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Confederate States of America
Timeline: 1983: Doomsday

OTL equivalent: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of CSA
Location of CSA
Capital Muscle Shoals
Largest city Rome
Other cities Bolivar, Corinth, Cullman, Dalton, Dresden, Florence, Hickman, Jackson, Lexington, Mayfield, Murray, Russellville, Savannah, Scottsboro
Language English (official)
President
Vice President
Population 456,000 est. as of 2010 
Independence September 19, 1985
Currency Confederate dollar (CS$)

The Confederate States of America (CSA) is the name used by several entities that attempted to establish themselves throughout the former southern and midwestern United States in the post-Doomsday world.

This particular version of the CSA was founded in 1985 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and dissolved in 1999. It was centered along the border of former Tennessee with the former states of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and also for a time included portions of the former states of Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri.

The cities and states that comprised the nation exist as of 2010, and as the locals learn more about the outside world, some support is growing to relaunch the nation.

The various city-states stretching over eight states still exist today, with an estimated total population of 456,000. Most are still independent, and unofficially allied not just with each other but with the nations of the East American Alliance and other regional countries, namely Piedmont; Blue Ridge; Neonotia; Selma; Florida; East Tennessee; Hattiesburg; Natchez; and Louisiana.

Interest amongst the general public - and the politicians who represent them - is growing in the successor nation to the former United States located out west. Though separated by thousands of miles, the formerly Confederate states still have many citizens with strong American patriotism, who would be willing for their states to rejoin a renewed USA if at all viable.

However, many political observers, and politicians themselves, feel that the most likely scenario in the near future is formal membership in the East American Alliance that would bring in other regional survivor nations, eventually uniting with the western-based US successor government many years down the road.

History[]

Post-Doomsday[]

In the weeks after Doomsday in September and October of 1983, several towns in the mid-south region along the Tennessee/Alabama/Mississippi borders banded together for survival. Not wanting to give in to despair, civic, political and religious leaders began to take numerous steps to ensure the short- and long-term survival of the people in the region. They also began to take steps for some type of regional government to replace the U.S., as everyone suspected that the events of what they knew as World War III had likely destroyed the government, if not the rest of the nation.

Scouts were sent out to find out what had happened at least to the rest of the southeastern United States (and, if possible, the federal government itself). By mid-December, the destruction of several major cities and major military bases in the region had been confirmed.

Organizers of a provisional government for northern Alabama confirmed attacks on Birmingham and Montgomery and at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Survivors from Huntsville were heading towards Gadsden, or north towards the Tennessee border.

Tennessee saw its two biggest cities - Memphis and the capital, Nashville - destroyed. Chattanooga was also confirmed as destroyed. Southern Tennessee, and Jackson in western Tennessee, were the most stable known areas of the entire state; rumors persisted of a provisional government being set up in Knoxville and of survivors north of Nashville.

North Mississippi was for the most part unscathed, but Columbus Air Force Base and the capital of Jackson were both hit. Corinth and Tupelo were becoming the destination for survivors as far south as Oxford and Starksville, both college towns struggling to stay stable in the wake of the emergency.

Northwest Georgia weathered the initial weeks fairly well. Rome, the provisional capital, was handling food and medicine rationing, and law and order, so well that others in the region looked to it as a model. Atlanta and its suburbs were confirmed destroyed as was Chattanooga (on the Georgia border), and Columbus (which included Fort Benning). Scouts heard of another survivor community centered in northeast Georgia and in Athens, east of Atlanta and cut off from northern Georgia by the radiation from Atlanta.

Scouts also confirmed the existence of several survivor towns and cities stretching from Jonesboro in eastern Arkansas to Maysville and Madisonville in Kentucky, and as far south at Tuscaloosa, Alabama (where a proposal to establish a provisional state government was rejected as 'ridiculous').

A new nation[]

After not having had any contact from any representative of the U.S. military or federal government outside of those already in the area, political leaders in the region met in Florence on January 5, 1984. The sense was that they were virtually independent of the United States and therefore able to proceed however they wanted or needed to. But how would they proceed?

