Whatever of hope some may have entertained that a returning sense of justice would remove the danger with which our rights were threatened, and render it possible to preserve the Union of the Constitution, must have been dispelled by the malignity and barbarity of the Northern States in the prosecution of the existing war. While the war had started favorably for the Confederate States, the first several weeks of 1862 found the North was winning all the battles. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Note: this link will eventually disappear! Lincoln-Douglas Debates History & Significance | What Was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate? The rule of voluntary association, which cannot fail to be conservative, by securing just and impartial government at home, does not diminish the security of the obligations by which the Confederate States may be bound to foreign nations. they saw the latent source from which these outrages proceeded. Another piece from his drafting of the second inaugural address is on the same sheet as fragments of text from Jefferson's early drafting of his first and third annual messages to Congress in 1801 and 1803 ( Document II ). Summarized in The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 8, p. 55. War will then be but a suspension of useful works; & a return to a state of peace a return to the progress of improvement. he who has time renders a service to public morals, & public tranquility, in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law. Virginia Capitol, Richmond, February 22, 1862 [1]. (See Documents, Neither of Jeffersons predecessors as president had given a second inaugural address. Soon to come: Gettysburg . Bastiles filled with prisoners, arrested without civil process or indictment duly found; the writ ofhabeas corpussuspended by Executive mandate; a State Legislature controlled by the imprisonment of members whose avowed principles suggested to the Federal Executive that there might be another added to the list of seceded States; elections held under threats of a military power; civil officers, peaceful citizens, and gentle-women incarcerated for opinions sakeproclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to administer a Government as free, liberal, and humane as that established for our common use. AMH 1010 review. Second Inaugural Address by Jefferson Davis (Confederate States of America) Summary In this second Inaugural Address, Davis, now President of the Confederate States, speaks from what is now the Capitol of the Confederate States of America, Richmond Virginia. He made the decision during the drafting process, as shown by Madisons and Gallatins remarks, for in the draft they saw, resistance to change was associated with Native American society (Documents, The expression steady habits is associated with the state of Connecticut. succeed. Seven Southern states. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Sometime between that date and 4 Mch. and in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank of the Missisipi should be settled by our own brethren & children than by strangers of another family? Jefferson Davis was again selected to remain as the President of the newly formed government and commenced to give his second inaugural address on the 22 nd of February, 1862 in front of a monument to George Washington at . Davis argued that the North oppressed the South through its disapproval of slavery, a practice vital to its economy and culture. Even with the corrections, Jefferson continued adjusting the address until the eleventh hour, submitting a few changes to Smith after he sent along the full draft (see, The address rapidly circulated through the states after Smiths printing, with many newspapers publishing the speech in full. Lincoln viewed the United States as a collection of states held together by an unbreakable bond. With humble gratitude and adoration, acknowledging the Providence which has so visibly protected the Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to thee, O God, I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke thy blessing on my country and its cause. Chapter 14 - #1. Never has a people evinced a more determined spirit than that now animating men, women, and children in every part of our country. True to our traditions of peace and our love of justice, we sent commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amicable settlement of all questions of public debt or property which might be in dispute. the larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local passions. Second Inaugural Address. In that address he explicitly condemned political intolerancedeclared all were federalists, all were republicansYet in a few days after that, he removed many deserving men from office, because they were federalists. He also criticized Jefferson as imprudent for explicitly censuring & condemning former Administrations & lavishing encomiums on himself for effecting a discontinuance of the Internal Revenues, and for his expansive complaints about abuse by the press: One would have thought that Mr. Jefferson after having hired such infamous wretches as Freneau, Bache, Duane, Callender, Payne & others, to defame villify & calumniate, Washington, Adams, & their associateshe would not have complained of news paper publications! But even Plumer admitted that Jefferson has his talents& those of the popular kind, since it was an important practice for him to never pursue a measure if it becomes unpopular (Brown, John Tyler expressed the opposite view in a letter to Jefferson, writing that without flattery, the address adds a Lustre to the whole of your Life if any thing coud be necessary to highten your public Character. He anticipated that any who continued to oppose Jeffersons administration must see the soundness of the reasoning, and the temper and philanthropy with which it is expressd, and it would have the happyest effect on every person not so vicious as to persist in Spite of Light and truth in a perverse Opinion. Jefferson replied with appreciation, reiterating to Tyler that performance was the proper office of the second inaugural, in contrast to profession and promise in the first. War Democrats, border states, and Republicans. The courts have been open, the judicial functions fully executed, and every right of the peaceful citizen maintained as securely as if a war of invasion had not disturbed the land. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. On the topics of liberty and equality his message was clear: he did not want to abolish slavery in the South. Three weeks later, Abraham Lincoln did likewise, with different results. If so, the document has kinship to his January 1804 notes of conversations with Aaron Burr and Benjamin Hichborn (Vol. Delaware and Maryland, both slave states, did not vote to secede. The confidence of the most hopeful among us must have been destroyed by the disregard they have recently exhibited for all the time-honored bulwarks of civil and religious liberty. Well, Lincoln's second inaugural address was similar in tone to his first. his refusal to sign the Wade-Davis Bill. However, many Southerners still viewed the disagreement on slavery as the North's attempt to take away their liberties. But now he shifted his focus from preserving the union to restoring it. To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us by the patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic devotion which made reverse to them but the crucible in which their patriotism was refined. 'Physically speaking we cannot separate. EDITORIAL NOTE. they might perhaps have been corrected by the wholsome punishments reserved to, and provided by, the laws of the several states against falsehood & defamation. His purpose in writing the Notes on a Draught was to explain his handling of this topic. At the capitol in Richmond, Virginia, Davis gave his second inaugural speech. . Women in the Civil War: Facts & Roles | How Did the Civil War Affect Women? Through its grants program, the NHPRC supports a wide range of activities to When the independence of the Confederate States is recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free to follow our interests and inclinations by cultivating foreign trade, the Southern States will offer to manufacturing nations the most favorable markets which ever invited their commerce. I have no doubt, he wrote, that it was printed long before I left Washington & was brot to Baltimore in the same stage that brought me. The. In matters of Religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independant of the powers of the general government. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous devotion to the noble cause for which we are contending are rife throughout the land. A month later, the Civil War started in earnest, and on February 22, 1862 (and Washington's birthday), Davis gave a second inaugural address, after winning an election under the permanent Confederate constitution. Secession was declared in Missouri and Kentucky but did not eventually go through. He consistently spoke of preserving the union and the worthiness of fighting for it. He was well known for his highly disciplined acting preparation, which informed his later works on elocution, speaking, education, and the English language. I shall need too the favour of that being in whose hands we are: who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land; and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries & comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, & our riper years with his wisdom & power: & to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, & prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, & shall secure to you the peace, friendship, & approbation of all nations. But the Government at Washington, denying our right to self-government, refused even to listen to any proposals for a peaceful separation. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. Upon the first call the men flew to arms, and wifes and mothers send their husbands and sons to battle without a murmur of regret. Jefferson Davis' First Inaugural Address Alabama Capitol, Montgomery, February 18, 1861 Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, Friends and Fellow-Citizens: Archives. 'The union of these states is perpetual,' or permanent, he declared. but that extension may possibly pay for itself, before we are called on, & in the mean time may keep down the accruing interest: in all events it will replace the advances we shall have made. topics (general topics): the advantages of a peaceful system that made possible a favorable state of public finances in which the country had the ability to pay off its debts and eliminate internal taxes; removals from office; a third topic that he named only as Philosophy; and finally licentiousness of press (see, Using a process that he had come to employ in composing his annual messages to Congress, he proceeded to draft each of the topical sections independently. Title. Many were incorporated into Smiths copy, and others were added to both copies via editorial marks. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Get unlimited access to over 84,000 lessons. Jefferson Davis History & Facts | Who was President of the Confederacy? Rice University--MS 215 Those Who Labor for My Happiness: Slavery at Thomas Jeffersons Monticello, Jefferson, Natural Language, & the Culture of Performance, The Dublin Orator: Thomas Sheridans Influence on Eighteenth-Century Rhetoric and Belles Letters, A Course of Lectures on Elocution Together with Two Dissertations on Language and Some Other Tracts Relative to Those Subjects, Rhetorical Grammar of the English Language, A Rhetorical Grammar of the English Language, History of the Principal Events of the Reign of Frederic William II, Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side, American, and Commercial Daily Advertiser, The Inaugural Addresses of President Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805, Gazette Nationale ou le Moniteur Universel, The Inaugural Addresses of President Thomas Jefferson, Philip Mazzei: Selected Writings and Correspondence, History of the United States of America during the Second Administration of Thomas Jefferson, Topics for Inaugural Address, [before 8 Feb. 1805], James Madisons Remarks on a Draft, [8 Feb. 1805], Albert Gallatins Remarks on a Draft, [12 Feb. 1805], James Madisons Remarks on a Draft, [21 Feb. 1805], Notes on the Second Inaugural Address, [February 1805? 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