confederacy

n. union of groups or states, league, coalition, alliance

n. alliance of 11 southern states that sought to secede from the USA and fought against the North during the Civil War

Confederacy (or Confederation) may refer to:Confederation, an association of sovereign states or communitiesConfederate States of America, eleven southern states of the United States of America between 1861 and 1865. "Confederate" may also be used in reference to the CSA's military:Confederate States ArmyConfederate States NavyConfederate States Marine CorpsConfederate IrelandCanadian ConfederationSwiss ConfederationPeru-Bolivian Confederation of 1836–1839Powhatan ConfederacyConfederacy of Independent Systems, a fictional Separatist movement in the Star Wars universeTerran Confederacy, a fictional political entity in the StarCraft universeTerran Confederation, a fictional political entity in the Wing Commander universeThree Confederate States of Gojoseon of Korean pseudohistoryGalactic Confederacy, a part of Scientology's belief systemIroquois Confederacy, a group of united Native-American nations in both Canada and the United States of AmericaFederacy, where one or several substate units enjoys considerably more independence than the majority of the substate units
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Noun
1. the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861
(synonym) Confederate States, Confederate States of America, South, Dixie, Dixieland
(hypernym) geographical area, geographic area, geographical region, geographic region
(member-meronym) Alabama, Heart of Dixie, Camellia State, AL
(part-meronym) slave state
(attribute) south

Noun
1. a union of political organizations
(synonym) confederation, federation
(hypernym) union
(hyponym) nation
(derivation) confederate
2. a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose
(synonym) conspiracy
(hypernym) set, circle, band, lot
(member-meronym) conspirator, coconspirator, plotter, machinator
3. a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act
(synonym) conspiracy
(hypernym) agreement, understanding
(hyponym) conspiracy of silence

(n.)
The persons, bodies, states, or nations united by a league; a confederation.
  

(n.)
A league or compact between two or more persons, bodies of men, or states, for mutual support or common action; alliance.
  

(n.)
A combination of two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. See Conspiracy.
  

CONFEDERACY - An agreement between two or more states or nations by which they unite for their mutual protection and good. This term is applied to such agreement between two independent nations, but it is also used to signify the union of different states of the same nation, as in the confederacy of the states.

In 1781, the original thirteen states adopted for their federal government the 'Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the States,' which continued in force until the present Constitution of the United States went into full operation when president Washington was sworn into office on April 30, 1789.

Crim. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful act, or an act which though not unlawful in itself, becomes so by the confederacy. The technical term usually employed to signify this offence is conspiracy.

Equity Pleading. The fourth part of a bill in chancery usually charges a confederacy; this is either general or special.

The first is by alleging a general charge of confederacy between the defendants and other persons to injure or defraud the plaintiff. The common form of the charge is that the defendants, combining and confederating together, to and with diverse other persons as yet to the plaintiff unknown, but whose names, when discovered, he prays may be inserted in the bill and they be made parties thereto, with proper and apt words to charge them with the premises, in order to injure and oppress the plaintiff in the premises, do absolutely refuse, etc.

When it is intended to rely on a confederacy or combination as a ground of equitable jurisdiction, the confederacy must be specially charged to justify an assumption of jurisdiction. A general allegation of confederacy is now considered as mere form.

CONFEDERATION - The name given to that form of government which the American colonies, on shaking off the British yoke, devised for their mutual safety and government.

The Articles Of Confederation, were finally adopted on November 15, 1777, and with the exception of Maryland, which afterwards also agreed to them, were speedily adopted by the United States, and by which they were formed into a federal body going into force on the March 1, 1781, and so remained until the adoption of the present Constitution, which acquired the force of the supreme law of the land on March 1, 1789.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.