Several factors converged over the next several months to lay the foundation of the formation of the new CSA, among them being:

  • The actions of actual and self-appointed federal agents in the area that were deemed detrimental to the public good and the long-term survival of the region. Namely, increasing denouncement of anything relating to southern and regional culture and incessant praise of U.S. culture, followed in later months by the development of a militia and terroristic-sounding threats to public safety.
  • Long-standing area pride in Southern culture, reflected not in anti-U.S. sentiment but more in popular culture, including music (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr.) and television (Dukes of Hazzard). Symbols of the old Confederacy, mainly the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, were seen as heavily influential among the populace in support for the new nation to be called the Confederate States. Georgia and Mississippi in particular had their state flags incorporate the Southern Cross into their designs.
  • An opportunity to start fresh, with a nation governed by laws seen as superior to the bloated, unaccountable entity that some thought the United States government was becoming.
  • Most of the leaders did not believe they were worthy to establish their relatively small group of towns and states as the legitimate successor to the United States. They believed they were better off starting an entirely new nation.

Sentiment grew throughout 1984 for the prospective nation to adopt the name of the Confederate States of America. The designation came with baggage, but leaders felt they could re-establish the nation without the stigma of racism and especially slavery, and in the spirit of democracy and civil rights modeled by such U.S. historical figures as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.

However, some in the region resented the popular momentum towards the re-establishment of the Confederacy, and saw it as an affront to the United States and everything it stood for due to it's predecessor being associated with slavery. These people decided to take matters into their own hands to preserve as much of the U.S. in the region as they could, but their actions and radicalism over the next several months would backfire on them and prove to be their undoing.

Throughout 1984, various state governments were formally re-established throughout the region. Mississippi was the first, on December 13, 1983, followed by Alabama (January 18, 1984); Georgia (January 26, 1984); Tennessee (March 12, 1984); and Arkansas (May 9, 1984). The leaders of Portageville, Missouri, established a de facto government for the "bootheel" region of former Missouri on December 4, 1983; 14 counties in far western Kentucky established a provisional government for themselves in February 1984.

As popular support for a new Confederacy grew, political leaders began to talk of formal secession from a United States many believed probably no longer existed.

Advocates, most notably former Alabama state senator Bobby Denton and Florence's Eddie Frost, explained in public meetings around the region why secession and forming a new nation was preferable to declaring themselves to be the successor of the United States. The new nation, advocates said, could carry on the best values and practices of the U.S., while discarding the less-than-helpful practices of the U.S.'s government, including federal regulation. Advocates pointed to a new opportunity to build a 'southern culture' that embraced people regardless of race, creed, sex or religion and rejected the license, sex and violence that came from Hollywood and the national television networks (Christian leaders were enthusiastic about the latter).

Dissent: The Sons and Daughters of America[]

Not everyone was as enthusiastic about the new nation.

Supporters of the United States formalized themselves into a group calling itself the Sons and Daughters of America in February 1984. One month later, the group led protests in front of the Muscle Shoals and Florence mayors' offices.

By July 4, the group - having spread into neighboring Tennessee and Mississippi - held a rally at the John McKinley Federal Building in Florence, Alabama, begging political leaders "to abandon your seditious activities and embrace United States authority". Being that the only bonafide federal authority in their eyes rested in the members of the Sons and Daughters of America, political, police and military leaders were not willing to accede.

Still, several eyes were kept on the group, which began, as quietly as possible, to build a militia. Members began to train in boot camps in and around Florence, Corinth and Shelbyville. The Sons and Daughters' attempts to keep their activities secret failed, however, as Tennessee National Guardsmen spied them at a self-built training facility outside Collinwood. Afterwards, Sons and Daughters leaders found themselves increasingly under surveillance from local and state police and National Guardsmen.

Panicked, the Sons and Daughters decided to make their move.

On January 19, 1985, Sons and Daughters chairman John Dowling, acting on self-professed authority as an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led a militia group sanctioned by his organization in an attempt to arrest Muscle Shoals, Alabama mayor James Sharp, on charges of sedition, terrorism and usurping the rightful authority of the United States.

Sharp was rescued by Muscle Shoals policemen and taken to safe haven at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, where National Guardsmen not loyal to the federal agents had established headquarters.

Dowling, and other Sons and Daughters leaders, were arrested after the failed attack on Sharp.

The group then filed suit on January 20, on behalf of the United States, against Sharp and Muscle Shoals in the only known remaining federal court in the region, the U.S. District Court for Northern Alabama, located at the McKinley Federal Building in Florence. The suit accused Sharp and other "instigators" of a host of charges, including treason and conspiracy.

