State lawmakers, who were supposed to collect a small direct tax, instead borrowed money or printed state notes to meet the obligation. The new nation comprised a vast territory to subdue and conquer. Baron Carl von Clausewitz had emphasized in his writing on war that any army invading a large country faced severe dangers. This is especially true when the war is conducted in an impoverished, thinly populated and possibly hostile country.
But the Confederacy was not able to suffer invasion and then strike with a truly national resistance. The Confederacy lost and the Union prevailed. Therefore it is natural to assume that Abraham Lincoln was a better leader than Jefferson Davis. Moreover, the Confederacy fought to protect slavery and white supremacy, while the Union eventually came to fight against slavery as a means to preserve the Union.
Frequently it has overemphasized his progressiveness on matters of race. My assessment of Jefferson Davis will start with the negative. Certainly Davis was far from perfect just as Lincoln was not perfect. Davis had personality defects, made some bad decisions, and failed, in my judgment, to meet a crucial part of the vast challenge that confronted him.
In regard to his personality, it is too well known that Davis satisfied the qualifications for membership in his class of proud, touchy southern aristocrats. He could be rigid, haughty, and overly convinced of his own virtues. Rather, he improved on his prewar performance. Generations of commentators have been correct to assail his excessive loyalty to some bad generals, most notably Abraham Meyers, Lucius Northrop, and Braxton Bragg.
But Bragg was not a strong field commander, and he alienated virtually all the officers who served under him. Davis had good reason to visit the dissension-plagued army, and he encouraged its generals to speak out frankly in a meeting before himself and General Bragg. In two other well-known conflicts with military commanders — P. Beauregard and Joseph Johnston — I defend Davis.
In the same year, , Mississippi sent Davis to the U. House of Representatives. His Congressional term was short, however. He resigned in June to fight in the Mexican War where he led his troops valiantly at the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista.
He was offered a promotion to brigadier general in but refused it when he was elected to the U. Secretary of War where he served with distinction and was recognized as one of the most capable administrators to hold the office.
In , Davis returned to the Senate as a vocal proponent of states rights. He formally withdrew from the U. Senate on January 21, after Mississippi seceded from the Union. He was inaugurated for a six-year term as President on February 22 of the following year.
Davis, however, did not want the job. He had hoped for a military command. Sarah succumbed to the illness, dying at the age of 21, just three months in her new marriage. He easily won a seat for the state of Mississippi. While he did step away to fight in the Mexican American War , by he had returned to Congress.
Honoring his achievements during the war, the governor of Mississippi appointed Davis to a vacant seat in the United States Senate. The following year, Davis was named the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. At the center of his campaign was the Compromise of , which deemed the territory gained from the Mexican American War as neither free nor slave states. Davis lost, but this did not stop him from being politically active.
By , Davis was returning to the Senate, faced with the possibility of a secession of the South. He believed each state was its own entity, and had the right to leave the nation if it so chose. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president and South Carolina officially left the nation, Davis once again resigned from the Senate and returned to Mississippi.
In , a constitutional congress met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they considered Davis and Robert Toombs of Georgia for president. Davis won easily, and was inaugurated on February 18, The President of the Confederate States of America From the beginning, Davis was adopting a daunting role in leading the American South in its secession from the Union. Throughout his presidency, he faced many difficult decisions.
One of his greatest services to the Confederacy was to appoint Robert E. Lee Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia; he made history as one of the greatest generals in modern times.
When he swore to uphold the Constitution, he believed that he had to obey the oath. He believed that it was his duty to strictly apply his interpretation of the Constitution. He believed in the State's Right doctrine with all his heart, and applied it throughout his life.
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