Jefferson Davis Quotes

African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing.

The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.

Truthfulness is a cornerstone in character, and if it be not firmly laid in youth, there will ever after be a weak spot in the foundation.

Truth crushed to earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.

The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.

Governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule.

All we ask is to be let alone.

Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southerner apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance.

A question settled by violence, or in disregard of law, must remain unsettled forever.

Let men not ask what the law requires, but give whatever freedom demands.

Tradition usually rests upon something which men did know; history is often the manufacture of the mere liar.

The contest is not over, the strife is not ended. It has only entered on a new and enlarged arena.

I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.

The past is dead; let it bury its dead, its hopes and its aspirations; before you lies the future-a future full of golden promise.

It is our duty to keep the memory of our heroes green. Yet they belong to the whole country; they belong to America.

Lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wished—a reunited country.

If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory.

It was one of the compromises of the Constitution that the slave property in the Southern States should be recognized as property throughout the United States.

At Rest An American Soldier And Defender of the Constitution.

The troops of other states have their reputation to gain, the sons of the Alamo have theirs to maintain.

Be not haughty with the humble; be not humble with the haughty.

It is a duty we owe to posterity to see that our children shall know the virtues, and rise worthy of their sires.

Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable.

Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous people .

We protest solemnly in the face of mankind, that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor.

Vicksburg is the nail head that holds the South’s two halves together.

It is not differences of opinion; it is geographical lines, rivers, and mountains which divide State from State, and make different nations of mankind.

God forbid that the day should ever come when to be true to my constituents is to be hostile to the Union.

How idle is this prating about natural rights as though still containing all that had been forfeited.

To one who loves his country in all its parts, it is natural to rejoice in whatever contributes to the prosperity and honor and marks the stability and progress of any portion of its people.

A restitution of the Union has been rendered forever impossible.

Pray excuse me. I cannot take it.

Our armies were in as much chaos in victory as theirs in defeat.

The authors of all our misfortune.

Garfield's assassination attempt made "the whole nation care".

If the Confederacy falls, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a theory.