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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

“Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous people .”

People May Long Justice Progress Movement Obstacles Virtuous Confederate Retard

Book:Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings

Source: Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings

“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

“The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.”

May Form Principles Bounds Another Time

Author:Jefferson Davis

“Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely be asserted that our loss is irreparable; and that among the shining hosts of the great and good who now cluster around the banner of the country, there exists no purer spirit, no more heroic soul, than that of the illustrious man whose death I join you in lamenting.”

Men May War Soul Country Spirit Loss Shining Injustice Civil War Host Heroic Banner Clusters Irreparable

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.”