Customer Reviews

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume I (Rise & Fall of the Confederate Government)

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In this extremely well-written book, not only does President Jefferson Davis give critical insights on the events leading up to and including the War for Southern Independence (rare and very important in and of itself, given that he was the president of the Confederacy), but he also shows that he was a Constitutional scholar unparalleled by today's crop of so-called "experts".

President Davis was a reluctant secessionist. In fact, he had been working on trying to come to a compromise until his state seceded, and he returned home. This book does a great deal to show the character of the former president of the Confederacy, with his perceptions of events leading up to the war itself. For instance, he did not envision himself to be the president of the Confederacy, believing that position should instead go to Albert Johnston. Instead, he had thought he would receive a commission as general.

While there is plenty of information for virtually anyone interested in that period (there is detailed information about battles, insights by the president on figures living at the time, etc.), what truly makes the book such a fascinating read is the constitutional analysis (particularly regarding the secession question, but also going into the grievances by the Confederate states as well) found therein.

If there is a negative to this book, it is the poorly-written introduction by leftist and Lincoln apologist McPhearson. I don't know why he was chosen to write the forward, but it is best ignored.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is a magnum opus in Southern literature.

This is a work that any one should read concerninig the details of the life and death of the Confederate nation.The principled beliefs those who founded the other American nation are presented.

Jefferson Davis' work is thorough and detailed concerning the his belief in the constitutional basis that secession was legal and that the desire to peacefully seperate was the absolute goal of the southern states. Bear in mind the 4 states of the upper South (AR, NC, TN and VA) did not leave the Union until Lincoln called for forced cohersion of the other southern states.

His work is also quite detailed in the military aspects of the War Between the States and his personal eyewitness of events are well written and easy to read and grasp. A great read!

I strongly feel that it does matter a great deal whether Davis or Lincoln was correct. And I don't think that correctness is 'determined' by who has the biggest sword. In other words, 'might doesn't make right'. And it is sad that one of the issues over which state sovereignty was argued was the slavery issue. It is also sad that northerners weren't so sympathetic with abolitionists until after slavery became either outlawed or unprofitable - when it was, they were fine with it.

Anyone who enjoyed this book MUST also read 'America's Caesar' by Durand .... His book goes into much more detail over the question of state sovereignty. The right to secede wasn't questioned until all of the founding fathers had passed away and their personal reactions and testimony could no longer be given. Also, one much remember that in 1830, the transcripts of the debates at the constitutional convention were still 'locked' and were not available to the public. The right of secession was not only acknowledged prior to the 1830's, but it was one of the most sacred rights. William Rawle's (a Federalist even) textbook 'A View to the Constitution of the US' even held that states had the right to secede and this book was used as a textbook at West Point up until the early 1840's and is still in the West Point library to this day.

What changed things was when a man named Story wrote another opinion (again after all the founding fathers were dead and could no longer speak) that the Union was perpertual and that states 'drew their very breath from the Union who created them'. Even Lincoln himself, in 1850 acknowledged in a speech that states had the right to secede. But after succombing to Story's distorted and incorrect logic, he because a 'perpetualist' following the theory that 'once in there is no way out' (of the Union). This would be akin to marrying someone and there being no divorce or even separation available no matter how horrid the circumstances.

It is sad that this issue cannot receive national debate even in this day and time so that all can be aired - now that we have the advantage of TV and internet and all could hear and participate.

Read this book and the one I have referenced if truth matters to you at all. Jefferson Davis was Right. It is just sad that slavery was made the issue of whether or not to sustain state sovereignty.

This is probably the most accessible reprint of Davis' book on the market today. It's well indexed and available at an economical price. My only complaint is that they got James McPherson, a confederacy-hating Marxist, to write the intro.

Having had the privilege and the honor of viewing at my leisure an original of this Volume 1, I am wondering why Mr. McPherson did not include the original Index; nor headings of chapters on each appropriate page, as in the original.

