President and Vice President of the Confederate States of America
In February 1861, Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens were chosen as provisional president and vice president of the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.). Official elections would be held one year later. Both men had served in the United States Congress before the war, and both had initially opposed secession. However, their pro-slavery and states rights views, political experience, and moderation appealed to potential Confederates, particularly those in the upper South states, such as Virginia, still undecided about secession. The lithograph depicts Davis’s inauguration as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America on February 18, in Montgomery, Alabama. Davis, flanked by the vice president and secessionist leaders, addressed a modest crowd gathered before the portico of the new Confederate Capitol saying: “Obstacles may retard, they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified, by its justice and sustained by a virtuous people.”
In February 1861, Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens were chosen as provisional president and vice president of the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.). Official elections would be held one year later. Both men had served in the United States Congress before the war, and both had initially opposed secession. However, their pro-slavery and states rights views, political experience, and moderation appealed to potential Confederates, particularly those in the upper South states, such as Virginia, still undecided about secession. The lithograph depicts Davis’s inauguration as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America on February 18, in Montgomery, Alabama. Davis, flanked by the vice president and secessionist leaders, addressed a modest crowd gathered before the portico of the new Confederate Capitol saying: “Obstacles may retard, they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified, by its justice and sustained by a virtuous people.”