Customer Reviews

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government: Abridged for the Modern Reader

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Constitutional issues are explored in depth. This is not a book about the various battles of the Civil War but an in depth analysis of the causes and the philosophy. A must read for the serious historian. Originally this was in several volumes but Kindle has combined all into one. Superb!!!!

This title took me a long time to get right. I had to take out all of the numbered pages (450+) and put them all together with links to their respective chapters. I'm glad someone liked it!

Jefferson Davis is one of the enigmas of our history. His epitaph might read something like: "The Failed Leader of the Lost Cause." He is generally portrayed as a crotchety old man of bad temper whose constant feuding with subordinates over petty issues distracted the Confederacy during its fight for life. Sam Houston famously said, "A drop of Jeff Davis' blood would freeze a frog."

And yet the Southern people chose this man above all others to be their President. He seems to have been enormously well respected in the South for his military career in the Mexican War and for his efficient administration of the War Department during Franklin Pierce's administration. As a Senator he was admired for his logic and oratory. Most Southerners who knew him spoke and wrote well of him. Those few who actively despised him were known for stirring up controversies themselves.

No question but that Davis was a complex character. He was no rabid Yankee-hater. He loved every inch of the United States, including the Northern States. Before the war he was one of the few Southerners cheered by Yankee crowds when he spoke in Northern cities like Boston and Portland. He urged patience with the Union at a time when many Southern hotheads were agitating for secession. Yet he also believed in State Sovereignty, the theory that any state had the unquestioned lawful right to leave the Union at any time that a majority of its people decided that the Federal Government no longer suited them. In the end State Sovereignty trumped Davis' unionism. When Davis became convinced that the majority of Mississippians desired to leave the Union he became a leader of the Secessionists.

Despite presiding over a lost war, Davis remained immensely popular in the South until the end of his days. And although many Yankees sung "Hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree" there were others like Horace Greely who befriended Davis and offered to pay his legal expenses if the Federal Government put him on trial for treason. He seems to have been remarkably well liked for a "crotchety, self-centered old fogy who lost a war that was fought for the awful cause of destroying the Union and preserving slavery."

Davis' character thus shows many contradictions. I think the best way to resolve these contradictions is to read this book and listen as Davis speaks for himself. Davis was indeed wedded to an archaic belief system of State Sovereignty and Slavery. But his book also makes clear that the cardboard-character image of him as a stubborn and pompous pettifogger and military martinet is also wide of the mark.

I came away with the impression that Jefferson Davis operated upon the principles of selflessness, due consideration for others' opinions, military competence, and fortitude in purpose that might have destined him to be remembered as a great leader --- IF he had led any cause other than the creation of a slave-holding confederation of states. IMO after reading this book my feeling is that a fitting epitaph for Jefferson Davis would be: "A leader of many virtues who was deceived by the current of his times into fighting for archaic ideals."

btw. I wrote about Jefferson Davis in my Civil War novel Fire in the Heartland before reading Jefferson Davis' book. I portrayed Davis as a thoughtful and competent leader of the Confederate States (without passing judgment on the worthiness of the cause). After reading this book I am confirmed in my original estimation of Davis' competence, again without endorsing the cause of State Sovereignty and perpetuation of slavery that he led.

This was a good but at times tedious read. Davis talks about his beliefs about why the Civil War began and why the south was justified. Davis clearly had given this a lot thought. Davis also discusses many of the political issues of the day including the administration of the war, financing the war, taxation, etc.. Readers of the book should enjoy legal and constitutional theory. If you don't this could be an impossible read. I read the entire book less the appendixes. The text is about 65% of the book. The balance are appendixes which are mostly copies of speeches.

Based on the book, I concluded that Davis was a whiner: It just was not his fault. He never asked to be President. Others did follow his orders. And, Lincoln did not fight fair. Davis seemed to remember every slight and blame cast his way. Davis did not accept the adage "The buck stops here." He also seemed to be unable to see events through the eyes of his enemy. I came away wondering if the south had a better leader that Lincoln would have had a tougher time.

I do recommend this book for civil war buffs. It was well written and Davis was obviously well educated.

Mr. Davis makes the case for state's rights about as well as I think it will ever be made. Much of the book he spends citing the arguments of the framers of the Constitution to demonstrate, to his own satisfaction at least: (1) that sovereignty lies with the several states; (2) that the Federal government is merely an agent created to act for the states in areas specifically designated in the Constitution; and (3) the framers themselves rejected the idea that the Federal government should have a means of coercing the states, and states definitely had the right to secede if they felt their interests were no longer being served by being part of the Union. I would almost buy into this, but I still find it disturbing that the major incidents in our history where we've battled over state's rights have been on the rights of states to practice slavery and resist school integration.

Davis also spends a good deal of time defending his own record during the war, in particular the charges that he interfered with the decisions of his generals in ways; he gives the text of many letters written to, by, or about him. This is all quite interesting, though he does come across as almost being -too- defensive.

One very interesting section deals with the logistics issues the Confederacy faced, particularly in supplying arms and ammunition to its soldiers; the south started with almost nothing in the way of a munitions industry, and had to build it from the ground up and with the Union blockading much of its foreign trade. Its success in this area at least is something I think any American can feel proud about, not too dissimilar from the way our industrial based met the challenge of the second world war.

The book ends rather abruptly, however, in the middle of the war. The "Fall" of the Confederacy is entirely missing. I had thought the book included the text of two volumes, but I think perhaps it only has one.

It's certainly worth a read for anyone with a deep interest in the Civil War, and the causes that led to it, particularly for giving the views from what I've always thought of as the "other side." One interesting project I think would be to essentially "fact-check" some of the claims, to see if they can be substantiated.

I read both Volume I and Volume II of "The rise and fall of the Confederate government" by Jefferson Davis. This was one of the most thrilling reading of untold history from the President of the Confederate states. Accounting of men, supplies, dollars, development of resouces,international presentation, an explanation of the written meaning of the Constitution, and state rights. Much of which is still applicable today in the areas of our southern border states and problems with immigration. This book covers the battles in men's minds, battles on land and the battles at sea. Jefferson Davis's writing is timeless. Then as now,he develops the history of the use of power in the government, and the abuse of that power. The weight that can be carried with a little development of propoganda. He concludes with the heavy price the South paid in the so called "reconstruction period," and the development of the far western territories all the way to the Pacific Ocean. this is a book written personally to every citizen of America to fulfill your knowledge of history from a man who lived every page.

I was taught in school (the place where all my historical falsehoods began)that the civil war was a righteous battle to end slavery. This book gives a different perspective and exposes the federal government as the bully that I have come to know that it is. The constitutional rights of states are thoroughly explored in the states relationship to the federal government. The constitution has flaws in it by giving rights to some people living in the US at that time but not extending rights equally to all human beings. I wish by now that we could have evolved as a country to extend our belief in free rights to all people whether they are citizens or not and whether they are standing on our soil or not but we haven't. This book had some very interesting arguments on constitutional principals as well as examples of abuses of power by the federal government bringing to me a new perspective on the civil war that I was previously unaware of.