Was Jefferson Davis against slavery

Answer 1

Yes. He believed it was a force for good. And he was remarkably kind to his slaves - so much so, that they didn't want their freedom.

He looked like the good face of slavery, and people thought he could be the inspiring figurehead of the Confederacy. But he failed to live up to it. Lee was the one who people found inspiring.

Answer 2

i think he was not against slavery because he was the southern president and you should not be against slavery if you are a southerner.

Second Opinion:

Davis wrote in 1866 to his wife on the subject: "What has been done would gradually and measurably by corrected by the operation of the ordinary laws governing the relation of labor to capital, if they were let alone. But interference by those who have a theory to maintain by the manufacture of facts, must result in evil, evil only and continually."

"At every renewal of the assertion that the Southern people hate the Negroes, my surprise is renewed; but a hostility, not now or heretofore existing, between the races may engendered by just such influences as are indicated"

Did he support the institution? Or did he see the end of it within his Government? Most historians take their opinions on the Antebellum south based off of Mitchell's novel, Gone With the Wind, and Stowes Uncle Tom's Cabin. Factual representation of the south has been deluded with fiction and Propaganda. The question to ask yourself, when looking for an answer, is "what did the common southern, white male think of his slaves? More times than not, you will find that the common southern saw the institution as a means of production-to keep personal his personal economy from fading and becoming in debited- in essence, a slave himself. Thomas Jefferson, a man who owned slaves, was against the idea of the institution. Yet, he never freed the slaves, because he needed to survive. Many economist and historians that look into the issue of slavery in the south have seen an end to the institution, if the confederacy were to win, by the 1880's. Many plantation owners would not have been as depenendant on the institution due to a loss in demand.

Signed,

A Historian

Answer 3

Yes.

He saw it in a traditional, feudal context of 'noblesse oblige', believing that a slave's natural place was to stay in bondage, and that it was his own responsibility to treat them like a second family.

In fact, he treated his slaves so well that they didn't want their freedom. This was even more surprising when you consider that he operated in Mississippi - that dreaded region 'down the river', famous for brutal treatment under the hot sun.

Answer 4

No