On March 19, Circuit Judge Claude Harris Jr. - the highest ranked judge in the area still alive after Doomsday - ruled that given the circumstances of the past several months, and that no military nor federal agency nor its representatives had made contact and established the ongoing existence of the federal government, it was reasonable to assume that a) the United States no longer existed, 2) no longer had any authority over the region and 3) therefore Muscle Shoals was an independent government, free to operate on its own or in conjunction with any other local governments if it wished to.

As the highest known federal court in the region (and the world), the Sons and Daughters had no other court to appeal to.

This ruling paved the way for Sharp to contact his counterpart in Florence, Eddie Frost, and leaders in the other communities they knew existed to begin to formalize their plans to form a "more humane and more successful" Confederacy.

A 'New' Confederacy Rises[]

On May 8, 1985, Sharp, Frost and 47 other people signed a Declaration of Independence to pave the way for the establishment of a new nation. The declaration reflected the signers' belief that the U.S. government likely no longer existed as a result of the events of Doomsday. The declaration also reflected their strong belief in the values that the United States historically represented, and their commitment to build a multi-racial society devoid of racism and prejudice.

On August 1, 1985, leaders from 27 towns and cities in the Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi region gathered in Muscle Shoals as part of a Constitutional Convention. Over the next 17 days they went over both the constitution of the 19th-century CSA and the United States constitution. What they settled on was a hybrid that mostly resembled the 19th-century CSA constitution, with additional amendments reflecting those added onto the U.S. Constitution since the Civil War.

States' rights were more emphasized than in the U.S. Constitution, but the national government was given limited rights that superseded state and local laws. The latter was done to ensure the "Equal Rights Amendment" had teeth; this amendment stated that "all people, regardless of race, gender or creed, are considered equal by law", banned slavery of all citizens (regardless of color, creed or gender) in contrast to it's predecessor and made racial discrimination punishable by law. Despite that provision designed to ensure equal rights to all people, and the placing of African-Americans in prominent positions in the Presidential Cabinet, Congress and the Army, racism still was a challenge at the local level.

The constitution was signed on September 19, 1985 in Muscle Shoals; the President of the Convention, Rick Hall of Muscle Shoals, was voted as provisional President by the convention delegates until elections could be held in 1986. The Muscle Shoals city government gave the Southgate Mall over to the new government; remodeling allowed it to host both the Senate and House of Representatives, the President's Office, the Supreme Court and various governmental offices; the Confederate Army was set up at Northwest Alabama Regional Airport.

Three states initially formed the CSA:

  • Alabama (capital in Florence, consisting of the U.S. Congressional Fifth District and portions of the Fourth, Third and Seventh Districts)
  • Mississippi (capital in Corinth, consisting of the U.S. Congressional First District)
  • Tennessee (the first capital was in Adamsville, portions of the U.S. Congressional Fourth and Seventh Districts. The capital was subsequently relocated to Waynesboro).

A small national district was carved out of the territory of a former shopping mall in Muscle Shoals for the national government's use; it served as the home of both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the President's office and other national agencies. The Army was formally established at Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, which was renamed Fort Liberty.

In Congress's first joint session in January 1986, America the Beautiful was designated the official national anthem (reflecting the new country's ties to and history with the U.S.) and declared itself as being at war with the Soviet Union and all its associated allies (including Cuba). Congress also passed a resolution declaring its loyalty to the United States and to the other nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hall was only nominally opposed during the 1986 Presidential race, and won with nearly 94 percent of the vote in the November 1986 elections. He took his oath as President on January 20, 1987, at the Muscle Shoals First Baptist Church, with both the Stars and Bars official flag and the United States flag in the background.

Growth[]

As word spread throughout the region of the new nation's existence, other provisional states and city states joined:

  • The Kentucky counties of McCracken, Ballard, Marshall, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Trigg, Livingston, Lyon, Caldwell and Hickman joined in December 1986 as the Commonwealth of Kentucky (having lost contact with Frankfort and not yet knowing of the newly formed commonwealth based in north central Kentucky outside Fort Knox). This Kentucky state's capital was placed in Mayfield.
  • Georgia, with its capital in Rome and claiming all of northern Georgia down to Atlanta, joined in March 1987.
  • Jackson, Tennessee joined as its own state in April 1987, claiming western Tennessee up to the Kentucky border.
  • Arkansas, with its capital in Jonesboro, joined in April 1988.
  • Missouri, consisting of the "bootheel" of pre-Doomsday Missouri and having its capital in Portageville, joined in July 1988.
  • West Tennessee, consisting of Dyer, Lake, Gibson, Obion and Weakley counties in northwestern Tennessee. Dyersburg was the capital. The counties also joined in July 1988, after voting to join the Tennessee state based out of Adamsville.

