Jefferson Finis Davis was a politician from America.
From 1861-1865, he led the Confederate States as president. He served as Mississippi's senator and was a member of the Democratic Party.
Before the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis was a member of the House of Representatives as well. He had previously served as the country's Secretary of War from 1853-1857 under President Franklin Pierce.
In memory of the Confederate troops buried in the cemetery and as a way to comfort the grieving families, the hospital was given the name Jefferson Davis Hospital after former president Confederate Jefferson Davis, which opened its doors in 1924.
On May 19, 1865, Davis was detained at Fortress Monroe on the Virginian shore and placed in a casemate for treason charges.
Davis' personal belongings and certain documents belonging to the Confederate government were taken from the agent by Union forces on June 15, 1865. Later, a historical marker was placed there. The Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site was established in 1939 to commemorate the spot in Irwin County, Georgia, where Jefferson Davis was taken prisoner.
Let's now go through some Jefferson Davis quotes about justice, wisdom, civil war, and more.
Jefferson Davis Quotes From The Rise and Fall Of The Confederate Government
Here is a list of quotes from one of Jefferson Davis's book, The Rise and Fall Of The Confederate Government.
''For purposes of defense, the Confederate States may, under ordinary circumstances, rely mainly upon the militia; but it is deemed advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be a well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous than would usually be required on a peace establishment.''
''On my arrival at Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, I found that the Convention of the State had made provision for a State army, and had appointed me to the command, with the rank of major-general.''
''That vigilant, enterprising, and patriotic soldier, General T. J. Jackson, whose steadiness under fire at the first battle of Manassas had procured for him the sobriquet of 'Stonewall', was then on duty as district commander of the Shenandoah Valley.''
"The levy of so large an army could only mean war, but the power to declare war did not reside in the president—it was delegated to the Congress only.''
''As we approached toward the left of our line, the signs of an utter rout of the enemy were unmistakable, and justified the conclusion that the watchword of 'On to Richmond!' had been changed to 'Off for Washington'.''
''We will not permit aggressions. We will defend our rights; and, if it be necessary, we will claim from this Government, as the barons of England claimed from John, the grant of another Magna Charta for our protection.''
''The State had few serviceable weapons, and no establishment for their manufacture or repair. This fact (which is true of other Southern States as of Mississippi) is a clear proof of the absence of any desire or expectation of war.''
''There was before the war little powder or ammunition of any kind stored in the Southern States, and this was a relic of the war with Mexico.''
''The misconception is so palpable as scarcely to admit of serious answer. The Declaration of Independence opens with a general proposition. 'One people' is equivalent to saying 'any people'.''
''The several States agree 'not to keep troops or ships of war in time of peace.' They further stipulate that, 'a well-regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed'.''
''The withdrawal of a State from a league has no revolutionary or insurrectionary characteristic. The government of the State remains unchanged as to all internal affairs. It is only its external or confederate relations that are altered.''
''The only casualty attendant upon the affair was the death of one man and the wounding of several others by the explosion of a gun in the firing of a salute to their flag by the garrison on evacuating the fort the day after the surrender.''
''Yet the Government entered on its second year without a floating debt and with its credit unimpaired. The total expenditures of the first year, ending February 1, 1862, amounted to one hundred and seventy million dollars.''
Best Jefferson Davis Quotes
Continue reading to find the most thought-provoking Confederate States President Jefferson Davis quotes.
( Jefferson Davis was made the temporary president before he was elected as the president of the Confederate states)
"Unfortunately, the opinion has gone forth that no politician dares to be the advocate of peace when the question of war is mooted. That will be an evil hour, the sand of our republic will be nearly run."
-Speech in Congress, 1846.
''If slavery is a sin, it is not yours. It does not rest on your action for its origin, on your consent for its existence. It is a common law right to property in the service of man; its origin was Divine decree."
''How idle is this prating about natural rights as though still containing all that had been forfeited.''
''The contest is not over, the strife is not ended. It has only entered upon a new and enlarged arena.''
''Our government is an agency of delegated and strictly limited powers. Its founders did not look to its preservation by force; but the chain they wove to bind these States together was one of love and mutual good offices.''
''When men meet together to confer, and ascertain whether or not they do agree, and find that they differ – radically, essentially, irreconcilably differ – what belongs to an honorable position except to part? They cannot consistently act together any longer.''
''Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule.''
''Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.''
''A restitution of the Union has been rendered forever impossible.''
''To one who loves his country in all its parts, it is natural to rejoice in whatever contributes to the prosperity and honor and marks the stability and progress of any portion of its people.''
''If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory.''
''Butler is branded a felon, an outlaw, an enemy of Mankind, and so ordered that in the event of his capture, the officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging.''
''All we ask is to be let alone.''
''Tradition usually rests upon something which men did know; history is often the manufacture of the mere liar.''
''The past is dead; let it bury its dead, its hopes and its aspirations; before you lies the future-a future full of golden promise.''
''It is our duty to keep the memory of our heroes green. Yet they belong to the whole country; they belong to America.''
''God forbid that the day should ever come when to be true to my constituents is to be hostile to the Union.''
''Let men not ask what the law requires, but give whatever freedom demands.''
''I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.''
''Truth crushed to earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.''
''Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance.''
''Not mine, oh, Lord, but thine.''
''To increase the power, develop the resources and promote the happiness of a Confederacy, it is requisite there should be so much of homogeneity that the welfare of every portion would be the aim of the whole.''
''The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.''
''Never be haughty to the humble or humble to the haughty.''
''Lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wished a reunited country.''
''The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.''
''It is not differences of opinion; it is geographical lines, rivers, and mountains which divide State from State, and make different nations of mankind.''
''A people morally and intellectually equal to self-government must also be equal in self-defence.''
''The war...must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks...unless you acknowledge our right to self-government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence, and that, or extermination, we will have.''
Jefferson Davis Quotes On Constitution
Read on for quotes by the Former President of the Confederate States of America on the Constitution.
''It was one of the compromises of the Constitution that the slave property in the Southern States should be recognized as property throughout the United States.''
''At rest an American soldier and defender of the Constitution.''
''It is a poor evasion for any man to say: I make war on the rights of one whole section; I make war on the principles of the Constitution; and yet, I uphold the Union, and I desire to see it protected."
''But the Constitution, in the second section of its first article, expressly declares that it "shall be composed of members chosen by the people of the several States.''"
''The official term of the president was fixed at six instead of four years, and it was provided that he should not be eligible for reëlection. This was in accordance with the original draft of the Constitution of 1787.''
