On This Day in History: February 8

1861 -- Delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana officially form the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.  Texas would join the next month, followed by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes.  Four more States -- Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee -- would align with the new Nation by July.

Despite some of the Southern States having initially voted against seceding from the Union (including Tennessee by a 4-to-1 margin), it was on.

1865 -- Delaware's General Assembly refused to ratify the 13th Amendment, referring to it as an illegal extension of Federal powers.  Although the institution had ceased by the end of 1865, the amendment to end slavery would not be formalized by "The First State" until February 12, 1901.