Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States of America and led the nation through the Civil War. Davis was a United States military officer, Congressman, Senator, and Secretary-of-War before elected (Catton and McPherson -p.42).
The Confederate States of America were the states that had withdrawn from the Union to form this pro-slave country. These states that had withdrawn believed in slavery on the basis that the economy would fall when slaves were taken away because of the supply and demand for cotton. These times were very tough for him and his nation. Even though he was not given enormous amounts of control and power over his nation, he led the country well when he was given the chance.
After the states had seceded, they elected Jefferson Davis as their President, even though he was against secession. He was inaugurated the eighteenth day of February in 1861 (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/-pjdavid/faq.htm-3-2-98).
Jefferson Davis was also against civil war. He thought that peace should be kept as long as possible. Before the war, Davis would often give speeches and lectures on anti-war issues (“Jefferson Davis.” Grolier Encyclopedia-1997 ed.) He was a moderate. Davis was not radical about his ideas and he was not too lax on them either. (Catton and McPherson- p:32).
When the two countries finally collided in war, Davis was still not being given very much power or control over his nation.
This is partly because he had many great generals who could take some of the pressure off of him by making decisions on their own without Davis. One of these generals was General Robert E. Lee. He was Davis’ right hand man and almost always asked and consulted with him on every issue regarding the nation and the war. (Woodworth-p.1-3).
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When Davis did make decisions regarding the war and tactics, which was very rare, he usually tried to deceive or flank around the opponent because his army was lesser than the mighty Union army was. This is because the north was more densely populated and more people lived there.
After the Confederates lost, they joined the Union again and there was no more slavery. The Confederate States of America was almost forgotten about in most parts of the nation except for the Deep South where some people were still fighting for slavery. Jefferson Davis was later arrested and spent two years in jail for treason, but he was released before the trial. He died a business man and an author in 1889 at the age of eighty-two (3/2/98-http://www.ruf.rice.edu/pfdavis/faq.htm) After the war, the northerners regarded him as a pompous, cold man with a bitter attitude, which is the complete opposite. He had a warm smile and he was very congenial kind man. Today Jefferson Davis is regarded as a very good president who was not given enough power.
Some people in the Deep South think that he was not aggressive enough and blame the loss of the war completely on him. President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America will be remembered as not only the best Confederate States of America president, but also the only Confederate States of America president.
