How strong/centralized was the federal CSA's government?

So, hello everybody! This is my first post here after a couple weeks of lurking. I'm currently in the early stages of planning out a alt history where (surprise surprise), the CSA survives the ACW, with a few differences than the typical cliches (no foreign intervention, the CSA drags the war on until 1867 and wins a war of attrition and suffers a harsh peace, the CSA nosedives and certainly doesn't expand, causing a bunch of unrest and turmoil, leading to a libertarian socialist uprising (commie CSA is not new but it's usually some form of Marx-Leninism))

However, as I'm not exactly an expert on the CSA, and I'm still researching the South, I'm afraid I need help with how strong the Confederate government was. I've seen arguments that the CSA government was paradoxically stronger and weaker than the Unions, and am at a bit of a loss. So, that being said:

1. How did the Confederate constitution differ from the US? Did it favor the federal or states government more heavily than the US? I've also heard that it banned the states from abolishing slavery, is this actually true?

2. Would a independent CSA attempt to centralize around Montgomery (Richmond and both Virginias are lost to the Union as part of the peace) or leave things to the states?

If it would help, the terms of this scenario are that the peace that ends the Civil War is harsh and meant fully as revenge for basically bleeding the Union dry, and to speed up it's implosion. New Mexico and Arizona are lost, Missouri, Kentucky, and both Virginias are both firmly placed in the Union and the CSA renounces any claims to them.

Slavery is not abolished, both on a national and any state level, although there is one fringe party pre-Revolution that advocated a harsh Apartheid system that did not succeed. The South does not focus on industrializing. Any slave that manages to cross the border will be automatically considered "free", although slavery is never outlawed on a national level, the remaining slave states in the Union quickly abolish slavery themselves. The 14th Amendment comes a half decade late in the US because of this.

Thank you for your help!
 
So, hello everybody! This is my first post here after a couple weeks of lurking. I'm currently in the early stages of planning out a alt history where (surprise surprise), the CSA survives the ACW, with a few differences than the typical cliches (no foreign intervention, the CSA drags the war on until 1867 and wins a war of attrition and suffers a harsh peace, the CSA nosedives and certainly doesn't expand, causing a bunch of unrest and turmoil, leading to a libertarian socialist uprising (commie CSA is not new but it's usually some form of Marx-Leninism))

However, as I'm not exactly an expert on the CSA, and I'm still researching the South, I'm afraid I need help with how strong the Confederate government was. I've seen arguments that the CSA government was paradoxically stronger and weaker than the Unions, and am at a bit of a loss. So, that being said:

1. How did the Confederate constitution differ from the US? Did it favor the federal or states government more heavily than the US? I've also heard that it banned the states from abolishing slavery, is this actually true?

2. Would a independent CSA attempt to centralize around Montgomery (Richmond and both Virginias are lost to the Union as part of the peace) or leave things to the states?

If it would help, the terms of this scenario are that the peace that ends the Civil War is harsh and meant fully as revenge for basically bleeding the Union dry, and to speed up it's implosion. New Mexico and Arizona are lost, Missouri, Kentucky, and both Virginias are both firmly placed in the Union and the CSA renounces any claims to them.

Slavery is not abolished, both on a national and any state level, although there is one fringe party pre-Revolution that advocated a harsh Apartheid system that did not succeed. The South does not focus on industrializing. Any slave that manages to cross the border will be automatically considered "free", although slavery is never outlawed on a national level, the remaining slave states in the Union quickly abolish slavery themselves. The 14th Amendment comes a half decade late in the US because of this.

Thank you for your help!

In theory and in strictly constitutional terms, the CSA was designed to be a decentralized system: its Constitution basically did away with the Supremacy Clause and would, if any cases got to their Supreme Court under normal circumstances, allow the states to basically ignore any Confederate legislation they didn't like. However, considering the rebellion was... well, a rebellion, it spent its entire existance operating on a war footing, which included emergency "war measures" that (temporarily, in theory) reduced personal and State freedoms below that of their Loyal counterparts: who due to not being under an existential threat diden't have to enforce what amounted to martial law on its entire territory.

