In his masterpiece, Jefferson Davis, American, William J. Cooper, Jr., crafted a sweeping, definitive biography and established himself as the foremost scholar on the intriguing Confederate president. Cooper narrows his focus considerably in Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era, training his expert eye specifically on Davis's participation in and influence on events central to the American Civil War. Nine self-contained essays address how Davis reacted to and dealt with a variety of issues that were key to the coming of the war, the war itself, or in memorializing the war, sharply illuminating Davis's role during those turbulent years. Cooper opens with an analysis of Davis as an antebellum politician, challenging the standard view of Davis as either a dogmatic priest of principle or an inept bureaucrat. Next, he looks closely at Davis's complex association with secession, which included, surprisingly, a profound devotion to the Union. Six studies explore Davis and the Confederate experience, with topics including states' rights, the politics of command and strategic decisions, Davis in the role of war leader, the war in the West, and the meaning of the war. The final essay compares and contrasts Davis's first inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861 with a little-known dedication of a monument to Confederate soldiers in the same city twenty-five years later. In 1886, Davis -- an old man of seventy-eight and in poor health -- had himself become a living monument, Cooper explains, and was an essential element in the formation of the Lost Cause ideology. Cooper's succinct interpretations provide straightforward, compact, and deceptively deep new approaches to understanding Davis during the most critical time in his life. Certain to stimulate further thought and spark debate, Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era offers rare insight into one of American history's most complicated and provocative figures.
William Cooper traces and analyzes the history of southern politics from the formation of the Democratic party in the late 1820s to the demise of the Democratic-Whig struggle in the 1850s, reporting on attitudes and reactions in each of the ...
Felicity Allen , Jefferson Davis , Unconquerable Heart ( Columbia : University of Missouri Press , 1999 ) , 103 . 5. Cooper , Jefferson Davis , American , 233–34 ; Lynda Lasswell Crist , “ Jefferson Davis , " in Encyclopedia of the ...
This title tells the story of Jefferson Davis's life, the only president of the Southern States during their secession from the Union.
Not so, argues James M. McPherson. In Embattled Rebel, McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause's failure.
In February 1861, Jefferson Davis told his wife that he had been elected president of the Confederacy.
An engaging portrait of the Southern soldier-statesman who led the Confederacy retraces his evolution from a reluctant supporter of secession to his eventual total embrace of an independent Southern Confederacy.
Colonel Samuel Cooper had held the post just a few months when Davis arrived . Davis first met Cooper on his 1837 trip to Washington , and the high recommendation given then and later by Franklin Pierce was enough to win Cooper's esteem ...
This is their compelling story, including comparing the stark political events of their era to those being replayed across todays America. For more information about the book and/or the author please visit www.lincolnanddavis.com.
In this highly original study of Confederate ideology and politics, Jeffrey Zvengrowski suggests that Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his supporters saw Bonapartist France as a model for the Confederate States of America.
Jefferson Davis is a historical figure who provokes strong passions among scholars. Through the years historians have place him at both ends of the spectrum: some have portrayed him as...