$100 Confederate States of America Bond - Criswell 139, Ball 284 - 1864 dated Confederate Bond

$100 Confederate Bond. CR-139, B-284. Very Rare! Measures 6 1/4" x 3 1/2". The Confederate States of America (CSA), often called the Confederate States or the Confederacy, was an unrecognized breakaway entity that existed from February 8, 1861, until May 9, 1865, during which it engaged in conflict against the United States of America in the American Civil War. The CSA was primarily composed of eleven states that declared their secession from the Union. These states included South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Additionally, Kentucky and Missouri also issued declarations of secession and had full representation in the Confederate Congress while under the occupation of Union forces.

The Confederacy was established on February 8, 1861, initially comprising seven slave states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. All seven states were situated in the Deep South region of the United States, where the economy was significantly reliant on agriculture—especially cotton—and a plantation system that depended on African slaves for labor. Fearing that white supremacy and the institution of slavery were jeopardized by the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. presidency in November 1860, who campaigned against the expansion of slavery into western territories, the Confederacy proclaimed its secession from the United States. The states that remained loyal became known as the Union during the subsequent American Civil War. In a speech now referred to as the Cornerstone Address, Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens articulated the Confederacy's ideology, asserting that it was fundamentally based on the belief that "the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition."