin died of a heart condition in 1878.

In 1976, on this day James "Jimmy" Earl Carter Carter, Jr. of the Democratic-Republican party, and former governor of Georgia, is sworn in as the President of the Confederate States of America.

CSA President Jimmy Carter turns the page of Southern History by Gerry ShannonIn his inaugural speech, Carter repeats a sentiment from earlier speeches he made as governor in 1971: "The time of racial segregation is over, and racial discrimination has no place in the future of the Confederacy".

Many observers, both white and black, in both the Confederacy and neighbouring United States, hail Carter's remarks. Not only is Carter the first holder of the office to condemn racism in an inaugural speech, it is clear rebuke of the policies of his much-disliked predecessor, firm segregationist George Wallace.

In 1546, Martin Luther (pictured), leader of the heretical "Protestant movement", died.

Death of a HereticLuther had been excommunicated from the One True Church and arrested as an enemy of the state following his confrontation with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the 1521 Diet of Worms. Particularly obnoxious to the Church was his assertion that only the Bible, and not the pope, is infallible in matters of religion, and that all baptized Christians form a universal priesthood.

The former monk was fortunate to have been arrested and tried when he was. It would have been all too easy for him to have been condemned to death, or to a lengthy term in one of the abominable prisons of the period. However, the progressive-minded Pope Leo X directed that instead he be confined under house arrest for life. He died in the city of Wittenberg, confined to a monastic cell, surrounded by the symbols of a religious community from which he had been forever excluded. His body would be buried in unhallowed ground, prompting local peasants to concoct legends of him rising after death as a demon.

The movement itself was not so easily destroyed. Others picked up where Luther had been forced to leave off. However, his punishment slowed the spread of his doctrines, allowing the church to mount an effective defense - ironically, by adopting as its own many of the ideas and reforms first championed by Luther. In the opinion of some historians, this course of action averted what could have been the first true schism within the Church since the rise of eastern so-called Orthodoxy centuries earlier.

Today, of course, the church has lost a great deal of its political power. It can no longer decree the removal of a nation's ruler, as it did successfully with the impudent Henry VIII of England. Nevertheless, its influence lingers, even in secular America, where on January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama, following tradition, was sworn into office in penitent's robes by Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, D.C.

The case of America is instructive. Founded in considerable measure by religious dissidents and minorities, it has been somewhat of an outlier within the Church's empire on Earth, allowing far more religious liberty than was (or is) common in Europe. Nevertheless, it remains within the fold, if at the edges. The American Church has been a vocal opponent of Marxist apostasy, for example, and Americans attend mass with a frequency priests on the other side of the Atlantic can only envy. The Cross and Stripes flies over a nation both deeply devout and fiercely jealous of its political independence, insisting on a lay presidency with the single exception of the tragically truncated term of Father John Fitzgerald Kennedy - and even the martyred Father Kennedy was required to set aside his clerical title to placate both Church and state. (It was restored by papal decree following his death in Dallas at the hands of atheist fanatic Lee Harvey Oswald.)