Where did the name "Confederate States of America" come from?

[Hnau]

From my short-term research, it seems to just spring out from the South. Where did that name come from? Could it have been something different? Anybody know?

 

[Guildencrantz]

Maybe the Confederate Government wanted give the idea that their federal government gives more state rights than the United States Government. Or, maybe the early Confederate Government had two name ideas for their new country, and one was "We're Independent, y' Yankee SOBs, so up yours!". The other was The Confederate States of America. The other was to hard to put on the currency.

 

[robertp6165]

Or, maybe the early Confederate Government had two name ideas for their new country, and one was "We're Independent, y' Yankee SOBs, so up yours!". The other was The Confederate States of America. The other was to hard to put on the currency.

ROFLMAO.

That's the best thing I've ever read on this board, bar none. Thank you for making my day.

 

[Guildencrantz]

ROFLMAO.

That's the best thing I've ever read on this board, bar none. Thank you for making my day.

De Nada.
(filler filler)

 

[Nicomacheus]

Maybe the Confederate Government wanted give the idea that their federal government gives more state rights than the United States Government. Or, maybe the early Confederate Government had two name ideas for their new country, and one was "We're Independent, y' Yankee SOBs, so up yours!". The other was The Confederate States of America. The other was to hard to put on the currency.

This is...HILARIOUS!

From my short-term research, it seems to just spring out from the South. Where did that name come from? Could it have been something different? Anybody know?

In all seriousness, though, I beleive it stemmed from Southern beleifs about the compact theory of the US constitution. I can't quite recall the source (though I'll look) but I recall that in the early 1800s (1800-1810s) South Carolinians would sometimes refer to "our confederacy" meaning the United States of America. Given the murky nature of sovereignty in the early Republic, that made a lot of sense. I think the dominant political discourse began to prefer "Union" around the 1820s.

I remember reading something of Jefferson's and being surprised at his word choice in this regard. I could be vastly mistaken, however; darn memory fails me.

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Articles of Confed.

 

[Atreus]

Or, maybe the early Confederate Government had two name ideas for their new country, and one was "We're Independent, y' Yankee SOBs, so up yours!". The other was The Confederate States of America. The other was to hard to put on the currency.

New AH challenge:

come up with a scenario where that was exactly the case, and is accepted as such by most historians.

 

[Cythia]

From the first attempt to unite the disparate colonies as a nation.

Before the Constitutional Convention the 'Articles of Confederation' were what governed the states.

 

[Saladan]

I don't remember where I heard it before but one possible name the CSA was going to go with was something to do with Washington, like Washingtonia or something to honor him.

 

[zoomar]

I don't know about that "Washingtonia", but, since the rebels saw themselves as the true descendants of the founders and the correct interpreters of the US constitution, not those damnyankees, I've always wondered why they didn't just call their new nation the..."the United States of America" and see what happened.

But I suppose those who believe they sought to link their system of federalism more closely with the old articles of confederation are probably correct

 

[Hnau]

Alright, that makes sense. It seems like I had known that the CSA came from the Articles of Confederation, I had forgotten. One of those things...