Jefferson Davis's resignation from the Senate and subsequent inauguration as President of the Confederate States of America on the grounds of secession from the Union highlights the deep divide and tensions that existed between the North and the South leading up to the Civil War. Davis's justification for secession, based on the idea of government by consent of the governed, represents the Confederate States' perceived right to self-determination.
However, Davis's disregard for the Declaration of Independence's assertion of the equality of all men suggests a selective interpretation of principles to justify secession. This highlights the underlying issue of slavery and the South's desire to preserve their economic and social system, which was based on the institution of slavery.
Davis's hope for a peaceful separation from the Union reflects a sense of optimism and desire to avoid the impending conflict and devastation that would ultimately result from the Civil War. Ultimately, Davis's actions and beliefs shed light on the complex motivations and ideologies that led to the Civil War and the formation of the Confederacy.
analyze this Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi and former Secretary of War, publicly resigned his Senate seat during an emotional farewell address to Congress on January 21, 1861, only days after his home state had seceded from the Union. Less than a month later, Davis was sworn in as the first and—as it turned out—only President of the Confederate States of America at the first Confederate capital in Montgomery, Alabama. (Richmond, Virginia became the capital a few months after Davis gave his speech.) In his inaugural address, Davis explained secession by referring to the argument of the Declaration of Independence that government must be by the consent of the governed, but he ignored the Declaration’s statement about the equality of men, the truth that makes consent necessary. (The South Carolina secession declaration also echoed the Declaration but ignored equality [South Carolina’s Declaration of the Causes of Secession (1860)]). Davis explained what he believed to be the principal reasons justifying secession. In plotting a course for the new country’s future, Davis expressed the hope that the seceded states would be permitted to leave the Union in peace.
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