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Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis Quotes

Former President of the Confederate States of America

Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Born on June 3, 1808, in Kentucky, he was a soldier, politician, and statesman who played a significant role in American history. Davis served as a soldier in the U.S. Army before entering politics and becoming a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce and later became the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Davis is a controversial figure in American history, with his leadership during the Civil War being both praised and criticized.

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All Civil War War Government Slavery Men States Country May People Ifs Made Law Political Should Slave Southern Together American Civil War Confederate Constitution

Famous Jefferson Davis Quotes

“A government, to afford the needful protection and exercise proper care for the welfare of a people, must have homogeneity in its constituents. It is this necessity which has divided the human race into separate nations, and finally has defeated the grandest efforts which conquerors have made to give unlimited extent to their domain.”

Source: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)

“I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came, and now it must go on unless you acknowledge our right to self government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence.”

Years War Self Government Night Fighting Saws Goes On Independence Slavery Blind Mad Acknowledge Twelve Self-government Avert

Author:Jefferson Davis

“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.”

Looks States Government Together Force Liberty Office Libertarian Chains Agency Civil War Mutual Founders Preservation Good Office

Book:A Short HIstory of the Confederate States of America

Source: A Short HIstory of the Confederate States of America

“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. To term this action of a Sovereign a 'rebellion' is a gross abuse of language.”

Source: The rise and fall of the Confederate Government

“Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis that the States are Sovereign. There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a better comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying that each State is a Sovereign, and thus may reclaim the grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever.”

Source: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)

“Sir, it is true that republics have often been cradled in war, but more often they have met with a grave in that cradle. Peace is the interest, the policy, the nature of a popular Government. War may bring benefits to a few, but privation and loss are the lot of the many. An appeal to arms should be the last resort, and only by national rights or national honor can it be justified.”

Should May War Government Lasts Interest Loss Rights Policy Arms Honor Mets Benefits Graves Appeals Republic Justified Resorts Cradle

Book:The rise and fall of the Confederate Government

Source: The rise and fall of the Confederate Government

“Governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.”

People Ends Government Destructive Consent Abolish Consent Of The Governed

Book:The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)

Source: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Complete)

“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.”

Men War Self Government Lasts Fall Fighting Generations Goes On Independence Slavery Track Acknowledge Civil War This Generation Self-government Extermination

Author:Jefferson Davis

“Among our neighbors of Central and Southern America, we see the Caucasian mingled with the Indian and the African. They have the forms of free government, because they have copied them. To its benefits they have not attained, because that standard of civilization is above their race. Revolution succeeds Revolution, and the country mourns that some petty chief may triumph, and through a sixty days' government ape the rulers of the earth.”