Photo by Penelope M. Carrington
Like many of us before COVID-19 hit, the leaders of the Confederacy had plans.
“Southern Ambitions,” currently at the American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar, demonstrates how Confederate politicians and businessmen sought to leverage the South’s prewar ranking as the world’s fifth-largest (though slavery-based) economy into complete independence. They hoped their nation would provide a bulwark against abolitionism and “radical” political movements.
The exhibit is based on the work of Arizona State University history professor Adrian R. Brettle, who while a University of Virginia scholar compiled the book “Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post-Civil War World” (a complementary book talk is on the museum’s YouTube channel). The Civil War-era careers of several individuals are followed, including Matthew Fontaine Maury. His scientific work created a commercial logic for slaveholding dominance of the economies of the Caribbean and South America, while his charting of the sea currents bolstered secessionist confidence.
“Southern Ambitions” is open through 2022. $16. acwm.org
