Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DAVIS, JEFFERSON (1808–1889)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 868 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DAVIS, See also:JEFFERSON (1808–1889) , See also:American soldier and states-See also:man, See also:president of the Confederate states in the American See also:Civil See also:War, was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:June 1808 at what is now the See also:village of Fairview, in that See also:part of See also:Christian See also:county, See also:Kentucky, which was later organized as Todd county. His See also:father, See also:Samuel Davis (1756–1824), who served in the War of See also:Independence, was of 'Welsh, and his See also:mother, Jane See also:Cook, of Scotch-Irish descent; during his See also:infancy the See also:family moved to See also:Wilkinson county, See also:Mississippi. Jefferson Davis was educated at Transylvania University (See also:Lexington, Kentucky) and at the See also:United States Military See also:Academy at See also:West Point. From the latter he graduated in See also:July 1828, and became by See also:brevet a second See also:lieutenant of See also:infantry. He was assigned for See also:duty to Jefferson See also:Barracks at St See also:Louis, and on reaching this See also:post was ordered to Fort See also:Crawford, near See also:Prairie du Chien, See also:Wisconsin. In 1833 he took part in the closing scenes of the See also:Black See also:Hawk War, was See also:present at the See also:capture of Black Hawk, and was sent to See also:Dixon, See also:Illinois, to See also:muster into service some See also:volunteers from that See also:state. Their See also:captain was See also:Abraham See also:Lincoln, and Lieutenant Davis is said to have administered to him his first See also:oath of See also:allegiance. In June 1835 he resigned from the See also:army, married See also:Miss See also:Knox See also:Taylor, daughter of See also:Colonel (later See also:General) Zachary Taylor, and became a See also:cotton planter in See also:Warren county, Miss. In See also:September of the same See also:year, while visiting in See also:Louisiana to See also:escape the See also:fever, his wife died of it and Davis himself was dangerously See also:ill. For the next few months he travelled to regain his See also:health; and in the See also:spring of 1836 returned to his cotton See also:plantation, where for several years he devoted his See also:time largely to See also:reading See also:political See also:philosophy, political See also:economy, public See also:jaw and the See also:English See also:classics, and by careful management of his See also:estate he acquired considerable See also:wealth. In 1843 Davis entered the See also:field of politics as a Democrat, and exhibited See also:great See also:power as a public See also:speaker. In 1844 he was chosen as a presidential elector on the See also:Polk and See also:Dallas See also:ticket; in See also:February 1845 he married Miss Varina See also:Howell (1826–1906) of Mississippi (a granddaughter of See also:Governor See also:Richard Howell of New See also:Jersey), and in the same year became a Democratic representative in See also:Congress.

From the beginning of his political career he advocated a strict construction of the Federal constitution. He was an ardent admirer of See also:

John C. See also:Calhoun, and eventually became his successor as the See also:leader of the See also:South. In his rare speeches in the See also:House of Representatives he clearly defined his position in regard to states rights, which he consistently held ever afterwards. During his first session, war with See also:Mexico was declared, and he resigned his seat in June 1846 to take command of the first See also:regiment raised in his state—the Mississippi Rifles. He served in the See also:Northern See also:Campaign under his father-in-See also:law, General Taylor, and was greatly distinguished for gallantry and soldierly conduct at See also:Monterey and particularly at Buena Vista, where he was severely wounded See also:early in the engagement, but continued in command of his regiment until victory crowned the American arms. While still in the field he was appointed (May 1847) by President Polk to be brigadier-general of volunteers; but this See also:appointment Davis declined, on the ground, as he after-wards said, " that volunteers are See also:militia and the Constitution reserves to the state the appointment of all militia See also:officers." Afterwards, Davis himself, as president of the Confederate States, was to appoint many volunteer officers. Upon his return to his See also:home See also:late in 1847 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States See also:Senate, and in 185o he was elected for a full See also:term of six years. He resigned in 185 r, but was again elected in 1857, and continued as a member from that year until the See also:secession of his State in 1861. As a senator he stood in the front See also:rank in a See also:body distinguished for ability; his purityof See also:character and courteous manner, together with his intellectual gifts, won him the esteem of all parties; and he became more and more the leader of the See also:Southern Democrats. He was, however, possessed of a logical rather than an intuitive mind. In his famous speech in the Senate on the 12th of July 1848, on the question of establishing a See also:government for See also:Oregon Territory, he held that a slave should be treated by the Federal government on the same basis as any other See also:property, and therefore that it was the duty of Congress to protect the owner's right to his slave in whatever state or territory of the See also:Union that slave might be.