Through the late 1980s, the CSA was aiming to build a foundation for a strong future. The Confederate Dollar was approved as the nation's new currency (with Robert E. Lee on the CS$5 bill and Martin Luther King Jr. on the CS$10 bill) in 1987. Hall signed off on an initiative organized by the national government to rebuild the interstate highway system by 2007. He oversaw initiatives to rebuild electric plants throughout the nation and restart the railroad and aviation industries.

When troops from the rebel city-state of Toccoa attempted to invade eastern Georgia in 1989, Hall personally traveled to the region to attempt to negotiate with the Toccoan leaders; it resulted in an aborted attack on the President by the Toccoan rebels, and a counter attack by the Army of Georgia that led to an still ongoing state of war between the two sides.

Also in 1989, the Army of Tennessee explored the area of Fort Campbell, a U.S. military base that was abandoned after Doomsday. The region was made a territory associated with Tennessee and the CSA.

The CSA was rocked by the secession of Jackson in 1991, at the hands of leaders who came into conflict with Muscle Shoals and eventually seceded from the nation, becoming an isolationist, somewhat violent city-state.

The Confederacy begins to fracture[]

While a blow to the young nation, the CSA would survive Jackson's secession. The second Presidential election would foreshadow its fate.

With Hall unable to run for a second term due to the Constitution, talk turned to whom would replace him and lead the young country, which by 1992 had lasted longer than its 19th-century predecessor. The new President would need to be a strong leader and able to unify the various factions that were developing in national politics.

The 1992 Presidential election came down to two men: Conservative Party candidate Governor Ray Perkins of Alabama and Democratic Party candidate House Majority Leader Edward Bishop of Mississippi. The Democrats ran an two-part attack campaign against Perkins. They initially portrayed him as weak in dealing with the bandits in his own state and not merging Tuscaloosa into Alabama proper. As the Presidential race headed towards the November elections in the fall, Perkins was portrayed as an anti-Southern leader pining to return to the days of the liberal Yankee United States, while Bishop was pushed as a pro-Southern, pro-Confederate candidate.

Despite a record turnout at the polls - overall 83.5 percent in all states - and strong support for Perkins by minority groups and moderates and liberals incensed by the Democrats' campaign strategy, Bishop won the election with 53.4 percent of votes to Perkins' 45.9 percent. The results sparked peaceful but rancorous protests by moderate and liberal whites and blacks through the following January, and Congress split into several partisan groups.

Bishop was sworn in under heavy guard January 20, 1993, before the combined House and Senate; before his swearing-in could begin, 19 Senators and Representatives walked out in protest, and four stood with their backs turned to the platform. In his inauguration speech, Bishop proclaimed the "new day of a Southern nation, of Southern culture, of Southern pride, where men and women of all races were welcomed" and that he would "personally do everything in his power to bring our nation together and make us stronger when the next President takes office."

Bishop's Presidency, from 1993-99, turned out to be a weak term. He was much less successful than Hall in unifying the various factions that began to come into existence and build influence during his administration. At a time when a strong president - such as Hall - may have unified the groups, and even helped spur the new Confederacy to expand beyond its borders and connect with other regional survivor states, the CSA instead began to fracture.

During Bishop's Presidency, various political and state leaders began to push his or her own agenda. Some wanted more power simply for themselves, or for their states or cities. Some pointed to Jackson as the nation's Waterloo, casting doubt on the national government (and promoting themselves in the process). Several Congressmen, governors and pundits argued for a weaker central government, with states having more power and authority; others argued for a stronger central government - like the old U.S. A group of U.S. veterans gained a measure of popular influence and used it to argue for a re-establishment of the United States of America.

Issues over trade also divided the various states. Ongoing issues relating to travel, due largely to bandits attacking travelers along portions of the most heavily traveled highways and state froads, and especially with parts of the nation off-limits due to lingering radiation from the nuclear blasts of 1983, also helped split the young nation.

It should be noted that the states themselves were relatively stable - except for Alabama and Tennessee, the issues with the bandits mainly affected interstate travel and were largely limited to state borders.

The end of the 'Confederate experiment'[]

Arkansas was the first nation to leave, in 1998 over a perception of the CSA being "useless" to benefit its local affairs. Missouri seceeded shortly thereafter; cries from the public and from Congress largely fell on deaf ears, as states had much more authority to secede under the CS Constitution than they would have under the US Constitution. President Bishop traveled the remainder of the country to rally the people, and even traveled to Jonesboro and Portageville in a failed attempt to get the two states to return.

