The Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davi

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INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Jefferson Davis

Montgomery, Alabama, February 18, 1861

Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, Friends and 
Fellow Citizens: 
OUR present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of 
nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of 
the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter and abolish 
governments whenever they become destructive to the ends for which they were 
established. The declared compact of the Union from which we have withdrawn was 
to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
ourselves and our posterity; and when in the judgment of the sovereign States 
now composing this Confederacy it has been perverted from the purposes for which 
it was ordained, and ceased to answer the ends for which it was established, a 
peaceful appeal to the ballot-box declared that, so far as they were concerned, 
the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In this they 
merely asserted the right which the Declaration of Independence of 1776 defined 
to be inalienable. Of the time and occasion of this exercise they as sovereigns 
were the final judges, each for himself. The impartial, enlightened verdict of 
mankind will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct; and He who knows the hearts 
of men will judge of the sincerity with which we labored to preserve the 
government of our fathers in its spirit. 
The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which has been 
affirmed and reaffirmed in the bills of rights of the States subsequently 
admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in the people the power 
to resume the authority delegated for the purposes of government. Thus the 
sovereign States here represented proceeded to form this Confederacy; and it is 
by the abuse of language that their act has been denominated revolution. They 
formed a new alliance, but within each State its government has remained. The 
rights of person and property have not been disturbed. The agent through whom 
they communicated with foreign nations is changed, but this does not necessarily 
interrupt their international relations. Sustained by the consciousness that the 
transition from the former Union to the present Confederacy has not proceeded 
from a disregard on our part of our just obligations or any failure to perform 
every constitutional duty, moved by no interest or passion to invade the rights 
of others, anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations, if we may 
not hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that posterity will acquit us of 
having needlessly engaged in it. Doubly justified by the absence of wrong on our 
part, and by wanton aggression on the part of others, there can be no use to 
doubt the courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States will be 
found equal to any measure of defence which soon their security may require. 
An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of a commodity 
required in every manufacturing country, our true policy is peace and the freest 
trade which our necessities will permit. It is alike our interest and that of 
all those to whom we would sell and from whom we would buy, that there should be 
the fewest practicable restrictions upon the interchange of commodities. There 
can be but little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing or navigating 
community, such as the northeastern States of the American Union. It must 
follow, therefore, that mutual interest would invite good-will and kind offices. 
If, however, passion or lust of dominion should cloud the judgment or inflame 
the ambition of those States, we must prepare to meet the emergency, and 
maintain by the final arbitrament of the sword the position which we have 
assumed among the nations of the earth. 
We have entered upon a career of independence, and it must be inflexibly pursued 
through many years of controversy with our late associates of the Northern 
States. We have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain respect for 
the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have 
resorted to the remedy of separation, and henceforth our energies must be 
directed to the conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity of the 
Confederacy which we have formed. If a just perception of mutual interest shall 
permit us peaceably to pursue our separate political career, my most earnest 
desire will have been fulfilled. But if this be denied us, and the integrity of 
our territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us with firm 
resolve to appeal to arms and invoke the blessing of Providence on a just 
cause.... 
Actuated solely by a desire to preserve our own rights, and to promote our own 
welfare, the separation of the Confederate States has been marked by no 
aggression upon others, and followed by no domestic convulsion. Our industrial 
pursuits have received no check, the cultivation of our fields progresses as 
heretofore, and even should we be involved in war, there would be no 
considerable diminution in the production of the staples which have constitute 
our exports, in which the commercial world has an interest scarcely less than 
our own. This common interest of producer and consumer can only be intercepted 
by an exterior force which should obstruct its transmission to foreign markets, 
a course of conduct which would be detrimental to manufacturing and commercial 
interests abroad. 
Should reason guide the action of the government from which we have separated, a 
policy so detrimental to the civilized world, the Northern States included, 
could not be dictated by even a stronger desire to inflict injury upon us; but 
if it be otherwise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and the 
suffering of millions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our 
aggressors. In the meantime there will remain to us, besides the ordinary 
remedies before suggested, the well-known resources for retaliation upon the 
commerce of an enemy.... We have changed the constituent parts but not the 
system of our government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of 
these Confederate States. In their exposition of it, and in the judicial 
construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its true meaning. 
Thus instructed as to the just interpretation of that instrument, and ever 
remembering that all offices are but trusts held for the people, and that 
delegated powers are to be strictly construed, I will hope by due diligence in 
the performance of my duties, though I may disappoint your expectation, yet to 
retain, when retiring, something of the good-will and confidence which will 
welcome my entrance into office. 
It is joyous in the midst of perilous times to look around upon a people united 
in heart, when one purpose of high resolve animates and actuates the whole, 
where the sacrifices to be made are not, weighed in the balance, against honor, 
right, liberty, and equality. Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long 
prevent, the progress of a movement sanctioned by its justice and sustained by a 
virtuous people. Reverently let us invoke the God of our fathers to guide and 
protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the principles which by his blessing 
they were able to vindicate, establish, and transmit to their posterity; and 
with a continuance of his favor, ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hopefully 
look forward to success, to peace, to prosperity. 




