Jefferson Davis Research Paper

The life of Jefferson Davis, is an iconic American story, about military service, government leadership, and the establishment of the Confederate States of America. However, prior to the civil war, Jefferson Davis was a war hero that served a prestigious political career. If the South never succeeded from the Union, history would have remembered Jefferson Davis as a person that was a great political administer, and decisive war hero who proudly served the American Government. However, after Mississippi seceded from the Union, Jefferson Davis resigned from political office, believing that each state had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union. Ultimately, to understand Jefferson Davis’s ideology, a careful examination is required of …show more content…
Coincidently, slavery and the southern culture were engrained in Jefferson Davis from his early childhood years in Mississippi, to believing that slavery correlated to the prosperity of the south. By 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Jefferson Davis to the U.S. Secretary of war, where his major accomplishments included the Pacific Railroad survey, increasing national defenses, and military size (Rodger and Bakewell). According to Civilwar.org, President Pierce would later say that Jefferson Davis “…served with distinction and was recognized as one of the most capable administrators to hold the office.” In 1857, Jefferson Davis returned to the United States senate in Mississippi where he continued to advocate for the institution of slavery, and state rights. However, by 1861 the unresolvable political conflict of slavery between the north and south, culminated into the south seceding from the Union. Due to this development, Jefferson Davis resigned from office, and called “for the Southern states to seize all federal property within their domain, and to join his state in secession” (Volo and Denneen). Prior to exiting office, Jefferson Davis gave a memorable speech where he hoped that this act of secession would not lead to bloodshed, and …show more content…
However, there is another tale that should be associated with his name. Jefferson Davis was a man the adamantly supported the common belief that the federal government should not supersede state rights. However, after Jefferson Davis was captured by the Union Army, he was imprisoned and charged for treason. Subsequently, Jefferson Davis wanted to go to court and plead his case, because he believed that his actions were aligned with the American constitution. However, the case against Jefferson Davis was dropped, and the American government decided to pursue no further charges against him. Later in life, Jefferson Davis went on to author “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Rodger and Bakewell). Overall, Jefferson Davis was a man defined by his early life, fought for state rights, and led the confederate army, but later in life he was again supported by the United American