Confederation thus came to mean a union of sovereign states in which the stress is laid on the autonomy of each constituent body, while federation implies a union of states in which the stress is laid on the supremacy of the common government. The distinction is, however, by no means universally observed. The variant confederacy, derived through the Anglo-French confederacy 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. In its political sense confederacy has generally come to mean rather a temporary league of independent states for certain purposes.
