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Explanation:
Article for New England and The Middle Colonies: New England Confederation, also called United Colonies of New England, in British American colonial history, a federation of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth established in May 1643 by delegates from those four Puritan colonies. Several factors influenced the formation of this alliance, including the solution of trade, boundary, and religious disputes, but the principal impetus was a concern over the defense against attacks by the French, the Dutch, or the Indians. Because of their divergence from accepted Puritan precepts, settlements in what later became Rhode Island and Maine were refused admission to the confederation.
According to its articles of agreement, the New England Confederation was to be “a firm and perpetual league of friendship and anytime,” and its government was to be composed of a directorate of eight commissioners, two from each colony. The commissioners were expected to meet annually or more often, if necessary. The articles authorized the commissioners to fix quotas for men and expenses during wartime, to arbitrate disputes with foreign powers or other colonies, to ensure extradition of escaped servants, prisoners, and other fugitives, and to regulate Indian affairs. Six affirmative votes were required to approve the decisions of the confederation; failing that, the pending issue would be referred to the legislatures of the member colonies.
The New England Confederation did achieve some of its goals, but the alliance ultimately proved to be weak, since its decisions were only advisory and were often ignored by Massachusetts, its strongest member. The confederation’s influence declined with the merger of Connecticut and New Haven (1662–65), though it continued to exist until the Massachusetts charter was forfeited in 1684. The New England Confederation had represented the first significant effort by English colonists to form an intercolonial alliance for mutual benefit.
Article for The Chesapeake:
The Chesapeake Affair was an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War. On December 7, 1863, Confederate sympathizers from the Maritime Provinces captured the American steamer Chesapeake off the coast of Cape Cod. The expedition was planned and led by Vernon Guyon Locke (1827–1890) of Nova Scotia and John Clibbon Brain (1840–1906). When George Wade of New Brunswick killed one of the American crew, the Confederacy claimed its first fatality in New England waters.
The Confederate sympathizers had planned to re-coal at Saint John, New Brunswick, and head south to Wilmington, North Carolina. Instead, the captors had difficulties at Saint John; so they sailed further east and re-coaled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. U.S. forces responded to the attack, violating British sovereignty by trying to arrest the captors in Nova Scotian waters. International tensions rose. Wade and others were able to escape through the assistance of William Johnston Almon, a prominent Nova Scotian, and Confederate sympathizer.
The Chesapeake Affair was one of the most sensational international incidents that occurred during the American Civil War. The incident briefly threatened to bring the British Empire into the war against the North.
Article for The Lower South:
The South seceded over states' rights. Confederate states did claim the right to secede, but no state claimed to be seceding for that right. In fact, Confederates opposed states' rights — that is, the right of Northern states not to support slavery.
Southern states that seceded immediately after Lincoln's election in 1860 did so because they had already been planning it in the event of a Republican victory. Their motivation involved what they perceived as a threat to the institution of slavery, which their economy was dependent upon.
