The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Jefferson Davis 9781523499151 Books
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Many Southerners and Northerners wrote about the Civil War after it was over, but none of them held as senior a position as Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president. While other generals wrote memoirs that historians still continue to debate about, Davis wrote the most comprehensive tome about the political aspects of the Civil War, particularly his fullthroated defense of the Confederacy's right to secede.
His memoir, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, is one of the most controversial works to come out of the Civil War. Volume I explains the political background of the country before the war, as well as his analysis of the Constitution and the right to secede. Volume II picks up where Volume I left off, with the seminal events of 1862 following the secession and the first battles of 1861. Volume II covers everything from 1862 to the end of the war.
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Jefferson Davis 9781523499151 Books
Firsthand source. It is easy to see why he was not put on trial for treason as was originally intended. Jefferson Davis may very well have prevailed in court and so created a monumental northern political dilemma: the unconstitutional invasion of southern states. Even if one does not share the Confederate point of view, this remarkable book explains constitutional positions rarely taught in public schools. Indispensable primary source for any study of the War for Southern Independence.Product details
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Tags : The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government [Jefferson Davis] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Many Southerners and Northerners wrote about the Civil War after it was over, but none of them held as senior a position as Jefferson Davis,Jefferson Davis,The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,152349915X,HISTORY United States 19th Century
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The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Jefferson Davis 9781523499151 Books Reviews
For a historian of the Confederacy there are just a few really classic works Douglas Southall Freeman's R. E. Lee and Lee's Lieutenants; E. Porter Alexander's Fighting for the Confederacy; Mary Boykin Chestnut's A Diary from Dixie; E. A. Pollard's A History of the Confederate States of America and Davis' Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. If you read these works, you will have a deep understanding of the issues and personalities that brought the ill fated Southern Confederacy into being.
Jefferson Davis is one of the enigmas of our history. His epitaph might read something like "The Failed Leader of the Lost Cause." He is generally portrayed as a crotchety old man of bad temper whose constant feuding with subordinates over petty issues distracted the Confederacy during its fight for life. Sam Houston famously said, "A drop of Jeff Davis' blood would freeze a frog."
And yet the Southern people chose this man above all others to be their President. He seems to have been enormously well respected in the South for his military career in the Mexican War and for his efficient administration of the War Department during Franklin Pierce's administration. As a Senator he was admired for his logic and oratory. Most Southerners who knew him spoke and wrote well of him. Those few who actively despised him were known for stirring up controversies themselves.
No question but that Davis was a complex character. He was no rabid Yankee-hater. He loved every inch of the United States, including the Northern States. Before the war he was one of the few Southerners cheered by Yankee crowds when he spoke in Northern cities like Boston and Portland. He urged patience with the Union at a time when many Southern hotheads were agitating for secession. Yet he also believed in State Sovereignty, the theory that any state had the unquestioned lawful right to leave the Union at any time that a majority of its people decided that the Federal Government no longer suited them. In the end State Sovereignty trumped Davis' unionism. When Davis became convinced that the majority of Mississippians desired to leave the Union he became a leader of the Secessionists.
Despite presiding over a lost war, Davis remained immensely popular in the South until the end of his days. And although many Yankees sung "Hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree" there were others like Horace Greely who befriended Davis and offered to pay his legal expenses if the Federal Government put him on trial for treason. He seems to have been remarkably well liked for a "crotchety, self-centered old fogy who lost a war that was fought for the awful cause of destroying the Union and preserving slavery."
Davis' character thus shows many contradictions. I think the best way to resolve these contradictions is to read this book and listen as Davis speaks for himself. Davis was indeed wedded to an archaic belief system of State Sovereignty and Slavery. But his book also makes clear that the cardboard-character image of him as a stubborn and pompous pettifogger and military martinet is also wide of the mark.
I came away with the impression that Jefferson Davis operated upon the principles of selflessness, due consideration for others' opinions, military competence, and fortitude in purpose that might have destined him to be remembered as a great leader --- IF he had led any cause other than the creation of a slave-holding confederation of states. IMO after reading this book my feeling is that a fitting epitaph for Jefferson Davis would be "A leader of many virtues who was deceived by the current of his times into fighting for archaic ideals."
Reading this book made me realize (about a quarter of the way through) that my parents ought to get all their property taxes refunded to them, which ostensibly went toward "educating" kids in the public school I went to. It's not just that I didn't know this stuff after receiving multiple diplomas that proved I had been schooled. It's that I didn't know how much I didn't know. Americans will not know the riveting, counter-culture, counter-political-correctness, unsanitized truths of our history if we don't take it upon ourselves to read it ourselves. If all you know about the Civil War is what you got in elementary school, you know nothing, and what you don't know can in fact hurt you, as the result of these things is progressive loss of liberty even in our day. There is a straight line connecting the events of Jefferson Davis' day to our own.
This is a must read for every man, woman and child in America. True documents from history, such as this, show just how many lies we have been fed by the history-writers. The men of the South were NOT fighting for slavery, as we have all been taught. In fact, they had been working to phase it out gradually. Good ol' Abe "weird beard" Lincoln, however, saw an opportunity to expand the power of government by force, and used the ruse of slavery to garner support.
I liked reading about this from J. Davis' point of view. I still realize that it all comes down to the south wanting to consider slaves as property. Still a very educational read.
I think most people miss out on this work because the Confederacy was "wrong" and is so closely (and justifiably) identified with the evils of slavery. But read as a history and an exploration of the constitution and the intent of the founders as explained by the voice of the most important constitutional crisis in our history, this work is invaluable.
Right or wrong, slavery was protected by the constitution and slaves were simply viewed as property. When Davis considers the view the federal Government took toward that particular property, we see the beginnings of the erosion of all property rights and all other constitutional rights. The issue isn't whether slavery was terrible...it was. The issue is whether congress had a right to disregard the constitution without making an effort to change it and whether secession was legal when the Federal Government began disregarding the needs of the states.
No other book addresses these ideas with the authority that Jefferson Davis possesses by virtue of his great patriotic service to the Republic and his discovery that the Republic was failing its obligations to his home state.
Hoping whoever 'Pantianos Classics' is did a trustworthy job of maintaining accuracy of Davis's words. The back cover of this 8x11 paperback destroys their credibility for scholarly production, as the entire second paragraph of their text is "The principle text is split into four parts" Anyone who confuses pal and ple is no scholar.
Firsthand source. It is easy to see why he was not put on trial for treason as was originally intended. Jefferson Davis may very well have prevailed in court and so created a monumental northern political dilemma the unconstitutional invasion of southern states. Even if one does not share the Confederate point of view, this remarkable book explains constitutional positions rarely taught in public schools. Indispensable primary source for any study of the War for Southern Independence.
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