The problem with the CSA centralizing, in my opinion, is that inevitably the State governments have a major card to play: threatening to re-patriate back to the Union, or at the very least secede themselves with Union support (Who will naturally want to do anything to rip the rebels apart; in the later case they may not even demand the abolution of slavery as an immediate condition: only if they intend to re-join the Union). Montgomery can't survive another clash with Washington without foreign support and she knows it, and adopting said support to the level it can be depended upon would make her more of a puppet to another power than responsible to her own citizens, destroying their credibility.
 
In theory and in strictly constitutional terms, the CSA was designed to be a decentralized system: its Constitution basically did away with the Supremacy Clause and would, if any cases got to their Supreme Court under normal circumstances, allow the states to basically ignore any Confederate legislation they didn't like.

The Confederate Constitution still had the Supremacy Clause.

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." - US Constitution

"This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." - Confederate Constitution

The Confederacy certainly wasn't about small government - in The Confederacy as A Revolutionary Experience, Emory Thomas noted that "...by 1863 Confederate civil servants were 70,000 strong. Ironically the Richmond government employed more civil servants than its s counterpart in Washington."
 
So, hello everybody! This is my first post here after a couple weeks of lurking. I'm currently in the early stages of planning out a alt history where (surprise surprise), the CSA survives the ACW, with a few differences than the typical cliches (no foreign intervention, the CSA drags the war on until 1867 and wins a war of attrition and suffers a harsh peace, the CSA nosedives and certainly doesn't expand, causing a bunch of unrest and turmoil, leading to a libertarian socialist uprising (commie CSA is not new but it's usually some form of Marx-Leninism))

However, as I'm not exactly an expert on the CSA, and I'm still researching the South, I'm afraid I need help with how strong the Confederate government was. I've seen arguments that the CSA government was paradoxically stronger and weaker than the Unions, and am at a bit of a loss. So, that being said:

1. How did the Confederate constitution differ from the US? Did it favor the federal or states government more heavily than the US? I've also heard that it banned the states from abolishing slavery, is this actually true?

2. Would a independent CSA attempt to centralize around Montgomery (Richmond and both Virginias are lost to the Union as part of the peace) or leave things to the states?

If it would help, the terms of this scenario are that the peace that ends the Civil War is harsh and meant fully as revenge for basically bleeding the Union dry, and to speed up it's implosion. New Mexico and Arizona are lost, Missouri, Kentucky, and both Virginias are both firmly placed in the Union and the CSA renounces any claims to them.

Slavery is not abolished, both on a national and any state level, although there is one fringe party pre-Revolution that advocated a harsh Apartheid system that did not succeed. The South does not focus on industrializing. Any slave that manages to cross the border will be automatically considered "free", although slavery is never outlawed on a national level, the remaining slave states in the Union quickly abolish slavery themselves. The 14th Amendment comes a half decade late in the US because of this.

Thank you for your help!

Good luck with the timeline,

A good contrast between the Union and Confederate Constitution can be found here. Differences were;

* State legislatures could impeach some federal officials. (I don't think this was ever done.)
* Congress could allow Cabinet members could have a seat on the floor of Congress, where they could discuss subjects related to their department. (I'm not sure if this was ever done.)
* The Confederate President had a line item item veto.
* A prohibition on tariffs that would "promote or foster any branch of industry."
* A prohibition on money being spent on "any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river navigation". (The Confederates bypassed this late in the war when they started propping up their railroads financially, claiming it was providing for the Common defense, not facilitating commerce.)
* The Post Office had be be self-supporting by 1863.
* It allowed slaves to be imported, but only from the United States.
* It forbade any "law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves", as well as other provisions strengthening the right to own slaves.
* It allowed exports to be taxed, which was illegal under the US Constitution.
* "Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title."
* States were now allowed to tax ships using their rivers and harbors.
* The Confederate President could only serve on 6 year term.
* Adding new states now took a 2/3rd vote, not a simple majority.
* Congress had no role in passing Constitutional Amendments, it was all up to State Legislatures.

For a look at the real Confederacy, I recommend Look Away by William C Davis, as well as The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience and The Confederate Nation by Emory Thomas.

The Davis Administration never appointed any Supreme Court Justices.
 
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