Jefferson Davis, American

Informationen zum Autor William J. Cooper, Jr., is Boyd Professor of History at Louisiana State University. In addition to numerous articles, essays, and reviews, he is the author of The Conservative Regime: South Carolina, 1877-1890; The South and the Politics of Slavery, 1828-1856; and Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860 , as well as coauthor of The American South: A History. He lives in Baton Rouge. Klappentext From a distinguished historian of the American South comes this thoroughly human portrait of the complex man at the center of our nation's most epic struggle. Jefferson Davis initially did not wish to leave the Union-as the son of a veteran of the American Revolution and as a soldier and senator, he considered himself a patriot. William J. Cooper shows us how Davis' initial reluctance turned into absolute commitment to the Confederacy. He provides a thorough account of Davis' life, both as the Confederate President and in the years before and after the war. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Jefferson Davis, American is the definitive examination of one of the most enigmatic figures in our nation's history.Chapter 1 "There My Memories Begin" Jefferson Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian County, Kentucky. Located in the west-central section of the state and bordering Tennessee, Christian County at that time was a sparsely settled part of the western frontier. The infant was named for his father's political hero, the sitting president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. His parents also gave him a middle name, which by early manhood he dropped completely; only the initial F. survived. For Samuel Emory Davis in his early fifties and his forty-eight-year-old wife, Jane Cook Davis, this boy, their tenth child, would be their last.1 In searching for a home on the American frontier, Samuel Davis followed literally in the steps of his father. Samuel's grandfather, the first of this Davis family on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, emigrated from Wales to Philadelphia, perhaps as early as 1701, when a number of Welsh Baptists landed in the Pennsylvania port, and surely before 1720. The place and date of Evan Davis's birth are not known. All genealogical authorities agree on his Welshness, and he was undoubtedly born sometime during the final two decades of the seventeenth century. He had a wife, but only her first name has survived. When and where he and Mary Davis were married is also unknown.2 Evan Davis found Philadelphia and Pennsylvania hospitable to his efforts to advance his station and to raise a family. He spent the remainder of his life in the city. The colony's tolerant religious policy permitted him to remain loyal to his Baptist faith. Even though Evan Davis spent most of his working years as a carter, he managed to accumulate enough money to buy property. A deed conveying a city lot to him in 1734 carries the colony's first official notice of him. Although he became a property owner, he never learned to read or write. Neither did his wife. All of his legal documents, including his will, he signed with his mark. Late in life he changed occupations to become an innkeeper. When his will was drawn up in 1743, he identified himself as a carter; but the inventory of his estate prepared after his death in 1747 listed him as an innkeeper. Mary survived him for eleven years, dying in 1758. While Evan Davis was striving to improve his financial status, he and Mary were caring for a large family. They had six children, five sons and one daughter. At the time Evan Davis had his will written, four of them had reached their maturity. He evidently favored the two youngest, who were both still under twenty-one, for he provided that Joseph and Evan Jr. should receive larger shares of his estate than their brothers and sister. In addition to their portions of the property, they were bequeathed cash payme...

Klappentext
From a distinguished historian of the American South comes this thoroughly human portrait of the complex man at the center of our nation's most epic struggle.

Jefferson Davis initially did not wish to leave the Union-as the son of a veteran of the American Revolution and as a soldier and senator, he considered himself a patriot. William J. Cooper shows us how Davis' initial reluctance turned into absolute commitment to the Confederacy. He provides a thorough account of Davis' life, both as the Confederate President and in the years before and after the war. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Jefferson Davis, American is the definitive examination of one of the most enigmatic figures in our nation's history.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

"There My Memories Begin"

Jefferson Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian County, Kentucky. Located in the west-central section of the state and bordering Tennessee, Christian County at that time was a sparsely settled part of the western frontier. The infant was named for his father's political hero, the sitting president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. His parents also gave him a middle name, which by early manhood he dropped completely; only the initial F. survived. For Samuel Emory Davis in his early fifties and his forty-eight-year-old wife, Jane Cook Davis, this boy, their tenth child, would be their last.1

In searching for a home on the American frontier, Samuel Davis followed literally in the steps of his father. Samuel's grandfather, the first of this Davis family on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, emigrated from Wales to Philadelphia, perhaps as early as 1701, when a number of Welsh Baptists landed in the Pennsylvania port, and surely before 1720. The place and date of Evan Davis's birth are not known. All genealogical authorities agree on his Welshness, and he was undoubtedly born sometime during the final two decades of the seventeenth century. He had a wife, but only her first name has survived. When and where he and Mary Davis were married is also unknown.2

Evan Davis found Philadelphia and Pennsylvania hospitable to his efforts to advance his station and to raise a family. He spent the remainder of his life in the city. The colony's tolerant religious policy permitted him to remain loyal to his Baptist faith. Even though Evan Davis spent most of his working years as a carter, he managed to accumulate enough money to buy property. A deed conveying a city lot to him in 1734 carries the colony's first official notice of him. Although he became a property owner, he never learned to read or write. Neither did his wife. All of his legal documents, including his will, he signed with his mark. Late in life he changed occupations to become an innkeeper. When his will was drawn up in 1743, he identified himself as a carter; but the inventory of his estate prepared after his death in 1747 listed him as an innkeeper. Mary survived him for eleven years, dying in 1758.

While Evan Davis was striving to improve his financial status, he and Mary were caring for a large family. They had six children, five sons and one daughter. At the time Evan Davis had his will written, four of them had reached their maturity. He evidently favored the two youngest, who were both still under twenty-one, for he provided that Joseph and Evan Jr. should receive larger shares of his estate than their brothers and sister. In addition to their portions of the property, they were bequeathed cash payments-Joseph ?10 and Evan Jr. ?20, quite respectable sums, payable when each became twenty-one. The four elder Davis siblings never left Philadelphia, but the two youngest emulated their father in his youth and struck out for new horizons.

Once both reached twenty-one and were in possession of the money from their father's estate, Joseph and Evan Jr. headed southward, probably around 1750. Initially they went to South Carolina. The historical record does not indicate why they chose that dest…

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