Meanwhile, Alabama state leaders came under the opinion that they could start their own nation; despite pleas from advisors not to, the Alabama state government, led by long-time governor Frost, began secession proceedings in the fall of 1998.

In reaction, Congress, mainly on the strength of pro-Confederate Alabama and Georgia Senators and Representatives and Tennessee's contingent, passed a series of bills aimed at granting the national government more power.

The measures were not to the liking of Georgia, however, which recalled its Senators and Representatives and replaced them with ones who favored a less powerful central government. Attempts to reverse the bills passed in the fall of 1998 and winter of 1999 became bogged down as senators and representatives from the various states squabbled and argued over every possible detail.

The squabbling overshadowed the third and final Presidential campaign. Dick Jordan, the mayor of Florence, ran against token opposition from Tennessee and Mississippi. He won the November elections with 79 percent of the vote and with only 42 percent of eligible voters going to the ballot. He began his short term January 20, 1999, just over two weeks before he would have become ineligible to be President.

Alabama formally seceded February 4, 1999, but Muscle Shoals seceded from Alabama that same night; the CS Government recognized Muscle Shoals from that point on as the capital of Alabama (Jordan reaffirmed his oath to the Confederacy and his resident status as an Alabaman allied with Muscle Shoals). Jordan tried valiantly to keep his country from falling apart, pleading with senators and representatives from all remaining states to not give up on the nation.

Perhaps seeing the proverbial handwriting on the wall, the CS Commonwealth of Kentucky seceded by a majority vote of its state legislature in March, and applied to become a part of another Kentucky state government out of Elizabethtown, near Fort Knox. West Tennessee followed suit, also joining up with the Elizabethtown-based Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Georgia's legislature quickly followed with its own secession vote, which barely passed both houses of its senate and house of representatives. Conversely, Tennessee and Mississippi sent not only notes of confidence in the government from their respective governors, but troops to help protect Muscle Shoals and the capital from possible incursions by Alabama.

But with Tennessee dealing increasingly with bandit attacks on its various towns, and Mississippi becoming more reliant on Alabama, President Jordan and the CS Congress decided to pull the plug on the "Confederate experiment". A 90-day plan to wind down the central government and merge its functions into the remaining states was enacted, although the Constitution had no provision for such an act.

On July 2, 1999, legislatures of the three remaining states voted to secede from the CSA. On July 4, a special session of Alabama's legislature paved the way to allow Muscle Shoals to return to Alabama proper.

By November 4, the mall where the government once operated stood as a mostly-empty museum, maintained by the Muscle Shoals government itself.

The 21st century[]

When Florence's newly elected mayor Sam Pendleton asked Muscle Shoals leaders to join with him to help form a new nation, to be called the CSA or the USS (Union of Southern States), he was declined - none of the former states had any desire to rejoin together as a country anytime soon after the "Confederate experiment" had failed. And as far as the former leaders of the CSA were concerned, the country was dead and gone forever.

However, in the hearts and minds of some people of the eight states that made up the 20th-century Confederacy, it was alive and well.

Movements to reunite the nation have been active since 1999, bolstered by a belief that the country technically still exists, not having been properly disbanded; according to the Constitution, the various city states could simply reunite, reform their respective states, and in turn the national government. Legal experts in the region have argued over this since the CSA dissolved.

A few prominent political and civilian leaders throughout the region, and other areas of the former southeastern U.S. where word of the new nation had spread, have been working towards some sort of revival.

Movements to reunite the various Confederate states are ongoing, with one group hoping for a Second Constitutional Convention in 2011 or 2012. An organization, Restart the Confederate States of America, was formed in Rome on March 30, 2010.

The American Spring[]

Movements to reunite under the Confederate flag all but came to a halt when locals learned of the existence of a United States government in western North America that claims to be the lawful successor to the old U.S.

As the Confederacy fractured, a large number of citizens began to reassert loyalty to the United States. American flags had been flown since Doomsday, often side by side with the Stars and Bars, and the Fourth of July was celebrated as it had been before DD. Citizens therefore saw themselves as residents of their state and citizens of a country that everyone acknowledged had likely dissolved.

News of the existence of the western-based U.S. - and heavy local press coverage of agents of the Committee to Reform the United States of America who traveled to the region from Mexico and other American survivor states - resparked U.S. patriotism in the region, to the point where observers believe a referendum would swing overwhelmingly in favor of U.S. membership over a restarting of the Confederate States.