Jefferson Davis was right in his account of the war of northern aggression. It is not possible to emphasize more strongly than has been done in the other reviews of this book, that Davis' works ought to be studied by any serious student of the U.S. Constitution and constitutional history. However, to expect that proper instruction on the truth about those events would be taught in the schools of the descendants of those people who emerged victorious, is naive. Suffice it to say that the truth will be perpetuated only by those willing to make the effort to do so.

The foreword in this offering is written by James McPherson, a statist academic studying in politically correct institutions. While his opinion is certainly legitimate, it should not be relied upon to decide whether or not to read President Davis' account of what was happening at the time. No review would be better than one slanted to inculcate the modernist's view from 140 years away.

This book is a very useful, and, one might say, critical, work for anyone who wishes to understand the constitutional issues which were at stake in the United States in the 19th century, leading up to, and through, the 1861-1865 war, and during that war's long aftermath.

It also illuminates the difficulties which many had, whether unionists or secessionists, supporters of slavery or abolitionists, in analyzing and debating the complex legal and moral issues which were at stake with regards to liberty, federalism, secession, and slavery. Jefferson Davis was, and remains, one of the most important and articulate Americans on these topics, although no advocate of freedom as either Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln understood it, or as it is now enshrined in the US constitution (as amended). Davis, as a military leader, senator from Mississippi, and president of the Confederacy, was found at times to be both bitter and brilliant by his friends and his opponents, and is reported to have been even more effective as an orator than he was as a writer of prose.

Historical circumstances, no less than their own intrinsic merits, have made the works of Abraham Lincoln widely read, and, it is hoped, well-known. Historical circumstances have worked to hide the merits of Davis' prose and reasoning, because his arguments were not convincing to most people in this country during his lifetime, or afterwards. Indeed, his arguments cannot be separated from the struggle to separate slaveholding states from the Union in order to preserve the freedom of slaveowners to hold slaves. Davis must be read as fighting for this, whether or not one agrees that secession was constitutional or inevitable, and whether or not one agrees with him about the rights of states in the Union, then or now. Davis should be read not because he was right, and not because he was wrong, but because he was very intelligent, very influential, and very nearly successful.

The causes to which Lincoln and Davis dedicated their lives were, as each recognized, irreconcilable. All of us, as heirs to their legacies, owe it to them and to ourselves to understand them in their own words. This book is one of the most valuable tools that enable us to understand the latter man, who was called both the president of a nation, and the leader of a rebellion. One could only wish that it were more elegantly presented, with an easier-to-read typeface, and with more detailed editorial commentary.

It is also well to remember that (and why) Mr. Lincoln was not afforded the comparative leisure which Mr. Davis knew after the war, though it be in exile, in which to hone his arguments and justify his actions.

In this book, the South and the "Lost Cause" are vidicated! Especially powerful is the first section of the book, in which Mr. Davis presents the foundations of our system of constitutionally limited government and proves that the States are sovereign. It is worth noting that this book has never been answered, and never will be answered.

In addition to this book, I recommend that all interested in better understanding our system of government, as originally intended, read my two books, both available from amazon.com: "Birth of the Republic", and "Principles of Constitutional Government". In my books, I expand upon the concepts presented by Mr. Davis in the first section of his work.

Birth of the Republic: The Origin of the United States

Principles of Constitutional Government, The: Political Sovereignty

Ignore for the time being the fact that this is only the first volume of this work. Search for Vol. II will probably bring one to light certainly at a much higher price. Vol I is the most interesting of the two and offers great insight into the post war mind of Davis. If we want to understand the mind of this period we need to read this book along with the Buchanan expose of his presidency, Butler's Book by B. F. Butler who nominated Davis as Democratic presidential nominee, the Diary of Edmund Ruffin vol I, and many more, npne of which are neutral or even accurate in many ways but if we don't look at the reflections of the participants we are condemned to seeing history only through the eyes of later writers. Forget that McPherson introduces this book and that it is only volume one. It is a necessary and even fairly interesting read.

very satified with the condition of this book.
received my book in three day of ordering. Oredered a used book and surprise, surprise when
I opened the package it was a new book.
will continue to buy from Amazon.com
Learned some facts that I had been taught were totally wrong about the war.
Great reading about our history, some facts , lies and truths about this period.
A must read for this period of time in our history.