In the debates on the See also:

Compromise See also:Measures of 185o he took an active part, strongly opposing these measures, while See also:Henry See also:Stuart See also:Foote (1800–r88o), the other Mississippi senator, was one of their leading See also:advocates. But although still holding to the theory expounded in his July speech of 1848, he was now ready with the proposal that See also:slavery might be prohibited See also:north of See also:latitude 36° 30' N. provided it should not be interfered with in any territory south of that See also:line. He resigned from the Senate in 1851 to become a See also:candidate of the Democratic States-Rights party for the governorship of his state against Foote, the candidate of the Union Democrats. In the campaign he held, in opposition to the wishes of the more See also:radical members of his party, that although secession might be resorted to as a last alternative the circumstances were not yet such as to justify it. A temporary loss of eyesight interfered with his See also:canvass, and he was defeated by a small See also:majority (1009), the campaign having been watched with the greatest See also:interest throughout the See also:country. In 1853 he accepted the position of secretary of war in the See also:cabinet of President See also:Pierce, and for four years performed the duties of the See also:office with great distinction and with lasting benefit to the nation. He organized the engineer companies which explored and reported on the several proposed routes for a See also:rail-way connecting the Mississippi valley with the Pacific Ocean; he effected the enlargement of the army, and made material changes in its equipment of arms and See also:ammunition, utilizing the latest improvements ; he made his appointments of sub-ordinates on their merits, regardless of party considerations; he revised the See also:system of See also:tactics, perfected the See also:signal See also:corps service, and enlarged the See also:coast and frontier defences of the country. During all this time he was on terms of intimate friendship with the president, over whom he undoubtedly exerted a powerful, but probably not, as is often said, a dominating See also:influence; for instance he is generally supposed to have won the president's support for the See also:Kansas-See also:Nebraska See also:Bill of 1854. After the passage of this bill, Davis, who as secretary of war had See also:control of the United States troops in Kansas, sympathized strongly with the See also:pro-slavery party there. At the end of his service in the cabinet, he was returned to the Senate. To his insistence in 186o that the Democratic party should support his claim to the See also:protection of slavery in the territories by the Federal government, the disruption of that party was in large measure due. At the same time he practically told the Senate that the South would secede in the event of the See also:election of a radical Republican to the See also:presidency; and on the loth of See also:January 1861, not See also:long after the election of Lincoln, he argued before that body the constitutional right of secession and declared that the treatment of the South had become such that it could no longer remain in the Union without being degraded.

When his state had passed the See also:

ordinance of secession he resigned his seat, and his speech on the 21st of January was a clear and able statement of the position taken by his state, and a most pathetic farewell to his associates. On the 25th of January 1861 Davis was commissioned See also:major-general of the forces Mississippi was raising in view of the threatened conflict. On the 9th of February he received the unanimous See also:vote of the Provisional Congress of the seceded states as president of the " Confederate States of See also:America." He was inaugurated on the 18th of February, was subsequently, after the See also:adoption of the permanent constitution, regularly elected by popular vote, for a term of six years, and on the 22nd of February 1862 was again inaugurated. He had not sought the office, preferring service in the field. His brilliant career, both as a civilian and as a soldier, See also:drew all eyes to him as best fitted to See also:guide the fortunes of the new Confederacy, and with a deep sense of the responsibility he obeyed the See also:call. He heartily approved of the See also:peace See also:conference, which attempted to draw up a See also:plan of reconciliation between the two sections, but whose failure made war inevitable. See also:Montgomery, in See also:Alabama, was the first Confederate See also:capital, but after See also:Virginia joined her See also:sister states, the seat of government was removed to See also:Richmond, on the 29th of May 1861. How Davis—of whom W. E. See also:Gladstone, in the early days of English sympathy with the South, said that he had " made a nation "—bore himself in his most responsible position during the gigantic conflict which ensued, cannot here be related in detail. (See CONFEDERATE STATES; and AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.) In the shortest time he organized and put into the field one of the finest bodies of soldiers of which See also:history has See also:record. Factories sprang up in the South in a few months, supplying the army with arms and munitions of war, and the See also:energy of the president was everywhere apparent.

That he committed serious errors, his warmest admirers will hardly deny. Unfortunately his firmness See also:

developed into obstinacy, and exhibited itself in continued confidence in officers who had proved to be failures, and in dislike of some of his ablest generals. He committed the great See also:mistake, too, of directing the movements of distant armies from the seat of government, though those armies were under able generals. This naturally caused great dissatisfaction, and more than once resulted in irreparable disaster. Moreover, he was not, like Lincoln, a great manager of men; he often acted without tact; he was charged with being domineering and autocratic, and at various times he was seriously hampered by the meddling of the Confederate Congress and the opposition of such men as the See also:vice-president, A. H. See also:Stephens, Governor See also:Joseph E. See also:Brown of See also:Georgia, and Governor Zebulon See also:Vance of North Carolina. During the See also:winter of 1864–1865 the resources of the government showed such exhaustion that it was apparent that the end would come with the opening of the spring campaign. This was clearly stated in the reports of the heads of departments and of General See also:Lee. President Davis, however, acted as if he was assured of ultimate success. He sent See also:Duncan F.

