DAVIS 



1712 



DAVIS 



In 1847 the. governor of Mississippi ap- 

 pointed Davis successor to a United States 

 Senator who had died; the following year he 

 was elected by the Mississippi legislature for 

 the remainder of the term, and in 1850 for a 

 full term. In that year the famous compro- 

 mise measures fathered by Henry Clay came 

 before the Senate. Davis took an active part 



JEFFERSON DAVIS 



Soldier, statesman and President of the Con- 

 federate States of America. 



in the debates, arguing against the measures 

 and coming frequently into opposition with 

 Senator Douglas of Illinois, whose theory of 

 squatter sovereignty he held to be unsound. 

 In 1851 he resigned from the Senate to become 

 the candidate of the States'-Rights Democrats 

 for the governorship of Mississippi, and was 

 defeated by a small majority after a stirring 

 campaign that attracted the attention of the 

 nation. 



In 1853, at the beginning of the administra- 

 tion of Franklin Pierce, Davis was appointed 

 Secretary of War, and for four years per- 

 formed the duties of that office with distinc- 

 tion. He introduced an improved system of 

 infantry tactics, brought about the substitu- 

 tion of iron for wod in gun carriages, effected 

 an increase in the army, organized engineer 

 companies to explore the proposed routes for a 

 railway connecting the Mississippi Valley with 

 the Pacific Ocean and strengthened the coast 

 and frontier defenses. At the close of his 

 term of office he was reflected to the Senate, 



where he became the recognized spokesman of 

 the .South and the champion of the doctrine 

 that a state has the right to choose and main- 

 tain its own institutions, without interference 

 from the general government. Calhoun, the 

 great defender of the states' rights theory, had 

 passed away, but the Southern cause found an 

 able and eloquent champion in the Senator 

 from Mississippi. 



With the election of Abraham Lincoln to 

 the Presidency of the United States, the anti- 

 slavery struggle reached a crisis, and when 

 Mississippi passed the ordinance of secession, 

 Davis resigned from the Senate. His last 

 speech, delivered on January 21, 1861, was a 

 noble expression of his belief in the righteous- 

 ness of the Southern cause, and yet it was 

 with sincere regret that he bade his associates 

 farewell. 



Shortly after his return to Mississippi he 

 received news of his election as provisional 

 President of the Confederate States. He was 

 inaugurated on February 18, 1861, and a year 

 later was elected permanent President. His 

 career as chief executive showed his ability 

 and his high sense of honor and of duty; the 

 labors and trials he endured are faithfully por- 

 trayed in his Rise and Fall of the Confederate 

 Government, published in 1881. Throughout 

 the war he acted with dignity, sincerity and 

 devotion to principle, and he endeavored with 



HOME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS AT BEAUVOIR 

 In 1879 Mrs. Dorsey, of Beauvoir, Miss., be- 

 queathed her estate to Mr. Davis, and here he 

 lived quietly for the ten years preceding his 

 death. 



all the force of his nature to lessen the suf- 

 fering that was an inevitable feature of the 

 bitter struggle. 



Soon after the surrender of General Lee, 

 Davis was taken prisoner and was confined in 



