The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government, Vol. 1 (of 2), by Jefferson Davis

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Title: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. 1 (of 2)

Author: Jefferson Davis

Release Date: November 16, 2006 [EBook #19831]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT

VOLUME ONE (OF TWO)

By

JEFFERSON DAVIS

PREFACE.

The object of this work has been from historical data to show that the
Southern States had rightfully the power to withdraw from a Union into
which they had, as sovereign communities, voluntarily entered; that the
denial of that right was a violation of the letter and spirit of the
compact between the States; and that the war waged by the Federal
Government against the seceding States was in disregard of the
limitations of the Constitution, and destructive of the principles of
the Declaration of Independence.

The author, from his official position, may claim to have known much of
the motives and acts of his countrymen immediately before and during the
war of 1861-'65, and he has sought to furnish material far the future
historian, who, when the passions and prejudices of the day shall have
given place to reason and sober thought, may, better than a
contemporary, investigate the causes, conduct, and results of the war.

The incentive to undertake the work now offered to the public was the
desire to correct misapprehensions created by industriously circulated
misrepresentations as to the acts and purposes of the people and the
General Government of the Confederate States. By the reiteration of such
unappropriate terms as "rebellion" and "treason," and the asseveration
that the South was levying war against the United States, those ignorant
of the nature of the Union, and of the reserved powers of the States,
have been led to believe that the Confederate States were in the
condition of revolted provinces, and that the United States were forced
to resort t