Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era

by William J. Cooper Jr.

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.

Genres: History, Civil War

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

WILLIAM J. COOPER, JR., is Boyd Professor of History at Louisiana State University and a past president of the Southern Historical Association. He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina, and received his AB from Princeton and his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University. He has been a member of the LSU faculty since 1980 and is the author of The Conservative Regime: South Carolina, 1877-1890; The South and the Politics of Slavery, 1816-1856; Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860; Jefferson Davis, American; and coauthor of The American South: A History. He lives in Baton Rouge.

Reviews

[Jack R.]

A slight and repetitive work-- and one that requires the reader to have a biography or two on the infamous Mississippian under their belt beforehand-- but Cooper's arguments here are strong: Davis, for the evilness of his cause, was a masterful politician, before and during his presidency[1]. He willed the continuation of an impossibility (an independent Confederacy) for over four years amid every internal turmoil imaginable. If his military policy (in re: his generals, especially) was not so frequently flawed, as Cooper is apt to point out in several essays, then I would not doubt for that independence to have lasted even longer.

[1]Although Davis' record was not perfect. Cooper contends in the first essay that the Confederate President's devotion to the Southern cause grew so dogmatic that it destroyed his former political skills he developed as a Senator. He writes, "Davis's Confederate political practice was not...one in which good men could seriously disagree or anyone could seemingly applaud himself" (16). Thus, Cooper contends, "The politician who had mastered Mississippi and who had attained great influence in the U.S. Senate did not transfer to the Confederate States of America. Jettisoning politics for a holy calling, Jefferson Davis wounded himself and his cause, perhaps fatally" (17).

[Aisha Manus · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it’s acknowledged in the introduction the book is definitely repetitive at points. And while each essay stands alone I think reading the whole book is necessary because depending on the essay Cooper has a different tone about Davis. Some are like love letters dripping in the Lost Cause mentality, while others are quite critical of him. I think it’s a good reference and jumping off place by for further exploration of Davis.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

More proper title would by "Jefferson Davis as politician." Cooper is among the few to see Davis at both his best and worst, the latter being the usual view in most books. The view here is balanced and compelling.