The position of influential politicians and businesspeople is that the various states must complete formalization of relations with the East American Alliance and the Appalachian States, along with such independent survivor states as Hattiesburg, Florida, Delmarva and Neonotia. The next step is considered to be joining the East American Alliance as a group, and then dealing with the "American question" as part of a whole (as opposed to each individual state deciding its own fate). Though leaders consider themselves extremely fortunate to have survived the first 28 years post-Doomsday alone, their view is that reunion with the outside world is overdue and, in various stages, mandatory.

The League of Nations currently has no position on the matter of the former Confederate states, especially as none of the states have pursued formal relations with any nation outside of the borders of the former U.S.

Political subdivisions[]

The founding states effective September 24, 1985, were:

  • Alabama
  • Mississippi
  • Tennessee

Alabama also hosted the national capital, Muscle Shoals.

These states joined in subsequent years:

  • Georgia
  • Jackson
  • Kentucky
  • Arkansas
  • Missouri

The following areas were territories or 'associated commonwealths' that, for various reasons, never became official states:

  • Chattahoochee
  • Hopkinsville, Kentucky/Clarksville, Tennessee/Fort Campbell (consisting of the abandoned/partly destroyed cities of Hopkinsville and Clarksville, and the abandoned Fort Campbell U.S. military base)
  • Kentucky Lake
  • Natchez Trace
  • Tupelo

These areas were considered for statehood or territorial status, but for various reasons rejected invitations to join the CSA:

  • Madisonville, Kentucky (populace wary of any country with a CSA designation; later joined Commonwealth of Kentucky)
  • Toccoa, Georgia (leaders of the small city-state openly hostile to Georgia state government and Muscle Shoals, considered itself the "real Confederacy")
  • Tuscaloosa, Alabama (various political disagreements with Alabama state government, combined with distance and intermittent bandit raids, helped lead Tuscaloosa to keep to itself)
  • Cleveland, Tennessee (associated with the Republic of East Tennessee)

Government[]

See Constitution of the Confederate States of America (Muscle Shoals)

Economy[]

The economy was primarily agricultural and cotton based.

States passed various measures to protect workers on the farms from exploitation.

The Confederate dollar became the official currency, although remaining U.S. currency remained in use into the late 1990s. Towards the end of the nation's history, Alabama began minting its own currency.

Barter came into usage shortly after Doomsday.

Demographics[]

The one demographic survey commissioned by the national government was published in 1991, with the work mainly being done by the responsible agencies of the member states. The percentages broke down as such:

  • Caucasian - 77%
  • African-American - 17%
  • Hispanic - 4%
  • Other - 2%

Religion[]

An estimated 92 percent of the population professed to adhere to some form of Christianity.

Of that group, an estimated 80 percent belonged to one of the many Protestant denominations, sects or independent churches. Baptist churches made up 3 in 5 of Protestant churches (split into moderate and conservative Southern Baptist, fundamentalist independent Baptist or Northern Baptist congregations). The remainder of Protestants consisted of such mainline denominations as United Methodist, Nazarene and Church of Christ; more conservative denominations like Church of God, the Church of God in Christ, the Presbyterian Church in America and the Assemblies of God; and various independent churches ranging from Reformed (Calvinist) to Pentecostal.

The remainder overwhelmingly belonged to one of the numerous Roman Catholic churches overseen by The Diocese of Florence, Alabama.

RCC leaders established the diocese in 1985 in Florence, as the town was becoming one of the most important towns in the young nation and also was close to the national capital, Muscle Shoals. It eventually oversaw all of the Roman Catholic churches in the Confederacy and continued to do so even when a state seceded from the Confederacy. The diocese is recognized in fact, if not yet officially, by the other archdioceses and dioceses in North America; diocese leaders are seeking reunion with the Vatican in Rio de Janeiro. It is believed that ecclesiastical authority will eventually be switched to the Archdiocese of Morristown in East Tennessee.

Other religious faiths practiced, in very small percentages, included Judaism and Buddhism.

Armed forces[]

Each state maintained its own armed forces and in turn provided troops to the national government, which maintained its main military base in Muscle Shoals.

The national military consisted of four branches:

  • Army - the largest branch in terms of troops, it also consisted of an Air Corps
  • Navy
  • Marines

There was a provision allowing for nationalization of the state armed forces in case of invasion.

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