“Civil War or War Between the States?”
 
“The War Between the States”
 
Miss Ida F. Powell, Chairman, UDC Committee appointed to inaugurate a campaign for the use of “War Between the States” in referring to the conflict in the sixties.
 
“Prior to 1861 the United States was a confederation of sovereign States, banded together for convenience, and granting the central government strictly limited and delegated powers. It was a voluntary union of States, from which any one had the constitutional right to secede. Eleven States, exercising this constitutional right, withdrew from the Union, and twenty-two Northern States made war upon them to force them back into the Union. 
 
Later the eleven Confederate States were strengthened by the action of Missouri in August, 1861, and of Kentucky in December, 1861.  But while these border States gave loyal service to the Confederacy, the number of Federal States was increased by the admission into the Union of Kansas in January, 1861, of West Virginia in 1863, and of Nevada in 1864.
 
For a period of four years, the Confederate States maintained its own government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It had its own currency, levied and collected taxes, issued bonds, etc., and the struggle that existed for four years was distinctly a struggle between two recognized governments – the United States of America and the Confederate States of America.
 
Therefore it was not a “Civil War,” as that term signifies strife between two parties in one State – one side fighting for the State, the other side fighting against the authority of that State. Neither was it a “War of Rebellion,” for sovereign States, co-equal organizations, cannot rebel against each other. It was not a “War of Secession.”  The Southern States seceded peaceably, exercising their constitutional right to do so……” 
 
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