Kenner as See also:

special See also:commissioner to the courts of See also:England. and See also:France to obtain recognition of the Confederacy on See also:condition of the abolition of slavery. When a conference was held in See also:Hampton Roads on the 3rd of February 1865 between President. Lincoln and Secretary See also:Seward on the one See also:side, and A. H. Stephens, R. M. T. See also:Hunter, and See also:Judge See also:James A. See also:Campbell, representing President Davis, on the other, he instructed his representatives to insist on the recognition of the Confederacy as a condition to any arrangement for the termination of the war. This defeated the See also:object of the conference, and deprived the South of terms which would have been more beneficial than those imposed by the conqueror when the end came a few See also:weeks later. The last days of the Confederate Congress were spent in recriminations between that body and President Davis, and the popularity with which he commenced his See also:administration had almost entirely vanished. In January 1865 the Congress proposed to supersede the president and make General Lee See also:dictator, —a See also:suggestion, however, to which the Confederate See also:commander refused to listen.

After the surrender of the armies of Lee and See also:

Johnston in See also:April 1865, President Davis attempted to make his way, through Georgia, across the Mississippi, in the vain See also:hope of continuing the war with the forces of Generals See also:Smith and Magruder. He was taken prisoner on the loth of May by Federal troops near Irwinville, Irwin county, Georgia, and was brought back to Old Point, Virginia, in See also:order to be confined in See also:prison at Fortress See also:Monroe. In prison he was chained and treated with great severity. He was indicted for See also:treason by a Virginia See also:grand See also:jury, persistent efforts were made to connect him with the assassination of President Lincoln, he was unjustly charged with having deliberately and wilfully caused the sufferings and deaths of Union prisoners at See also:Andersonville and for two years he was denied trial or See also:bail. Such treatment aroused the sympathy of the Southern See also:people, who regarded him as a See also:martyr to their cause, and in a great measure restored him to that See also:place in their esteem whichby the See also:close of the war he had lost. It also aroused a general feeling in the North, and when finally he was admitted to bail (in May 1867), See also:Horace See also:Greeley, Gerrit Smith, and others in that See also:section who had been his political opponents, became his sureties. See also:Charles O'Conor, a leader of the New See also:York See also:bar, volunteered to See also:act as his counsel. With him was associated See also:Robert Ould of Richmond, a lawyer of great ability. They moved to quash the See also:indictment on which he was brought to trial. See also:Chief See also:Justice See also:Chase and Judge John C. Underwood constituted the United States See also:circuit See also:court sitting for Virginia before which the See also:case was brought in See also:December 1868; the court was divided, the chief justice voting to sustain the See also:motion and Underwood to overrule it. The See also:matter was thereupon certified to the Supreme Court of the United States, but as the general See also:amnesty of the 25th of December r868 included Davis, an order of nolle prosequi was entered in February 1869, and Davis and his bondsmen were thereupon released.

After his See also:

release he visited See also:Europe, and spent the last years of his See also:life in retirement, during which he wrote his Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (2 vols., 1881). In these volumes he attempted to vindicate his administration, and in so doing he attacked the records of those generals he disliked. He also wrote a See also:Short History of the Confederate States of America (189o). He died on the 6th of December 1889, at New See also:Orleans, leaving a widow and two daughters—Margaret, who married J. A. See also:Hayes in 1877, and Varina See also:Anne (1864–1898), better known as " Winnie " Davis, the ". daughter of the Confederacy," who was the author of several books, including A See also:Sketch of the Life of Robert See also:Emmet (1888), a novel, The Veiled See also:Doctor (1895), and A See also:Romance of Summer Seas (1898). A See also:monument to her, designed by See also:George J. Zolnay, and erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy, was unveiled in Hollywood See also:cemetery, Richmond, Va., on the 9th of See also:November 1899. Mrs Davis, who exerted a marked influence over her See also:husband, survived him many years, passed the last years of her life in New York See also:City, and died there on the 16th of See also:October 1906. See also:AuTH0RITIES.–Several See also:biographies and See also:memoirs of Davis have been published, of which the best are: Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the Confederate States (2 vols., New York, 189o), by his widow; F. H. Alfriend's Life of Jefferson Davis (See also:Cincinnati, 1868), which defended him from the charges of incompetence and despotism brought against him; E.

A. See also:

Pollard's Life of Jefferson Davis, with a See also:Secret History of the Southern Confederacy (See also:Philadelphia, 1869), a somewhat See also:partisan See also:arraignment by a prominent Southern journalist; and W. E. See also:Dodd's Jefferson Davis (Philadelphia, 1907), which embodies the results of See also:recent See also:historical See also:research. The Prison Life of Jefferson Davis (New York, 1866) by John J. See also:Craven (d. 1893), a Federal army surgeon who was Davis's physician at Fortress Monroe, was long popular; it gives a vivid and sympathetic picture of Mr Davis as a prisoner, but its authenticity and accuracy have been questioned. (W. W. H.*; N. D.

End of Article: DAVIS, JEFFERSON (1808–1889)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DAVIS, HENRY WINTER (1817-1865) 		[next]
DAVIS, THOMAS OSBORNE (1814–1845)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries