The Civil War took place in 1861-1865 in the United States of America. It was a war for slavery and states rights. “Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, a key fort held by Union troops in South Carolina.” (Wikipedia).The North wanted slaves to be free and have their own lives. The South wanted to keep slavery and have slaves do their work. It was one of the bloodiest war in America and it lasted 4 years. The North and the South each won several battles and over 600,000 people died. Over time, the Union won and the South had to come back to the United States. During the war, the South’s President was Jefferson Davis. Jefferson Davis did many things to improve the South, however he did have some failures, but they were all important.
First, Jefferson Davis had many positive things that he did while he was President. Davis was already elected as the temporary President for the Confederacy before the Civil War. But once they entered the Civil War, he was elected full time because they thought they needed a strong leader to lead the South for the Civil War. “Jefferson Davis who had been elected President and Alexander H. Stephan’s who had been elected Vice President under the provisional Confederate States constitution were elected to a six year term.” (Wikipedia) After he was elected, and they were entering into the first Battle of the Civil War he created a secret railroad that ran closer to the edge of Virginia, which allowed many of his troops to get there faster. The railroad had already been there, and he had his soldiers add onto it so that it would run smoother. Within 2 weeks of recruiting soldiers, he had over 9,000 people in his military, ready to fight. This was a positive effect for the South because they had hope and felt ready to conquer the North. Another positive thing that Davis did was create many military plans. His plan was to keep his soldiers in one spot and fight until the Northerners moved back.
Next, Jefferson Davis wasn’t always doing positive things for the Confederacy. He overruled many of the Generals and made plans that failed. Only one of his plans was actually successful. “Because Jefferson Davis never made a clear policy, his generals like Robert E. Lee and Bratton Bragg developed a strategy that served their ideas.” (The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable). Next, he wasn’t really a people person. Most of the time he was really rude and got into fights with many other people. He made enemies with people who should be his friends. The only people he was nice to were his slaves, which was very ironic. Overall, Davis was trying his hardest but he failed.
Lastly, Jefferson Davis and his terrible leadership helped the Confederacy fail. Jefferson Davis focused way too much on military strategies rather than his civilians and other Presidential duties. This was important because he wouldn’t let most of his Generals do his job. He should have been focused on helping the South build the government, jobs, and other important things for a new country. He also could not manage the Congress as successful as Abraham Lincoln and couldn’t focus on helping the Southern people like Lincoln. “Jefferson Davis’s alternative offensive war plan collapsed the Confederacy’s defensive war.” (Free Beacon).
In conclusion, if the Confederacy had a better President they may have won the war. Jefferson Davis was trying his hardest for the Confederates but his mindset was different than what they really needed. If the Confederates won, Jefferson Davis may have been more of a monumental figure in history. The Civil War brought the United States back together which drastically changed slavery.
Sincerely, Maxx