March 18, 1865---The House stood adjourned

MARCH 18, 1865:     

"The hour of 2 o'clock having arrived, / The Speaker announced that the House stood adjourned sine die." (7 J. Cong. C.S.A. 796 (Mar. 18, 1865). 

With those words, the Second Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns --- and the Confederate Congress adjourns forever. It is in fact the end of only the first session of its expected two year term, but the Confederacy collapses before Congress can reconvene. 

For an eminently political people, Southerners did not establish formal political parties. Parties were considered “anti-democratic” by their very nature. However, a de facto divide did develop, between “nationalists” (hardline secessionists aligned with Davis who dominated the First Congress) and “libertarians” (who dominated the Second Congress and who felt that even the Confederate central government was too strong). The shift in power between these two groups in the election of 1863 may be one of the lesser-known but more impactful reasons for the failure of the C.S.A.