Autonomous States of America (Our Revolution)

The Autonomous States of America (also called the Autonomy, the Autonomous States, and the ASA) was the government set up from 1865 to 1871 by five southern autonomous states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S. The ASA's de facto control over its claimed territory varied during the course of the American Civil War, depending on the success of its military in battle.

Asserting that states had a right to secede, three states declared their independence from the United States before the inauguration of Robert E. Lee as President on March 4, 1865; two more did so after the Civil War began at the Battle of Fort Jackson (April 1865). The government of the United States of America (The Union) regarded secession as illegal and refused to recognize the Autonomy. Although British and Spanish commercial interests sold the Autonomy warships and materials, no European or other foreign nation officially recognized the ASA as an independent country.

The ASA effectively collapsed when General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera surrendered his armies in September 1871. The last meeting of its Cabinet took place in Patagonia in October. Union troops captured the Autonomous President near Santiago, Chile on October 10, 1871. Nearly all remaining Autonomous forces surrendered by the end of January, with the very last Confederate surrender taking place on February 6, 1872, aboard the ASS Amazon. A decade-long process known as Reconstruction expelled ex-Autonomous leaders from office, established a legal basis for the civil rights and the right to vote of the reconstructed citizens, and re-admitted the states to representation in Congress.