"I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came, and now it must go on unless you acknowledge our right to self government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence."
"I will admit no bond that holds me to a party a day longer than I agree to its principles. When men meet together to confer, and ascertain whether or not they do agree, and find that they differ - radically, essentially, irreconcilably differ - what belongs to an honorable position except to part? They cannot consistently act together any longer."
30 likes
Source: Jefferson Davis, Heros von Borcke, Robert E. Lee, Frank H. Alfriend, John Esten Cooke (2017). “REBEL YELL: History of the Confederacy, Memoirs and Biographies of the Confederate Leaders & Official Documents: History of the Confederate States, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Heros von Borcke, Constitution of the Confederate States and More”, p.2145, Madison & Adams
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Jefferson Davis
"African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing."
"Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance. Our cause was so just, so sacred, that had I known all that has come to pass, had I known what was to be inflicted upon me, all that my country was to suffer, all that our posterity was to endure, I would do it all over again."
"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."
"The war...must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks...unless you acknowledge our right to self-government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence,and that, or extermination, we WILL have."