CONFEDERATION (Fr. confederation,

See also:

• LAT

Lat. confoederatio, from foedus, a

See also:

• LEAGUE

league, foederare, to

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form a league)  , primarily any league, or union of people, or bodies of people . The term in modern political use is generally confined to a permanent union of sovereign states, for certain common purposes, e.g. the German Confederation (Bund), established by the congress of Vienna in 1815, and the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund), a league of certain German states under the protection of Napoleon (1806-1813) . The alliance of the Great Powers by which Europe was governed after 1815 was sometimes, especially by the emperor Alexander I., called the " Confederation of Europe "; but this expressed rather a pious aspiration than the actual state of affairs . The distinction between Confederation and Federation (see FEDERAL GOVERNMENT), synonymous in their origin, has been developed in the political terminology of the United States . Up to 1789 these were a Confederation; then the word Federation, or Federal Republic, was introduced as implying closer union . This distinction was emphasized during the Civil War between North and South, the seceding states forming a Confederation (Confederate States of America) in opposition to the Federal Union . Confederation thus comes to mean a union of sovereign states in which the stress if laid on the sovereign independence of each constituent body (cf. the German Staatenbund); Federation implies a union of states in which the stress is laid on the supremacy of the common government (Ger . Bundesstaat) . The distinction is, however, by no means universally observed . The variant " Confederacy," derived through the Anglo-French confederacie, and meaning generally a league or union, whether of states or individuals, was applied in America in the sense of Confederation to the seceding southern states (see above) . In its political sense, however, confederacy has generally come to mean rather a temporary league of independent states for certain purposes . As applied to individuals, while " confederation " is used of certain open unions of people for political or other purposes (e.g. the Miners' Confederation), " confederacy " —from its obsolete legal sense of conspiracy—has come frequently to imply a secret bond, a combination for illicit purposes, or of persons whose identity is not disclosed .